TAFT, Calif. (KERO) — Family and friends gathered at Taft Union High School's Marion Martin Memorial Stadium on Friday evening to celebrate graduates of Taft College, one of California's oldest community colleges.
The institution provides continuous learning opportunities for more than 6,000 students through more than 75 vocational and professional degrees, transfer programs, and certificates.
Cody Clark is among the graduates transferring to Cal State Bakersfield this fall as a kinesiology major.
"I wanted to help people originally, but on top of that, my love for sports. I grew up playing baseball and football, so I really wanted to stay in a field involving that," Clark said.
Clark is excited to take classes related to his major and has big plans after earning his Bachelor of Science.
"Super excited because not only am I going to be a little more interested in classes when it comes to like biomechanics and learning how to tape up the human body and all that, but I want to be a physical therapist, so after CSUB I'll apply to be a doctor of physical therapy," Clark said.
LaPortsha Gage, a mother of 4, went back to school in her 30s to earn her high school diploma. On Friday evening, she crossed the stage to graduate from Taft College.
Gage said she wants to be a great example for her children.
"I started late, but better late than ever. My son is currently, actually taking online classes for Taft himself. I want to set a good example, and you lead by examples. Your kids see what you do, they like to implement what you do," Gage said.
Gage is already taking classes at Cal State Bakersfield, majoring in sociology with the goal of helping local youth.
"I want to eventually open up my own nonprofit, named after my late niece Destiny, so I wanted to call it the House of Destiny. So I wanted it to be like a big sister house for troubled youth, somewhere they could get mentorship, advice, counseling, you know, support, things of that nature," Gage said.
Gage said that although it has been a long journey, she is glad she never gave up.
"Finished in December, but, like, now reality is setting in, like, like, yeah, girl, like, you did it. It's here, today, is the day. Like, you knocked that one out," Gage said.
To date, Taft College has received graduation applications from a total of 473 students.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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