Yellow Pages
Hundreds of Skagit Valley College students, dressed in crimson robes, shifted from side to side as they awaited their graduation ceremony Sunday.
Many of the college’s 833 graduates are young and just starting out in life. But for just as many, graduation is a second chance.
Jodi Nesje, 51, of Camano Island returned to school at Skagit Valley College for the first time since 1975. She initially had a degree for nursing and until recently had managed an adult care facility.
She returned to college to obtain a phlebotomy degree.
“I always worked with people who were dying,” she said.
She had cared for her mother and her mother-in-law as they died. For Nesje, it took an act of courage to return to school after so many years had passed.
But as she stood surrounded by her classmates Nesje seemed in shock.
“I made it with a 3.9 (GPA). I’m still standing here in a daze,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”
Nesje said the students in her phlebotomy class were like family. They endured the rough course work and personal nature of the hands-on tests, often practicing their skills by inserting needles in each other, Nesje said. A few of her classmates rolled up their sleeves to show faded marks where they’d been poked.
“We became very close because of our intimate situation,” she said. “There was a lot of trust and patience.”
Students were paraded before a capacity audience in Dave DuVall Pavilion on the Skagit Valley College campus.
College President Gary Tollefson spoke to the students and their families about inspiring graduates, including Jamaica Sutton, who attended high school while living in her car and graduated with the intent of furthering her education in dentistry.
Tollefson also spoke of Abel Arroyo, who originally came to the area from California to fix a friend’s car. Arroyo started at the college taking classes to learn to speak English, and his teachers encouraged him to pursue a degree. He graduated with a degree in automotive technology.
Skagit Valley College graduate Lois Hagman, 90, received a standing ovation and thunderous applause when Tollefson told a brief account of her desire to obtain a high school diploma.
“I hope we can all learn some lessons from Lois’ example about determination, perseverance and realizing that it is never, never too late to pursue your dreams and goals,” Tollefson said.
After they collected their diplomas and moved their white tassels from right to left, the graduates shuffled slowly in their crimson robes out of Dave DuVall Pavilion, and toward the rest of their lives.
* Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .
