SPRINGFIELD — When Carineh Santana was hit by a car last summer, she doubted she’d graduate from Holyoke Community College as planned this spring. That wasn’t the only challenge she’d faced, either, identifying as a queer, Latinx, first-generation woman engineer in classrooms where she felt different. 

But Santana persisted. And on Saturday, June 1, she was one of about 700 students to graduate from HCC in the Class of 2024.

“I succeeded because I kept pushing and I kept going even when I felt I couldn’t,” she told the audience of HCC graduates and their friends and family, along with faculty and staff, in the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. “[W]e are standing here together triumphantly.”

Santana, who lives in Holyoke, said she owed that strength to her friends, advisors and professors on campus who supported her, and her family, especially her mother and sister. Her family members were in the audience Saturday, loudly cheering her on and wiping away tears.

Xinyan Jiang, another student orator from the Class of 2024, spoke about her journey to HCC, which included commuting two-and-a-half hours by bus to campus from her home in South Amherst. She was born in China and lived in Philadelphia before moving to Amherst with the hope of one day attending Amherst College. And in the fall, she’ll do just that.

“A dream stays a dream until it is acted upon,” she said, recalling the days when she cleaned tables and served customers in her uncle’s restaurant across from Amherst College, until she got up the nerve to start her journey in higher education by attending HCC.

Miguel Velez, a special programs coordinator at HCC, was beaming throughout the commencement ceremony. The words he used to describe how he was feeling were “hopeful” and “proud.”

“Remembering their first days and how they couldn’t navigate the college, and they had so many questions and nervousness to now graduating, it’s just amazing,” he said. “I come [to commencement] every year.”

Before the ceremony started, graduates Chelsea Bigos, Lindsey Dion, and Ryan Simon said they were all feeling “nervous but excited.”

“It’s been wonderful, it’s a great community,” Bigos said of her experience at the college. “I’m really happy I decided to go to HCC.” 

All three said they were glad they chose to start their college education at HCC, rather than at a four-year institution, which they’ll transfer to in the fall. And all three graduated on Saturday with valedictorian awards for earning a 4.0 grade point average.

Elizabeth Román, who spoke at the ceremony on behalf of the alumni association, talked about her journey from taking journalism classes at the college to now holding the position of managing editor of news at New England Public Media. She recalled being a high school kid who was “a little embarrassed to go to community college” to being “eternally grateful” for the path that led her to HCC.

“I am a proud graduate of this school that had such a large part in shaping my life,” Román told the audience. “And it’s a pretty good life.”

Elise Linscott is a freelance writer living in Northampton. She can be reached at elise@eliselinscott.com.