Huntington Beach, Calif. — Golden West College will confer associate degrees and certificates of achievement to 2,019 graduates at the College’s 57th commencement ceremony, scheduled for Thursday, May 23 at 5:30 p.m.
Family and friends, as well as members of the media, are invited to join the graduates, faculty, staff and administrators at the ceremony, which will take place in the College’s Main Quad (15744 Goldenwest Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92647).
This year’s graduating class is a diverse one, with the oldest graduate being 82 years of age, and the youngest just 17 years old. GWC’s Class of 2024 also includes 188 first-generation college students and 34 international student graduates representing 12 different countries.
GWC’s student speaker is psychology major and Puente student Alex Cisneros, who will share his story of resilience and academic success after having endured a childhood marked by abuse, poverty and run-ins with law enforcement.
“I want to show to students that anything is possible,” Cisneros says. “I am the first in my family to attend higher education. I have become a fierce advocate for the community college system because my journey would not have been possible without the support I received at GWC.”
Cisneros – who was recently named a semifinalist for the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke scholarship – will transfer to University of California, Berkeley in the fall, where he plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Ultimately, he hopes to return to the continuation high school where he once felt “lost and hopeless.”
GWC alumnus and current math faculty chair Dr. Shawn Taylor will deliver the keynote address. Born and raised in Huntington Beach, Dr. Taylor faced challenges early on, navigating life with a visual impairment and his father’s passing at a young age. Despite these setbacks, Dr. Taylor demonstrated a passion for both academia and the arts, pursuing both music education and a degree in mathematics while a student at GWC, and eventually graduating with an associate degree in 2006. He then went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from California State University, Long Beach, and more recently, a doctorate in Educational Leadership at University of Southern California.
Dr. Taylor became a full-time faculty member at GWC in 2019 and was elected department chair of mathematics in 2023, where he has embraced the opportunity to lead and inspire others.
