On Friday, May 20th, Feather River College in Quincy celebrated its 54th commencement ceremony outdoors in Brennan Stadium, graduating the Class of 2022. Despite the wind that day, the stands were packed with family and friends celebrating the 203 graduating loved ones.
The ceremony began with a welcome speech from Guy McNett, president of the Board of Trustees. McNett described the challenges faced by students in the last year, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Dixie Fire ravaging Plumas County. Despite this, he says the college survived and thrived because everyone cooperated enough to make it through.
College President Kevin Trutna then delivered his annual gradution address and commended the school for its monumental accomplishments this year - Feather River saw its first undefeated football season, hosted a bowl game for the first time, came in third statewide in volleyball and second in beach volleyball, and conducted its first-ever Good Fire Underburn event on campus to reduce fire risk.
2022's student speaker was Alex Saunders, an international student from Australia who began attending Feather River in 2019 and found himself stuck in Australia when the COVID-19 pandemic, with no idea whether or not he would ever set foot in Quincy again. Today, two years later, he asked the Class of 2022 to acknowledge the incredible adversity they'd survived and take three lessons to heart - "be grateful for what you have, say yes to opportunities, and don't take shortcuts." Saunders was recognized as a Scholar Athlete and member of Phi Theta Kappa and earned Highest Honors for his academics at Feather River.
So how did the graduates feel about their accomplishments?
"It feels really good to be done," said Bowdy Griffin, a native of Sierraville who graduated from Loyalton High in 2018.
"After this long, this degree is all I've wanted" were the words of Levi Mullen, a student who is a member of the Greenville Rancheria of Maidu Indians and a victim of last year's Dixie Fire.
"It's great!" said Kyle Goodman, a Portolan whose parting words from Feather River were, "hard work always pays off."