The Californer - Downtown Oxnard Celebrates Oxnard College Graduates

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Nearly 150 banners featuring graduates greet the city's visitors

OXNARD, Calif. - Californer -- Oxnard College and Downtown Oxnard have partnered to feature this year's graduates on custom banners hung throughout the city's streets. Oxnard College's Associated Student Government (ASG) spearheaded this initiative to recognize graduates who have come through an unprecedented year of challenges. A total of 1,052 students graduated from Oxnard College for the 2020-21 school year. Nearly 150 graduates volunteered to be featured on banners hanging from lampposts throughout the Plaza in Downtown Oxnard and along both Oxnard Boulevard and Saviers Road. The eye-catching banners will be on display through September, and include a photo of the student, their name and college if they are transferring.

"We thank Downtown Oxnard for helping us celebrate our class of 2021, which has proven to be among the most resilient cohorts of students we have seen," said Luis Sanchez, Oxnard College president. "Our graduates have overcome economic and personal devastation wrought by the pandemic in order to achieve their academic goals and pursue better lives. We expect great things from the class of 2021 in the years to come and know they will make our community proud."

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Daizy Contreras is one of the 2021 graduates celebrated with a banner. "As a first-generation college student, I feel the graduation banners are a special way of recognizing my fellow classmates for our hard work and success," said Contreras, who was instrumental in helping Oxnard College's ASG launch the project. "I am overwhelmed with gratitude toward the supportive staff and faculty at Oxnard College who have helped students succeed this past year and who showed us that anything is possible, even during a pandemic. We hope these banners will help others recognize that education is a key to success and that it will motivate them to enroll at Oxnard College."

"Downtown Oxnard is proud to celebrate Oxnard College's graduates," added Abel Ramírez Magaña, executive director of Downtown Oxnard. "We've loved seeing families visit their graduate's downtown banner, snapping photos together to celebrate this moment. This past year has hit students especially hard, and so we wanted to help honor their perseverance and success."

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Oxnard College's ASG hopes to continue celebrating graduates with banners in the future. Throughout the year, the college's ASG offers students many opportunities to participate in leadership and enrichment projects. For more information, visit oxnardcollege.edu/departments/student-services/associated-student-government (http://www.oxnardcollege.edu/departments/student-services/associated-student-government).