MiraCosta College will be honoring more than 1,500 graduates at its May 27 commencement—the first time in two years that the college will be holding in-person graduation ceremonies.

The ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. on May 27 at the Athletic Track and Field on the Oceanside Campus. The 2020 and 2021 commencements were held virtually to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What an honor to celebrate our MiraCosta College graduates with family and friends on campus,” said Superintendent/President Sunita V. Cooke. “We are so proud of the educational achievements and we applaud their dedication and resilience!”

The college will award 3,155 degrees and certificates to 1,548 graduates, with many students receiving multiple degrees or certificates.

The ages of the graduates range from 16 to 75 years old, and 187 have perfect grade point averages. More than 400 graduates are first-generation college students and nearly 290 are affiliated with the military.

The commencement speaker will be Ruben Garcia, a 45-year-old Oceanside resident who became a paraplegic after he was shot when he was 17 years old. He began attending MiraCosta College in 2013 and will be earning an associate degree in communications. Garcia said attending MiraCosta College provided direction for his life. “It gave me a new purpose,” he said. “It gave me confidence.” 

The commencement poet will be Alesi Kamakanaokalani Meyers-Tuimavave, who will be graduating with an associate degree in English literature. She will be reading a poem at the commencement ceremony that she wrote, entitled Unity.

“My purpose is to get out all the things that make me feel united—like all the different communities and all the different people in my life,” she said. “I wanted to pinpoint how I feel when I’m around them. It’s to show that we can feel really alone sometimes, but we’re never truly alone.”