Doing the Honors

Cal State Northridge graduated 1,400 honors students Tuesday night, kicking off a week of convocation ceremonies.

All the students present were recognized for earning grade point averages of 3.5 or better. Eight students received special awards for their academic achievements, including Teodora Manolova, a Bulgarian-born 20-year-old with a 3.9 grade point average. Manolova received the 2000 Wolfson Scholar award, given annually to the university’s top student.

Manolova immigrated to the United States with her mother and brother when she was in eighth grade. Today, she will receive her bachelor’s degree in political science, but she is not finished.

“It took me 3 1/2 years to get this degree,” she said. “I’m going to get one more, in business administration, next year.” After that, Manolova plans to attend law school for a career in international relations.

More than 3,000 people, mostly friends and family, attended the ceremony on the main quadrangle in front of the massive Oviatt Library. Award-winning ABC news correspondent Judy Muller gave the keynote address, encouraging students to savor the moment.

“Be here now, as they say in California,” Muller said.

Muller warned the crowd that they were graduating into a “dot-com kind of world” that often equates success with stock options. They are not the same, she said, “but stock options don’t hurt.”

“If you stop enjoying the work because you are too interested in the payoff, then you will never get enough,” she said.

Muller, who is known for her coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, told the honor students to stay humble, keep a sense of humor and be “detached observers of your own lives--ironic observers.”

Cal State Northridge is often cited as one of the 10 most diverse campuses in the nation. But the students Tuesday appeared united in their sense of accomplishment and optimism. Many of them have jobs and study part time. Many are the first in their family to go to college. Others are older students or returning students with families.

It took Darlene Spence, 46, four years at Pasadena Community College and four more at Cal State Northridge to earn her bachelor’s degree in nursing. All that time, Spence, of La Canada Flintridge, was raising her four children and working part time as a hospice nurse.

“I feel a great sense of accomplishment today,” she said. “It’s not often that people my age get to add on something like this--once you hit middle age, you feel like you’re finished.”

Jaime Villalvazo, 24, of San Fernando, was the first of eight siblings to graduate from high school. Now, a graduate of the liberal studies program, Villalvazo is the first in his family to finish college. He plans to be a teacher.

“Then I’ll get my master’s degree in English and maybe teach at a junior college,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll teach here at CSUN.”

Jagjeet Bhatia, came to the United States in 1995 on a student visa from India to study computer science. He has already landed a job at Alcatel Corp. that pays him $73,000 a year, plus stock options.

“You represent the best and the brightest,” said interim university President Louanne Kennedy in her address, right before handing out the golden honor medals.

This week will effectively end Kennedy’s tenure at the helm of Cal State Northridge. Cal State Sacramento Vice President Jolene Koester will take Blenda Wilson’s place as Northridge’s president this summer. Kennedy will then resume her duties as vice president and provost.

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Cal State Northridge is the largest four-year university in the San Fernando Valley, with 28,000 students. Convocation will continue throughout the week, on the following schedule:

Today: The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences will hold its graduation ceremony at 8 a.m. on the Oviatt Lawn. Science and Mathematics will begin at 4 p.m. at the University Club. Health and Human Development will hold its graduation at 6:30 p.m. on the Oviatt Lawn.

Thursday: The College of Arts, Media and Communication will hold convocation at 8 a.m. on the Oviatt Lawn. Engineering and Computer Science will hold its graduation ceremony at 4 p.m. at the University Club. The College of Humanities will graduate its students at 6:30 p.m. on the Oviatt Lawn.

Friday: The College of Business Administration and Economics will have convocation at 8 a.m. and the School of Education will close the week of graduation with a ceremony at the University Club.