“Take a leap of faith.”
This was the quote graduate Landon Garza chose to put on his graduation cap, inspired by the game franchise “Assassin’s Creed.”
Garza is one of many graduating students who were decorating their caps on May 29 at the Student Services Plaza, as part of the Grad Cap Decorating Event.
“I feel very accomplished, very ecstatic and I’m happy that I can finally say I graduated college after 10 years,” Garza, a history and behavioral and social sciences major, said.
At the event, students were provided with markers, glitter, glue, letters and stickers to decorate their caps, tailored to different major groups including STEM, humanities and arts.
“There’s a lot of students here. It’s really exciting, it’s really an opportunity for students to celebrate, like graduating and transferring to their top choices,” First Year Experience counselor Aeri Gomez said. “It’s just to celebrate them because they put in all the hard work they’ve done the past, however many years at El [Camino].”
Sponsored by the Student Development Office and the Student Equity and Achievement Center, this is the second time the event was hosted since the COVID-19 pandemic and it reached the maximum amount of students that could register.
Multiple programs, in conjunction with First Year Experience, coordinated the event by setting up tables and chairs, checking students in and serving food.
“It’s a lot of fun, I didn’t expect so many people to be here,” Grace Molinero, a graduate in business management, said. “I wanted to meet other people here and just be able to decorate with other students who are graduating.”
Molinero, who is taking a gap year, said she will miss the amount of resources at El Camino, the smaller class sizes, the availability and kindness of her professors and how she learned about herself.
“Many of my classes I just thought I wasn’t gonna be able to keep up with the rest of the students or do as well in my class, but then it turned out most of the people dropped the class anyways…and I was just very proud of myself that I was able to make it that far,” Molinero said.
Garza said he had fun decorating with the other graduates. On his cap, Garza wrote down the years he attended college from start to finish and added a Star Wars sticker.
After graduating, Garza plans to take a break from college as well as find a job.
“Patience is key. I know it may seem scary at first but eventually you’ll get there to the end of your road and it’s worth it in the end,” Garza said.
