Class of 2009 Celebrates Commencement at CSU Dominguez Hills

More than 2,000 new graduates of California State University, Dominguez Hills participated in commencement exercises at the Home Depot Center located on the Carson campus. The master’s hooding ceremony, which took place on Thursday, May 21, welcomed 490 graduate students, their families and friends to the Tennis Stadium. Jamie McCourt, CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers gave the keynote address. The following morning, 1,525 undergraduate students celebrated graduation on the facility’s main soccer field. U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis saluted the Class of 2009 with her keynote address.

Solis, herself the product of a CSU, told the assembled undergraduates about how counselors in high school encouraged her to follow in her sister’s footsteps and become a secretary. Instead, she became the first in her family to earn a college degree and pursued a career in politics, serving in the California State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. She is the first Latina cabinet member of any presidential administration and the first Hispanic labor secretary.

“It's OK to be a secretary,” quipped the Cal Poly Pomona alumna, “a cabinet secretary of the Department of Labor.”

McCourt, the highest ranking woman in Major League Baseball, spoke to graduate students and their guests at the master’s hooding ceremony the previous evening. In her speech, she encouraged the Class of 2009 to use the occasion to “think about what you will do with your education, your knowledge and your wisdom, to improve your neighborhood, your community … and if you’re really lucky, your country … and perhaps even the world.”

David Gamboa, director of government and community relations at CSU Dominguez Hills, says that the keynote speakers at both ceremonies were “special and inspirational.”

“[McCourt’s] speech brought to the attention that women are now becoming the powerbrokers in many industries that were once controlled by men... and captured the essence of how students should prepare themselves to think outside of the box when striving to make change for the betterment of society. [Secretary Solis’s] speech connected with the graduating class by showing that hard work and determination truly pays off. As one of President Obama’s trusted cabinet members, her success started when she graduated with her bachelor’s degree.”

- Joanie Harmon

Photos above: Hilda Solis, U.S. Secretary of Labor, greeted the Class of 2009 on Friday morning at the undergraduate commencement.

Jamie McCourt, president, Los Angeles Dodgers, addressed the graduates at the May 21 master's hooding ceremony.

Two new graduates hold onto their hats in the winds of change - and the spring morning - at the Home Depot Center.

New graduates move their tassels to indicate their newly conferred degrees.

Photos by GK