Class of ’16: Go forth and never stop learning!
June 14, 2016
On June 5, 2016, I was surrounded by a pile of glossy campaign brochures, a voter’s guide, my laptop (for fact checking) and my absentee ballot. As I painstakingly determined the candidates I was selecting and the measures I was supporting or opposing, I considered what made me the dedicated voter and engaged citizen I am today.
The answer is De Anza College. I graduated from De Anza exactly 10 years ago; June 2006. In the time since leaving with my AA, I went on to graduate from UC Berkeley with BA, complete a two-year Peace Corps stint in southern Africa, travel through Europe and Asia, and hold a variety of jobs around the Bay Area that I would not have been qualified for without higher education. Now I see myself on track for further career advancement and eventual home ownership.
Throughout these 10 years, I’ve remembered De Anza President Brian Murphy’s emphasis on civic engagement, Greg Druehl’s teachings on political science, Marcia Holstrom’s lessons on geography, and Lydia Hearn’s classes on writing and composition. I remember the free tutoring I received, the opportunity to serve in student leadership as 2005-2006 DASB president, and the countless eye-opening club activities I participated in, including a Ramadan fast organized by the Muslim Students Association. De Anza opened the world to me, trained me in hard skills and imparted in me a permanent sense of responsibility and capability.
So congrats, class of 2016, on dipping your feet into this wonderful thing called an education. Now go forth and work, travel, vote, run for office, start your own business, and most of all, never stop learning.