Success and moving forward

BARSTOW — For some people, community college offers a second chance at success.

Barstow Community College valedictorian Jessica Rice is a case in point.

Rice grew up in Germany, where her father met her German-born mother while stationed there with the Army. She admits that she was not a great student in high school. Her parents were going through a divorce, and she had other things than school on her mind. When Rice met her husband, now a corporal in the Army, and moved to Fort Irwin with him, she was apprehensive but determined to succeed.

“Once I came out here, I really wanted to prove to myself and my family that I could do well,” she said.

While working full time at the Armed Forces Bank, she took online classes, working towards an associates degree in business.

“It really was a challenge,” she said. “I had days where I would come home after work, and I had no motivation at all.”

Somehow she found the motivation, and on Friday night she graduated from BCC at the top of the class of 376 graduates, with a 4.0 grade point average. Rice told her classmates that she got there by learning to believe in herself, set realistic goals, and communicate with others.

BCC alum Steve Yu knows about overcoming insecurities and fears. The BCC Class of 2001 graduate went on to get a bachelors degree in hotel administration from Cornell University and now owns his own company, Epictrip.com, an online multimedia travel search engine.

Yu told the BCC Class of 2008 that in high school he was such a poor student that he barely graduated. While his friends went on to college, he joined the Marines.

“Honestly, I didn’t know if I wanted to carry this academic misery on to college,” Yu said.

After four years in the Marines, Yu came out with more discipline and experience. He could have found a good civilian job after he was discharged, but Yu felt that he had unfinished business. He wanted to go back to school.

Yu told this year’s graduates that when he took the placement test at BCC, he placed so low that he had to relearn arithmetic in Math 101. But by the time he graduated, he had progressed so much that he was accepted to Cornell University, an Ivy League school, and UC Berkeley offered him a full scholarship.

Not all BCC students struggled in high school. BCC salutatorian Paul Veloz graduated from high school at the age of 16, with a 3.966 grade point average. But Veloz was a non-traditional student in another way. He was homeschooled through the Excelsior Education Center program in high school.

At 19, Veloz is one of BCC’s younger graduates, along with his twin brother Adrian and year-and-a-half younger sister Rebecca.
Veloz, who hopes to go into a career in graphic arts, takes a humble view towards his education.

“We’ve been privileged to have this knowledge, whereas most people don’t get the opportunity to go to college,” he said.

Veloz and Rice said that now that they have taken their first step in higher education, they hope to use their skills to help others.

What’s next for Barstow Community College graduates:

• Jessica Powell, who graduated with an Associate of Arts in Humanities, will transfer to UC Irvine to major in sociology. She hopes to be an elementary school teacher.
• Candice Woods plans to take a year off and then go to nursing school. She graduated with an Associate of Natural Science and Math.
• Carole Blake, graduating with an Associate of Science in Cosmetology, hopes to work at BCC as an instructor in the cosmetology program.
• Garrin Romero plans to be a rock star and tour the world. He graduated with an Associate of Arts in Humanities.
• David Cerna, who earned an Associate of Natural Science and Math, plans to move to Texas and work in computer programming and web design.
• Tracinda Staunton plans to move to Texas and study at San Antonio University, eventually aiming to go into the medical field. She graduated with an Associate of Science in Allied Health and Natural Science and Math.
• Stacy Bloyd plans to transfer to Park University to study human resources. She earned an Associate of Arts in Social Science.
• Leisa Hurst, who earned an Associate of Arts in Social Science, will transfer to the University of La Verne’s liberal studies program. In the long run, she hopes to become a school counselor.
• Glenn Robb, Jr., graduated with an Associate of Science in Natural Science and Math. He will transfer to Cal Poly Pomona to study aerospace engineering.
• Mauricio Peralta plans to transfer to Park University to study business management. He earned an Associate of Arts in Humanities.
• Luz Martinez will go on to study accounting at UC San Bernardino. Martinez, who earned an Associate of Science in Accounting, said, “Numbers are magnetic to me.”
• Enrique Barajas, Jr., will study behavioral science at Park University. The retired Marine plans to enter a second career as a probation officer. He graduated with an Associate of Science in Management.


Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or abby_sewell@link.freedom.com