Commencement - May 23, 2025
HONORS AT GRADUATION
Associate Degree candidates with the following cumulative grade point averages at the end of the Fall 2024 semester will be recognized at graduation as follows:
3.25 – 3.49 With Honors
3.50 – 3.74 With High Honors
3.75 – 4.00 With Highest Honors
Please be reminded that this is a cumulative grade point average reflecting ALL COLLEGE WORK through Fall 2024. This includes college work completed both at Peralta and other colleges. Again, Certificate recipients are not eligible for honors.
For those students graduating with Associate Degrees in June 2025, your cumulative GPA will be recalculated once grades from Spring 2025 semester are finalized. If at that time you qualify for honors, your transcript will be appropriately noted.
VALEDICTORIAN & SALUTATORIAN
Each year a class valedictorian and salutatorian are chosen from the candidates for the Associate Degree. Certificate candidates are not eligible.
The class valedictorian is the student in the graduating class with the highest cumulative grade point average at the end of the Fall 2025 semester. This individual will be asked to deliver a speech to the graduating class.
The class salutatorian is the student in the graduating class with the second highest cumulative grade point average at the end of the Fall 2025 semester. This individual will be asked to lead the class in the moving of the cap tassel at the end of the ceremony.
Keynote Speaker, Valedictorian & Salutatorian 2025
Keynote Speaker: The Honorable Barbara Lee, Former United States Representative
The Honorable Barbara Lee is the first Black woman to represent northern California in the state legislature and the U.S. Congress, where she served for nearly 40 years and chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, Task Force on Poverty, Income Inequality and Opportunity, and Congressional Social Work Caucus, among other leadership posts. In 2025, she became mayor-elect for Oakland, California.
Lee has spent a lifetime fighting for justice and opportunity, bringing unquestionable results to the people and communities she has represented. Her leadership has always been rooted in the needs of the community. She understands the people she has served because she has lived their struggles from poverty and homelessness to lack of affordable childcare and health care.
While in Congress, Lee secured billions of dollars to improve Oakland’s neighborhoods and quality of life. She secured funding for police officers and firefighters, delivered $15.8 million for community safety programs, $70.8 million for safer and greener streets, $87.3 million to uplift small businesses, and $400 million to expand and green the Port of Oakland.
Lee’s decades-long career as a public servant and advocate, fighting for civil rights and the needs of the community, can be traced back to her early school days when she worked with the NAACP to integrate her high school’s cheerleading team. Her advocacy continued when she served as president of the Black Student Union at Mills College. During that time, she invited then Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm to the campus, inspiring Lee to register to vote for the first time. She went on to work on Chisholm’s historic presidential campaign and served as one of her delegates at the Democratic National Convention in 1972.
Lee’s career in Congress began as an intern and progressed to chief of staff for U.S. Representative Ronald V. Dellums of California, 1975-1987. At the state level, she was elected to the California assembly, 1991-1997, and then the California state senate, 1997-1998. By special election, Lee was elected as a Democrat to the 150th Congress, filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of Congressman Dellums. She was reelected to 13 succeeding Congresses (1998-2025).
One of her key moments in Congress was casting the sole no vote to give the president unlimited war powers after 9/11, unafraid to stand up for accountability and justice. Her unflinching courage and principled leadership showcase her tenacity to tackle the toughest challenges and put people first.
Born in El Paso, Texas, Lee moved with her family to California, where she graduated from San Fernando High School. While a single mother of two children, she earned a B.A. from Mills College in Oakland and a master’s degree in social work from the University of California, Berkeley.
Valedictorian: Delena Jackson
A proud Oakland native, Delena is curious by nature and a student of life. She believes in showing up fully, whether it’s for family, work, school, or community. Her academic journey has been anything but typical, and that’s what makes it special.
In 2022, after 25 years of balancing life obligations, she returned to college. In 2024 she earned multiple associate degrees with high honors from Merritt College in Business Administration, Economics, and Accounting. To her surprise, an academic advisor discovered she had also completed a fourth degree—Liberal Studies/Social & Behavioral Sciences—at College of Alameda, officially making her a member of the CoA Class of 2025.
