[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he day before their regular commencement, College of The Redwoods hosted their first multicultural graduation–honoring their Native American, Black, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander and Queer graduates of 2018.
The graduation was made possible through the efforts of students and the recently opened Multicultural Center at CR.
Over ten students graduated Friday, with plans to transfer to schools they were recently accepted into. Some will attend nearby Humboldt State and others will attend schools outside of the area.
Donel Arrington was accepted into the renowned Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. The program only accepts four transfer students a year. He was also accepted into Cal State Northridge, where he plans to attend if he is unable to acquire the funds needed for NYU.
Graduates shared poems, speeches, songs and gratitude for those who have helped them along–especially the faculty of color at CR–who were thanked multiple times by students.
Tammy Phrakonkham read a letter to future Asian Pacific Islander club members, a club that she founded at CR.
The gratitude expressed by these students speaks to the importance of diverse student populations on college campuses–in addition to diverse faculty and staff. Students see their success as attainable through positive role models who represent themselves and the communities they come from.
A tribute was made during the graduation for friends of graduates who are no longer with us. Emely Selina Carreno-Arenas and Michelle Segundo were two CR students who lost their lives in a car crash in May. HSU student David Josiah Lawson was also remembered as well as former CR student Lucas Dale Blake-Williams, whose body was found earlier this year on CR’s campus.
Graduates were given gifts from the current Director of the Multicultural Center and they also received gifts to give to their club advisors.
A reception with various types of food and treats was held in the multicultural center following the graduation.
Donate to Donel’s NYU fund!
8 Comments
im so happy that there are multicultural graduations now, self segregation is so awesome,, now we whites get to have our own big, fancy graduation without any colored people.. keep up the good work you racist, segregationist, democrat, liberals, hahaha the original slaveowners ! they learned it from the Africans !
I think whiteys comment is the real racist comment. whitey, you don’t seem to understand the plight of people of color. surely whitey is speaking from a place of white privilege. you were probably born with a silver spoon in your mouth and will never understand growing up as a poor, under privileged minority.
Maybe whitey wants to go back to the 1950’s. that was real segregation, not just 10 students getting together in a mostly white-space. I’m a black male and I don’t have a problem graduating with white people. but if some of my people want to have a special graduation, after 500 years of oppression, that’s not racist, that’s cool with me.
well black people have been oppressing white people since the 80’s. look at all the crime, gang violence, violent music,, crackheads, pimps, ho’s, bitches..
and now you want these racist, segregationist graduations. you should take a poll ! I bet most people see this as a racist get-together, for a weak and lonely group of losers ! hahaha
I’m not so sure why you be calling yourself whitey but I want to say that you sure are saying some very hurtful and offensive things that you don’t know nothing about. Im gonna be praying that the good Lord opens them there eyes of yours.
OMG! WHITEY IS RIGHT! I go to CR and cant graduate multicultural because I’M WHITE and not a lesbian!
I agree with Emily. I graduate CR next spring 🙂
I believe we need more multicultural graduations.You should have been at my cousins highschool graduation.It was so sad.Only three black students graduated and none of the white people clapped for the black students.I cried.