Graduates, loved ones, faculty, staff and donors gathered at the Schoening Conference Center Thursday night to celebrate milestones that have become extra meaningful for the graduates who've worked extra hard to reach them.
Each year on the day before commencement, Arizona Western College holds a unique celebration in honor of the many graduates who've overcome barriers and hardship to be able to walk the line in a cap and gown. The tradition, La Cosecha, began 33 years ago with the intention of encouraging grads to pursue higher degrees – bachelor's, master's and even doctorates – and return to the community as professionals.
To be celebrated at the La Cosecha banquet, graduates must be pursuing a transfer degree and meet at least one of the following criteria:
• First Generation (neither parent has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S.)
• Relied/depended on financial aid to complete a degree
• Students with a disability
• Experienced unusual/extenuating circumstances during degree completion (i.e. illness, loss of income, death in the family)
Recognized graduates gather with loved ones to share a banquet meal and receive a certificate of recognition along with a commemorative sash to wear with their cap and gown the following evening. Scholarships are also awarded, and donors frequently attend the event as well. This year, the banquet itself was sponsored by Jimmy Esparza, CEO of Renewable Power USA, who's done so since 2023.
"They've had challenges and they have overcome their challenges, and I think that that's the one thing I see over and over — not only in the scholarship recipients but just students in general," said Josie Uriarte, who's attended the event regularly since 1999 and has since become a donor through the Hector German Uriarte Memorial Scholarship. "They face things like 'Oh my god, I don't have gas in my car' or 'I got a flat tire,' but they overcome. Even little things like that is hard because there's students who come all the way from San Luis, there's students who come all the way from Dateland ... I wish for them a life full of success."
The night saw many graduates who went on to walk the line Friday night, too, but here's what a few had to share:
Sala Almuliki, graduating with an honor's degree in general studies, transferring to Northern Arizona University-Yuma for a bachelor's in nursing and a minor in social work or psychology.
"Growing up, you don't really hear much of people struggling. You tend to see that everyone has it figured out. Something that really resonated with me at this event is that everyone did struggle with something, whether its financial aid or school. We all had that in common and we all found someone here at AWC to help us, whether it was a mentor or an advisor, so it was nice to relate to people and we were able to help one another."
Anerol Gil, graduating with an associate's in social work, transferring to Arizona State University. Currently working as an early college specialist and an AWC ambassador, too.
"The reason why this is so special to me personally is because, well, I am a first generation student so this means not just a lot to me, but it means a lot to my family. My parents didn't graduate, and I'm the first person to be born here in the States, so this is a huge accomplishment for me and them. I didn't really care that much about school when I was in high school, but once I became an ambassador, I feel like that's when things really started to change because my GPA mattered. I think that's what really pushed me to continue.
"Someone who had a big influence on my success — I give props to her — is Vanessa Lopez because she was not only a supervisor to me, but she was also a mentor. She didn't really know she wasn't my mentor, but I always kind of looked at her that way."
Faith Braithwaite, graduating with an associate's in theatre and general studies (as well as graduating from high school), transferring to an in-state university for a degree in fashion design. Currently Miss Granite Mountain's Teen, too.
"I started out coming here as part of a military family and was homeschooled as well; there was just a lot of different struggles related to that. Just recently, trying to register for college was interesting because of so many transcripts and classes that needed to get signed and stuff, and just throughout it, I was struggling with a lot of stress, social anxiety, family stress as well, and all that combined with being homeschooled was stressful.
"I enrolled here when I was 13, actually, so I was probably the youngest student for maybe a little while, and starting in theatre helped me gain my confidence. And this past two years, I've been in pageants. Being able to complete my associate's along with getting scholarships and completing high school has been amazing. Oh, put me on this too. I'm graduating with my associate's — two associate's in theatre and arts, general studies and arts — before my high school graduation.
"It's so hard to name just one person who made a difference, but I would have to name my theatre professor, Ann Wilkinson, who is leaving — broke my heart! But she has just been such an amazing influence on me, of course, in theatre but then I knew I could just go talk to her whenever. She was super flexible with my assignments, and she never treated me like I was any different simply because of my age. I always felt like I was properly included up to the skill level that I had at the time."
Danixzia Diaz, graduating with an associate's in business, transferring to a university for a bachelor's in human resources and a minor in marketing.
"Tonight, La Cosecha, is really important to me because it's a reflection of how much I've grown throughout the semester. The semester was challenging for me. It didn't go as expected. So making it here and passing all my classes is an accomplishment. I do come from a single parent household, so making my mom proud and doing this for her was really important. She came with me and my grandpa [tonight]. They are both very important people in my life. My grandpa was always kind of like that father figure, male figure in my life, so I wanted to bring him along. They loved the food, they loved taking pictures, and my mom was very proud of my accomplishments.
"I want to say my friends definitely [helped me get here]. They pushed me. They were there for me during that tough time this semester. My mom — she was my biggest motivator, my biggest inspiration. She pushed me to do things I didn't want to do, and at the time, I wasn't grateful, but now I am grateful that she pushed me to do things. And then my boss, Biridiana Martinez, from early college, she was a great help for me this semester, too.
"[In the future,] I want to maybe get a corporate job, you know, get some experience, and then I do want to go ahead and open up something for our military veterans. I know they are very, sometimes they're overlooked. So I want to have a place where they can come and get help, whether that be financial help, just adjusting from military to civilian life, you know? I don't think it's right that a veteran can be homeless. I don't think that's right. So I want everyone, all those people, to have something."
Elias Alvarez Iniguez, graduating with an associate of arts, hoping to get an associate's in Media Arts and then transferring to Northern Arizona University for a journalism degree. Currently a student reporter for KAWC.
"I'm going to be very honest, I didn't actually think that I was ever going to make it to college — not because I wasn't planning to come to college but rather because of my financial circumstances, and because, well, I would have been the very first one in my family to come to college. I would be a first generation student.
"Most of my family came to Mexico, and my parents didn't really graduate from high school. So I was always wondering if I would ever get to come to college because of my lack of financial resources. But it was thanks to my scholarship that I got from CAMP that allowed me to stay here in the dorms and also go through my dream of going to college and just continuing my education, and hopefully in the future, to be able to continue my education and get a successful job and support my family.
"I would say there are two very important groups that helped me. One would be my CAMP advisor, Rafael Encinas. He was honestly a huge shoulder I could lean on. I'm not gonna lie, I spent a lot of days complaining in his office about circumstances, celebrating, just hanging around. The first semester, when I didn't have much friends, I basically lived in that office. We became very close. And then my second semester, I became very close with my group of friends, who also got to be here with me tonight, and became recipients of La Cosecha, too. So I would say, just having the little friend group and those 3 a.m. rendezvous, just like the little side quests we did at midnight and just living in the same dorms; it was just such a good help having those people to bond with and my own little community.
"So far, I've been working as a student reporter for KAWC, which now I'm no longer going to be a student intern reporter, and now I'm just going to bump up a little bit, and have some interns I can also guide and hopefully, after this, if all goes well, I'll be going to Flagstaff to NAU and just going to those dorms over there and studying my bachelor's in journalism."
