Local Students Graduate from College

With the end of the 2015-16 collegiate school year, numerous local students have graduated. Below is a compilation of the ones Tolosa Press has been notified of.
Marcelline Rodden of Los Osos earned an undergraduate degree from California Lutheran University of Thousand Oaks, Calif., graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in marketing communication. Rodden completed her requirements in the Fall 2015 term and participated in the 2015 Undergraduate Commencement held May 16 in William Rolland Stadium.
San Luis Obispo High grad, Vance Cramer, also earned a bachelor’s degree in communication last fall from Cal Lutheran.
Leesa Minkel of SLO graduated cum laude on May 24 from the University of San Diego. Minkel earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Joshua Correia of SLO earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the 98th commencement ceremonies at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass.
Candice Gerber of Arroyo Grande graduated from Ohio Christian University in Circleville, Ohio with a bachelor ‘s degree in healthcare management.
Aaron Juarez of A.G., graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, on May 18 with a bachelor’s — with honors — in independent studies. Juarez was also the recipient of the Grinnell Corps’ New Orleans Fellowship.
Abby Hollister of SLO recently earned a bachelor’s degree and made the Spring 2015 Dean’s List — taking at least 12 credits and posting a 3.6 grade point average — at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg Va., the second oldest college in the U.S. William & Mary is ranked among the nation’s Top 10 public universities and has been designated a “Public Ivy.”
Lela Heza of SLO earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. during the school’s 194th commencement ceremonies.
And Brian Backens of SLO graduated from Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., on May 17 with a master’s degree in business administration. Salve Regina had Olympic figure skating champion, Michelle Kwan, as its commencement speaker.
“In every great thing that we try, there are bound to be disappointments ahead,” Kwan said. “The first lesson they teach you in figure skating is how to fall because they know that there are bound to be disappointments and falls up ahead. I fell when I started skating at 5, still fell when I was five-time world champion. But the true test is how we recover. I think we can all be that kind of person, taking our fair share of tumbles and falls, but rising with grace and finishing what we began.”
Words to live by indeed. Tolosa Press congratulates all the graduates and wishes them good luck and a prosperous future.