Delena’s path has been fueled by persistence, curiosity, and a lot of quiet pep talks. As an older student living with neurodivergence and physical limitations, she balanced her studies with community involvement, service learning, and a full-time job in public service. Her interest in improving the world around her reflects a deep commitment to understanding, and changing, the systems that shape our communities. Driven by a passion to address inequality and create lasting change, she founded a nonprofit/social club that empowers women and builds sisterhood through community service and fellowship—shoutout to the ladies of Truly Wicked SC!
Outside the classroom, Delena finds joy in the simple things: remote-control car races with her dad, hosting themed parties with her mom and sisters, and quoting Grey’s Anatomy like she’s an actual surgeon on the trauma floor at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She’s also a lifelong Batman fan and proud pet mom to a lovable crew that includes four dogs, three uromastyx lizards, one ball python, and a cat named Tigger, also known as “Kitty,” who faithfully supervised her homework most nights.
Delena is currently completing her Bachelor’s in Sociology with a minor in Ethnic Studies at California State University East Bay and plans to pursue an MBA at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Spring 2026. Her long-term goal is to continue serving the Oakland community through data-informed public service and civic leadership and to one day open a program for young adults aging out of the foster care system and those reentering society after incarceration.
She proudly dedicates this milestone to her ancestors, family, mentors, and everyone who reminded her—especially on the hard days—you can do it.
Salutatorian: Clarissa Chen
My name is Clarissa Chen, and I’m a dual enrolled student from Alameda Science and Technology Institute. I’ve had the unique opportunity to experience both high school and college rigor at the same time. Through COA, I’ve been able to take courses that were not offered at my small high school. I was able to explore my academic interests in a deeper way, and to have a strong foundation in the scientific method, critical thinking, and being able to take the rigorous workload. Taking more science-based classes such as Chemistry, Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology has shaped my passion for science and healthcare. I thoroughly appreciated the hands-on learning, where each theory and questions in the sciences were tested, and how the professors were always there to help and consistently push me to be a better student. The environment of COA has always been a welcoming and uplifting one, where I am always pushing myself to be better but there
is always support systems in peers, faculty, and professors when I need it.
Taking every opportunity to expand my budding knowledge base, I can be found during my free time performing officer duties for my school’s Red Cross Club, designing prototype prosthetics as part of a high school engineering program, or accompanying family members to medical and dental appointments as a translator. When founding my school’s first art club with my peers, we created a space where students could express themselves and build a community from a collective passion.
These have taught me how to take initiative, navigate challenges, and build the foundation for future goals.
Growing up in a low-income neighborhood where visiting a dentist was more luxury than routine, I watched my family fight an invisible battle against ailments we couldn’t fully understand or afford to
treat. Whether it was cavities, bruxism, or the ever-growing threat of gum disease, our conversations often revolved around the next best steps to stay healthy with our limited funds. I came to realize during my high school years how the innovation of affordable, accessible, and ethical biomedical solutions, especially for disadvantaged populations, could be the very purpose I seek to achieve in life.
This fall, I’ll be attending the University of California, Berkeley where I plan to major in Chemical biology. There I’ll be able to continue my journey towards becoming a dentist scientist, my ultimate
goal is to improve accessibility and affordable dental care where access to dental care is not by one’s socioeconomic status, but by the severity of one’s condition.
College of Alameda was not only a place where I can finish my A-G requirements for school, it has given me the priceless opportunity of having a head start for my aspirations, and a community I’ll never
forget and cherish.
AAPI Graduation
Friday, May 9, 2025
4 pm at Merritt College (Student Lounge)
Click here to RSVP and learn more.
Raíces/Latinx Graduation
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
4:30 pm at Berkeley City College Atrium & Auditorium
Additional Information – English
Additional Information – Spanish
Click here to RSVP and learn more.
