Before the tassel turns and the stadium fills on May 21, San José City College marks the close of each academic year with a recognition that no two student journeys look the same.
From late April through mid-May, SJCC hosted more than a dozen ceremonies honoring students across learning communities, academic programs, and life circumstances — a season of celebrations the college has anchored to its “Find Your Jaguar SPOT” initiative, which stands for Student Pathway to Opportunity and Transfer.
“Every student who walks across one of our stages this spring found their way to SJCC along a different road,” said Dr. Marilyn Flores, who is completing her first year as the college’s president. “These ceremonies are our way of saying: we see that road. We honor it. And we are proud of every single student who chose to walk it here.”
The season opened on April 28 with the Lavender Graduation, SJCC’s annual ceremony honoring LGBTQ+ students, held at the Robert N. Chang Student Center. The ceremony set the tone for the weeks ahead: student names read aloud, families cheering, and a college making space for every part of who its graduates are.
In the days that followed, SJCC held its Transfer Celebration alongside a welcome event with San José State University, recognizing students who will carry their degrees from SJCC directly into four-year programs.
The college also hosted its annual Scholarship Ceremony. This year, 78 students earned 117 awards totaling $140,350 from 45 scholarship opportunities, making their Student Pathway to Opportunity and Transfer possible.
Photos by Lilith Sanchez
Support program celebrations ran through the first week of May. The EOPS, CARE, and CalWORKs programs, which together serve students navigating financial hardship, caregiving responsibilities, and workforce transitions, marked another year in which students faced significant barriers and finished anyway. Of the SJCC graduating class of 2026, more than 200 graduates are EOPS students, with more than 170 transferring to universities and colleges.
The Puente Project, a program built around mentorship, academic writing, and community for first-generation and Latinx students, held its end-of-year celebration at The SPOT, the college’s student hub on the first floor of the Chang Student Center.
The following week, SJCC’s MESA program — Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement — recognized students who spent the year building the technical foundation for careers in science, technology, engineering, and health. For many of its students, MESA represents a Student Pathway to Opportunity and Transfer that simply would not have been possible without the program’s intensive support.
Photos by Lilith Sanchez
May 8 marked two of the season’s most significant events. The NextUp and Guardian Scholars Luncheon honored students who have experienced foster care — a population the college has committed to supporting through dedicated housing assistance, counseling, and financial aid coordination.
That evening, the San José-Evergreen Community College District hosted its annual District-wide Black Graduation Ceremony at Adobe Headquarters in downtown San José, bringing together graduates from SJCC and sister campus Evergreen Valley College.
The third week of May saw more communities layered in. The LEAP and VSA Joint Graduation brought together Leveraging Education for AAPI Progress and the Vietnamese Student Association for a shared ceremony — two communities on one stage.
Veterans earned their own recognition at the Veterans Graduation Ceremony on May 14, followed the same afternoon by the Honors Program Graduation and Phi Theta Kappa Induction at the SJCC Theater.
On May 15, SJCC’s International Student Program hosted the International Student Graduation and Transfer Luncheon, celebrating students who pursued their education far from home. That evening, La Raza Commencement drew families and community members to the Multi-Disciplinary Quad for one of the season’s most attended ceremonies, a night that, as in years past, belonged as much to the families in the audience as to the graduates on stage.
The final ceremonies carried perhaps the season’s most poignant weight. On May 18, students from SJCC’s Alcohol and Drug Studies program graduated, a cohort pursuing careers built around helping others navigate the same struggles many of them know firsthand.
Photos by Lilith Sanchez
On May 20, ALMASS marked the close of the year for SJCC’s UndcuJaguars. SJCC also partnered with the County of Santa Clara for the Re-entry Completion Ceremony, honoring students whose paths to a degree required not just hard work but a fundamental belief that a second chance was possible.
Taken together, the spring celebration season recognized graduates from more than 15 programs and communities — a scope that, college officials say, reflects something intentional.
“The breadth of who we celebrate is a reflection of the breadth of who we serve,” Dr. Flores said. “Every one of these ceremonies is proof that the Student Pathway to Opportunity and Transfer isn’t a single road. It’s as many roads as there are students willing to walk them.”
