{"id":33790,"date":"2023-05-17T00:15:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T06:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-college-honors-graduating-class-of-2023\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:13:41","slug":"san-juan-college-honors-graduating-class-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-college-honors-graduating-class-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan College honors graduating class of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The \u2018Purple Wave\u2019 of graduating SJC students flowed into the Learning Commons\/Graduation Plaza. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The San Juan College campus overflowed with families, friends and supporters Saturday for the 2023 graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n

The processional, led by new SJC mascot Blaze, featured a vast wave of purple-robed students on a sunny spring morning.<\/p>\n

Student speaker Angelica Castillo discussed the many challenges and goals she faced after moving to the area from Cuidad Juarez, Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest decisions I made while pursuing my degree was becoming a U.S. citizen \u2026 I knew it would open the door for more opportunities,\u201d Castillo said. She said at one point while studying for citizenship, serving as a student-worker in the school of humanities and taking classes, she got tired and felt like giving up.<\/p>\n

\"Student
Student speaker Angelica Castillo became a U.S. citizen while attaining her AA in human services at San Juan College. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Castillo sought help from her adviser, Dawn Myers, who reassured her by saying, \u201cYou have the heart of a social worker, and I have no doubt you\u2019ll be a great one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castillo said she is excited to close this first chapter of her college education and start writing a new chapter by working toward her degree in social work at Western New Mexico University.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuture San Juan College students and graduates, I encourage you to keep learning and cherish every moment of what everyone calls the college experience. Lastly, great things take time. Be patient and one day you\u2019ll be here \u2026 celebrating your success,\u201d Castillo said.<\/p>\n

Gayle Dean, chairman of SJC Foundation, presented the Allison Faculty Excellence Award to Laura Black, who has overseen the veterinarian technician program, the largest program at SJC, for the past five years. \u201cThis program serves over 1,000 students every year all over the United States and internationally,\u201d Dean said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to teaching many courses, our awardee oversees eight full-time and up to 20 part-time staff faculty in 50 different states and time zones. Testimonials from students included, \u2018This school has been the best thing to happen to my professional career.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A vast crowd of family and supporters enjoyed the ideal spring weather. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett, who was the guest speaker, lauded the group that came out to support the grads. He asked the graduates to look around and see the numbers who were there to celebrate them \u201cbecause today is about you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget these people. These are the people that you\u2019re going to rely on for the rest of your lives, so make sure that you\u2019re taking care of those bonds, those relationships. Take the opportunity to call one another \u2026 keep in touch with one another, because those people love you,\u201d Duckett said.<\/p>\n

Duckett, who was born in Newport Beach, California, and grew up in Denver, said he moved to Farmington after his parents divorce when he was 15 years old and graduated from Farmington High School in 1996.<\/p>\n

Duckett said one his champions, Frank Stimmick, was in the audience that day. \u201cI\u2019ve always found myself very blessed to have people in my life that I respected \u2026 people that I emulated and wanted to be like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stimmick was the assistant principal at FHS and gave Duckett his first opportunity to give a public speech.<\/p>\n

Duckett studied two years of secondary education before switching to a business major. He worked for Hastings Entertainment for 12 years, and by age of 26 was district manager of 10 stores in West Texas. He said the experience at that young age was a life lesson in self-sacrifice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then one night at work a man came in with a gun and robbed me and my staff at gunpoint, and that same week my house was broken into, and I thought it would be nice to be in law enforcement,\u201d Duckett said.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett was the guest speaker at San Juan College\u2019s graduation ceremony. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He earned a degree in criminology from University of New Mexico, but his wife was not fond of the idea, so he remained focused on business.<\/p>\n

When the Farmington Hastings was going out of business, Duckett started his own insurance agency. He said after getting involved with Leadership San Juan, he decided to \u201cgive back to the community\u201d and run for city council then mayor.<\/p>\n

He said he understood all the hard work and perseverance required of the students. \u201cBut this next step is really, really important. Take what you\u2019re learning, put it into work and work hard,\u201d Duckett said.<\/p>\n

He stressed the importance of \u201cgiving of yourself\u201d to prove your worth, being adaptable, reliable and able to compromise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the first member of my family to graduate from a university. \u2026 That was a big thing, so I can respect and understand exactly what you all are going through today,\u201d Duckett said. \u201cThose are very meaningful moments. \u2026 Make sure you\u2019re surrounding yourself with good people and taking care of the family who loves you very much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San
San Juan College President Toni Hopper Pendergrass said graduates ranged in age from 17 to 70. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SJC President Toni Hopper Pendergrass presented Duckett with a large pot made for him by local artist Don Ellis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s graduating class ranges in age from 17 to 70,\u201d Pendergrass said. To demonstrate the diversity of those graduating, Pendergrass asked those who worked, and those who were parents, grandparents or who traveled more than 50 miles per day to stand.<\/p>\n

SJC officials also recognized honor roll students, veterans, students who will receive their high school diplomas in addition to their associate\u2019s degrees at the ceremony, as well as UNM and Highlands University students graduating along with SJC graduates that day.<\/p>\n

The presentation of diplomas concluded the ceremony with Scott Michlin, KSJE station manager and Megan Culllip, KSJE show host, reading the graduates\u2019 names.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos
Carlos Pena, readied himself to receive his AA diploma. (David Edward Albright\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2,000 students receive diplomas or certificates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,799,2378,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-san-juan-college","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82344,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33790\/revisions\/82344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33790"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}