Ceremonies honor success of region’s minority students

Out of the 35 cousins in Michelle Moreno’s family, six have graduated from high school.

So when the North Central High School senior walked across the stage to be recognized Thursday night at the Ninth Annual Hispanic Graduation and Recognition celebration, her mother could hardly stay in her seat.

“This is to me, the greatest feeling,” said Maria Holten, Moreno’s mother. Holten, a native of El Paso, Texas, and a single mom, didn’t graduate from high school. Only one of her seven siblings did.

Holten was among about 400 family members, friends and community leaders watching as Moreno and other Spokane-area high school and college Hispanic and Latino graduates were honored at Spokane Community College.

The previous night, the Native American community held its eighth annual celebration at the community college. The African American community held its own ceremony May 1 at Gonzaga University.

The events are meant to recognize the educational success of minority students, and to increase graduation rates for the ethnic populations.

One in six public high school students drops out in Washington State. Rates are twice as high for the minority groups honored at this month’s ceremonies. Statewide, Latino students scored among the lowest in 2003 WASL testing for math, reading and writing for fourth, seventh and 10th grades.

“We have a very high dropout rate,” said Yvonne Lopez-Morton, Washington State Hispanic Affairs commissioner. “There are a lot of struggles within the Hispanic community, within every minority community.”

Events like Thursday’s embrace and promote education within those communities, Lopez-Morton said.

“We want them to know how important getting an education is,” she said.

Also honored at Thursday night’s celebration were excellent scholars among high school underclassmen and Spokane Hispanic Business Professional Association scholarship recipients.

Gov. Gary Locke was the keynote speaker; Spokane Mayor Jim West and Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley read together a proclamation declaring Thursday Hispanic graduation celebration day. Wednesday was declared Native American celebration day.

Each graduate from the Hispanic and Native American communities was given a special sash to wear at their respective school commencements in the next few weeks, along with a certificate of achievement.

Eastern Washington University graduate Cristina Gaeta is modest about her successes. Gaeta, 25, originally from Othello, Wash., is graduating this year with a master’s degree from EWU in public administration with a 3.8 grade-point average. She has a bachelor’s degree in business finance and economics. After graduation, she will be working with the Latino Education Achievement Program to support rights and legislation for Latino students.

“I graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA,” Gaeta said. “I’m not proud of that, but I still went to college. I always tell (young) students that so they understand that they have a chance.”

The ceremonies are as much about celebrating educational achievement, as celebrating heritage.

“This is about helping people connect to their history,” said Deb Abrahamson, a committee member of the Native American celebration. “We are hoping to tie our culture back into the education of our children and to help them remember where they came from.”