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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| May 22, 2009 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
Participating in this year’s graduation ceremony include four Lemoore Middle College High School student (l to r) Christopher Wallis, Larissa Reed, Eboneigh Harris and Leigh Bass.
West Hills College Lemoore graduates include four high school students
When Lemoore’s University High School opened on the campus of West Hills College Lemoore, one of its goals was to encourage students to concurrently enroll in college classes so they got a jump start on college. The realization of that goal was evident Thursday night when four Lemoore Middle College High School students participated in West Hills College Lemoore graduation ceremonies earning their associate degrees two weeks before they received their high school diplomas.
While introducing the four, WHCL President Don Warkentin told the audience that all are planning to transfer to four-year universities.
Christopher Wallis is planning to attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo starting in the fall as a computer science major in the school of engineering. Warkentin told the crowd of 2,000 that Christopher enrolled in seventh grade classes at Lemoore Elementary University Charter School, which is also on the campus of WHCL. He started taking college math classes at the time and while in eighth grade, took college calculus and earned the highest grade in the class.
Eboneigh Harris is transferring to UC Berkeley in the fall as a junior majoring in psychology and Larissa Reed is planning to attend UC Davis.
Leigh Bass will stay on at West Hills to earn a second associate’s degree before transferring to UC Davis.
Warkentin also honored long-time West Hills’ adjunct instructor Ed Galdrikian during the ceremony with the Spirit of the Eagle award. Galdrikian started teaching at the college during the spring semester of 1967—the second semester classes were taught in Lemoore.
As the longest serving faculty member, Galdrikian led faculty members from the ceremonies.
WHCL awarded over 400 degrees and certificates with 137 of the graduates living in Lemoore and 137 living in Hanford. Warkentin said that 17 of the graduates live out of state including Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, New Mexico, Washington, Louisiana, Indiana, Arizona, Arkansas, Maryland and South Carolina.
“This is due to the miracle of our online program,” Warkentin told the audience.
The area of study with the largest number of graduates is liberal arts with 180 degrees conferred followed by health science with 30 graduates.
Student speaker Kelly Cortez who overcame a methamphetamine addiction to graduate with a 4.0 grade point average, credited WHCL counselors with having faith in her before she had faith in herself and helping her achieve something she never dreamed would be possible—transfer to a four-year college.
Faculty member James Preston, who helped create the popular 5C summer camp for fifth through seventh grades and the TEAM Teach program for future teachers, spoke to graduates about the many hats they would wear in life and then he and a group of fellow-faculty members regaled the crowd with a song.
Student Krystal Cortez sang, “I hope you dance.”
Earlier in the day, WHCL also participated in the Navy College Program commencement ceremony at Naval Air Station Lemoore. Warkentin said 60 WHCL graduates were recognized during that ceremony. They represent members of the active duty military and their dependents.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 7,000 students on campus and online each semester.