Bright future ahead for grads

When the OCC Commencement Ceremony for the graduating class of 2008 started, it was raining in Costa Mesa, with a little thunder to kick off the festivities.

And it could be chalked up to coincidence, but just as the students prepared to take the long walk to get their diplomas, the rain stopped.

If that wasn’t enough, just after Coast Community College Board of Trustees President Armando Ruiz made graduation official, the clouds broke apart and sun started to break though.

Looks like the OCC class of 2008 is in for a bright future.

“This is the moment we have been waiting for,” said new graduate Kevin Ngo.

Class of 2008 graduate Sarah Bennett, daughter of the executive director of the OCC Foundation Doug Bennett, spoke in front of her peers about her time at OCC — 16 years dating back to her preschool days at the college.

“Every bump, turn and pothole made me who I am,” Bennett said. “I never intended to go to OCC, but it was one of the best decisions I have made.”

OCC said goodbye to 2,064 students who received degrees or certificates at the ceremony Thursday.

More than 1,000 of those students will attend Cal State universities in the fall, 525 will go to CSU Long Beach, and another 521 will pursue future educational endeavors at CSU Fullerton.

President Robert Dees also bragged that about 500 students will go into the UC system, with 188 students attending UCI in the fall, and 115 going to UCLA.

“Community college is a marvelous place to get started or restarted with your life,” faculty member of the year Ann Harmer said as her last official duty at OCC as she retired this year.

The ceremony also honored OCC’s citizen of the year Rueben Martinez, who continued to educate students at their ceremony as he has with his reading programs and bookstore throughout the years.

“While we are alive, there’s hope,” said Martinez, who owns Libreria Martinez bookstore in Santa Ana and worked with OCC’s Puente Program.

As for the students, while they celebrated their moment of triumph, it was also a time to look forward to what’s next.

“I am really excited,” said Ngo, who is transferring to CSU Long Beach to study business administration. “I want to graduate again, hopefully with some honors.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.