Ceremonies Honored Graduates At Fresno State | ABC30 Fresno

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By ABC30

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Fresno, CA A drumbeat marked the African American recognition ceremony as a rite of passage. More than 2,000 people filled the Savemart center to cheer the graduates, who also got their own speakers, including university president dr. John Welty.

Many of the grads come from difficult circumstances, but they say that shouldn't stop anyone from finishing college.

Clifford Frazier, Fresno State graduate said, "I just hope to inspire other people, especially African Americans, males and females, to keep pressing forward no matter what obstacles you go through.

Some of the African American graduates say the challenges they faced to just graduate also prepare them to fight for jobs in a tough economy.

Nearly 600 Latino students got their degrees and got encouragement from a special guest speaker.

John Quiñones is the co-anchor of ABC's "Primetime", and the popular series "What would you do?".

He told graduates to stay positive in this economy, and related some of the difficulties he faced when he finished school.

John Quinones, "Primetime" anchor said, "I can tell you that when i graduated from college, I thought I had my fancy degree and I was ready to be a TV reporter, but I sent out 50 letters to TV stations all over the country and they all said, 'john, you don't have it to be a TV reporter.'

A crowd of nearly 10-thousand watched the Latino commencement celebration and they also heard from Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin.