Over 500 Receive Degrees at Cal Lutheran

For Frieda Vandenberg of Simi Valley, writing papers and passing tests were the easy parts of graduating magna cum laude from Cal Lutheran University on Saturday.

The real struggle was paying the bills along the way. Without the help that many of her fellow students got from their parents, she scraped together money from scholarships, grants, loans and several jobs to cover the $80,000 tab for her four years of education.

“I used to worry, especially my freshman year, because it was just hard getting to school and oh, now, here’s my car insurance and how am I going to pay for this?” said 21-year-old Vandenberg, who chose to attend the private Thousand Oaks university for its teaching program though her parents couldn’t afford it. “It has been tough.”

But Vandenberg made it, working up to 30 hours a week as a nanny, drama teacher, camp counselor and Education Department aide.

She joined about 375 others who picked up their bachelor’s degrees and 160 who received graduate degrees at the ceremony in Mount Clef Stadium. Some graduates celebrated by blowing bubbles and tossing beach balls. One carried a camcorder on stage to record the event from his perspective, and another snapped a picture of the crowd after grabbing his degree.

Graduates Julie Baumgartner of Redlands and Gail Strickler of San Bernardino introduced the graduates during their joint commencement speech by pointing out that the group includes a national discus contender, a former city council candidate and students who interned for major companies such as Amgen, Disney and Habitat for Humanity.

“Today we have dispelled the Generation X myth. We are not slackers or lazy,” Strickler said. “We are the movers and shakers,” Baumgartner said.

Vandenberg, for one, plans to continue at Cal Lutheran to earn a teaching credential and master’s degree before going to work in a low-income area elementary school, incorporating her love for drama and music into the classroom.

In the most emotional moment of the ceremony, Laemicia Porter of Harbor City carried her 1-year-old daughter, Rachel, on stage to accept a master’s degree in educational administration earned by her husband, Bill Porter, just before he died last month.

The university also bestowed honorary doctorates on Rolf Ekeus, Sweden’s ambassador to the United States, and the Rev. James D. Ford, chaplain of the House of Representatives, for their public service.

Ford gave the main commencement address, telling the graduates the skills they acquired at Cal Lutheran are important, but how they use them is paramount.

“They can be used to enhance the human spirit or degrade the human spirit,” he said. “Good people do good things.”