Three North County institutions celebrated commencement ceremonies in May, sending a combined total of more than 9,000 graduates into the world with degrees, certificates and stories of persistence that reflect the region’s increasingly diverse pipeline of higher education.
Ceremonies at MiraCosta College, Palomar College and California State University San Marcos highlighted stories of first-generation students, working parents, military veterans, returning adult learners and students overcoming personal and financial barriers while preparing for careers, university transfers and community leadership.
“Resilience, determination, and hope” at MiraCosta
MiraCosta College’s ceremony was held May 22 at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, honoring 1,933 graduates ranging in age from 16 to 85. The class included working parents, returning adult learners, military-affiliated students and first-generation college students — about 30% of the total — alongside 24 students completing the eighth cohort of the college’s biomanufacturing bachelor’s degree program, the first of its kind at a California community college, according to a MiraCosta news release.
“The Class of 2026 represents resilience, determination, and hope,” Superintendent/President Sunita “Sunny” Cooke said in the news release. “Every graduate has a story, and each story reflects the transformative power of education to change lives, strengthen families, and uplift communities. We are incredibly proud of what these students have accomplished and excited for the positive impact they will have throughout our region and beyond.”
College officials highlighted student commencement speaker Alexander Aurich as an example of that spirit.
Aurich’s mother immigrated from Sinaloa, Mexico, at age 15, attended MiraCosta College but could not complete her degree due to financial hardship. Aurich, who pursued political science with an emphasis in international relations and aspires to become a Foreign Service officer, leaned on campus counseling services, the food pantry and scholarships to stay the course.
“These weren’t just services,” he said in the college’s news release. “They made me feel like my goals were actually within reach.”
Aurich was accepted to UC Berkeley, Princeton University and Vanderbilt University. He will attend Princeton this fall after being named one of 60 recipients nationwide, and one of just 14 from California, of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
“In the last two years alone, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be where I am now,” Aurich said. “But MiraCosta helped me see what’s possible.”
Aurich said in the college’s news release that completing the journey his mother began carried deep personal meaning.
“To continue what she started — that’s everything to me,” Aurich said. “She’s my ‘why.’”
Also honored at the ceremony was Rebecca Segura Reeves, named MiraCosta’s 2026 Student Artist of the Year.
A Vista resident originally from Costa Rica, Segura Reeves began at MiraCosta in 2012 taking noncredit courses before transitioning to credit coursework in 2016. She earned an associate’s degree in photography and a certificate of achievement in graphic design, and will transfer to San Diego State University to study interior architecture with a minor in woodworking.
“Commencement is a celebration not only of academic achievement, but of possibility,” Cooke said. “Our graduates leave MiraCosta prepared to lead, innovate, serve, and create positive change. They remind us why community colleges matter and why investing in students transforms entire communities.”
Palomar College celebrates second ceremony in new campus stadium
Palomar College held its commencement ceremony the same day at its football stadium in San Marcos, where 2,832 graduates were awarded 4,735 degrees and certificates, many students earning multiple credentials. More than 750 students walked across the stage.
The graduation was the second held in the stadium, which opened in September 2024.
Interim Superintendent/President Tina Recalde presided and spoke directly to students whose paths were shaped by circumstance, according to a Palomar College news release.
“Every one of you are examples that life circumstances do not determine your destiny, nor do they hinder your dreams,” she said. “You all have proven your strength and your capability.”
Commencement speaker Jeffrey Epstein, a philosophy professor and recipient of Palomar’s 2024-25 student-nominated Distinguished Faculty Award, encouraged graduates to embrace uncertainty and intellectual curiosity through the Socratic phrase “I know that I do not know.”
Student speaker and Associated Student Government President Yaretzi Fernanda Hernandez addressed her fellow graduates in both English and Spanish, telling the Class of 2026 they were proof that people can come from uncertainty and still build something extraordinary.
Among the graduates that Palomar officials noted was valedictorian Terra White, who earned a 4.0 GPA while caring for her family and will transfer to CSU San Marcos to pursue a career as a psychologist.
White, 38, said in the college’s news release that she had long believed higher education was out of reach. Support from Palomar counselors and the college’s Rising Scholars program, designed to serve formerly incarcerated students, changed that. She was one of 37 Rising Scholars to graduate this year.
Family firsts at Cal State San Marcos
Cal State San Marcos held its spring commencement ceremonies May 15 and 16 at Mangrum Track and Field on campus, with five ceremonies spread across two days. Combined with its December commencement, CSUSM graduated a total of 4,352 students in its Class of 2026, with 3,312 walking in the spring.
More than half — 52% — were the first in their families to earn a bachelor’s degree, according to a university news release. More than 43% came from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and 61% of graduates were women.
“Class of 2026, today you join a distinguished group of more than 75,000 CSUSM alumni,” CSUSM President Ellen Neufeldt said. “You are the leaders of tomorrow. Leaders who will bring to our communities and our world the ability to listen and understand multiple perspectives, to find creative solutions to the most pressing problems, and to help make our society a more just and equitable place for all. Something I say often is that our students are the change we so desperately need to see in the world. And now more than ever we need your passion, your intellect, your spirit of resilience.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) addressed graduates Friday afternoon at the first of two ceremonies for the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences. Business administration was the most popular major among bachelor’s degree recipients with 664 graduates, followed by psychology with 344 and kinesiology with 311.
The university also awarded one honorary degree — a doctor of fine arts presented posthumously to Dan Rios, a North County newspaper photographer who worked for the Escondido Times-Advocate and North County Times from 1968 to 2001 and donated nearly 1 million photo negatives to CSUSM’s library before his death in 2023. His wife, Theresa Mendoza Rios, accepted the degree on his behalf.
In a 2022 CSUSM story, Dan Rios said he was gratified that the community could gain access to his body of work.
“I can’t even express my feelings because it’s so overwhelming that they’re going to find a use for my photos and help students and researchers and people who are interested in history,” Rios said. “If that helps them do their work and advance in their careers and I’m a small factor in that, that pleases me to no end.”
This report was partially written using artificial intelligence, then updated, edited and fact-checked against source material by North Coast Current staff. View our AI policy on the About Us page.