PAAAA Graduation
Saturday, May 17, 2025
11 am at Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, 408 W. MacArthur Blvd. Oakland
Click here to RSVP and learn more.
Lavender Graduation
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
5 pm College of Alameda H Building Lobby
Click here to RSVP and learn more.
College of Alameda Commencement Frequently Asked Questions
The College of Alameda commencement ceremony is Friday, May 23, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. on the College of Alameda Soccer Field. Guests can start arriving as early as 1:30 p.m.
The estimated duration of the ceremony is 90 minutes to two (2) hours.
Yes. Guests attending the ceremony will need a ticket to enter the Soccer Field. Each graduate that has submitted an RSVP to participate in the ceremony by the deadline will receive four (4) tickets. Tickets will be distributed at the commencement rehearsal, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 2:00 p.m.
Children ages three (3) and older will need a ticket to enter the ceremony.
After the April 28th RSVP deadline, the Office of Student Activities will determine the number of additional tickets available. Based on the number of additional tickets available, each graduate will receive an increase in the total number of tickets provided (for example: instead of four (4) tickets, each graduate could receive six (6) tickets). However, if additional tickets are not available each graduate will only receive the allotted four (4) tickets. Graduates that need additional tickets are advised to ask fellow graduates for their unneeded tickets.
Students who successfully completed a petition to graduate with the Admissions and Records office will have their name and degree(s) and/or certificate(s) listed in the program.
Parking lots B, C and D provide the best access to the Soccer Field. Parking permits are not required.
All campus parking lots have designated disabled parking. The main entrance into the Soccer field is accessible. Ramps are located on either side of the bleachers. The first row of the bleachers includes six (6) wheelchair accessible seating areas. All guest seating is first come first serve. Interpreters will be available for graduates and guests throughout the ceremony. Graduates in need of seating accommodations can notify the Office of Student Activities on the Commencement RSVP form. Contact the Director of Student Activities & Campus Life at nrodriguez@peralta.edu with
Yes, a photographer will be taking public relations pictures as well as graduate portraits before and during the ceremony.
Diplomas will not be provided at the ceremony. Admissions and Records will send an email notification to students during the summer informing students when diplomas are ready for pick-up from the Admissions and Records office.
The ceremony will be recorded for later viewing on Peralta TV. A live stream of the ceremony will not be available.
In the event of rain, the ceremony will take place inside the College of Alameda Gym.
Graduates can purchase all regalia (i.e., cap, gown and tassel) through Jostens Inc (link to https://www.jostens.com/apps/store/customer/1002839/College-of-Alameda/). All orders will be shipped directly to your home/personal address. All regalia related questions should be addressed directly to Jostens. If you need assistance with the purchase of regalia, the office of Student Actvities and Campus Life has a limited number of caps and gowns available for borrowing. Please contact Director Natalie Rodriguez at nrodriguez@peralta.edu.
ONLINE ORDERING DEADLINE IS APRIL 17th
When deciding what to wear to the ceremony it is important to consider the weather and comfortability, since graduates will be standing and sitting for long periods of time and the seating area for graduates will not be shaded. Here are a few recommendations:
- Pressed slacks, trousers, khakis, dress, or skirt
- Pressed dress shirt with a tie or a blouse
- Dress socks and shoes. High heels are not recommended for reasons of safety and comfort, flats or pumps are advised. Casual sandals and tennis shoes should also be
Keep in mind, your gown should fall midway between the knee and ankle. Tassels are worn on the right side.
Rehearsal is Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. on the Soccer field. The rehearsal is scheduled to last one (1) hour to 90 minutes.
Yes, rehearsal is mandatory for all graduates. During the rehearsal you will receive important information about the ceremony, practice the procession, seating and recession. Tickets will be distributed at the end of the rehearsal. Graduates that are unable to attend rehearsal must email the Office of Student Activities at nrodriguez@peralta.edu. Graduates that do not pick up their tickets at rehearsal are not guaranteed tickets for the ceremony.