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Starting on the Path to Success: A Young Mother, an Older Woman and a Young Man Are Among the Stories at Today's Commencement

Posted on: Friday, 19 May 2006, 12:10 CDT

By Sally Connell, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

May 19--The theme of Cuesta College's graduation ceremony -- "Your future. Your children's future." -- applies to many of the 1,000 students earning associate degrees this year.

There's a very young mother. An older woman who returned to school and made discoveries along the way. And a young man who took his time to enjoy Cuesta and is now embarking on life.

Those three will be among the 200 to 250 graduating students who have chosen to go through the commencement ceremony today at the Cuesta gymnasium. Here are their stories.

April McGee

Cuesta College really is a family affair for April McGee, Isidro Soto and their 3-year-old son, Cameron.

The school has helped the young couple stay together and get their education -- something an early unplanned pregnancy could have jeopardized.

"I've worked really hard to get where I need to get," McGee said.

She is graduating with a 3.2 grade-point average, with a specialty in psychology. But she is not alone at Cuesta. Isidro is in his first year at the school, and Cameron attends the Cuesta Children's Center preschool.

Even though only 20, McGee finds herself connecting with the older women who return to Cuesta for schooling, rather than with students her own age.

"I relate more to them than the younger students who talk about going partying and stuff like that," she said. "I have a baby. I can't do that."

She has a federal student work-study job. Her husband works nights. They also have student aid and scholarships allowing them to attend school full-time.

She has been accepted at Cal Poly, where she will major in psychology starting in the fall. Her hope is to work in domestic violence counseling or social work.

Jeannette Haupt

Jeannette Haupt, 49, graduated from high school and went right into the Army as a helicopter mechanic.

It was there she met a good-looking man and quickly married him. Together, they had two sons, now grown.

Living in St. Paul after the three-year Army stint, her marriage became troubled. After experiencing 13 years of domestic abuse, Haupt left a $50,000-per-year job with the U.S. Postal Service and fled back to California. Her ex-husband has since died.

Her two sons -- one a chef, the other a house painter -- also live in the area, and she has one grandchild.

It's taken her six years of classes, but she's reached the point where she will walk down the aisle for commencement with the cane she needs for arthritis.

She's graduating with nearly a 4.0 grade-point average, despite a learning disability she believes might be an effect of the domestic abuse. "I can't put patterns together," she explained.

Graduating from school is good, she says, but getting into a healthy relationship with life partner Roberta Walker six years ago was better. Haupt said she didn't even realize she was gay until she turned 40, but she quips that may be tied to "my being a slow learner."

Her goal is to apply to Cal Poly after a year off, with the eventual goal of counseling women on how to get out of abusive relationships.

Nick Alward

Nick Alward, 22, describes his education for most of middle school and all of high school as casual. He was home-schooled.

"It's very different from traditional schooling," Alward said. "You have to learn to be a little more to be disciplined. Each family does it differently. We did it really loose."

Cuesta was an adjustment when he arrived almost five years ago because of the order it imposed on his life.

Alward lives in Atascadero and tried to take most of his courses at the North County campus in Paso Robles.

He likes its smaller atmosphere, and he now knows most of the people at the college from his 20-hour-a-week stint as a campus computer go-to guy. He never really picked a major and will get an associate of arts degree in general studies.

"I've taken every writing class there is at Cuesta," he said. "I've been considering writing fiction. I like the idea of being able to write an entire work, but that takes so much discipline."

He has no immediate plans, but knows he will go on to a four-year college, possibly applying to Cal Poly.

"The other major thing I've considered is game design," producing video game graphics or storyboards, he said. He believes Cal Poly would be a good training ground for that field.

Graduation tonight

Between 200 and 250 students are expected to go through Cuesta College's 41st commencement exercises today. They will line up starting at 4 p.m. in the Cuesta gymnasium. Commencement will last from 5 to 7 p.m.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

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Source: The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

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