Inside of Parks Student Union just past Campus Gyro and the cafe is the Trojan Annex. On May 28, graduates gathered here to decorate their caps with friends. It all solidified the fact that the 2026 graduation is just around the corner.

Arnav Pillay, one of the activities board coordinators, said that this event was organized for the last couple of years. “It’s like a legacy type of thing we do,” he said. A noticeable difference is that more students showed up this year with the event taking place earlier than usual.

The graduation commencement ceremony will take place on Sunday, June 14 at the Angel of the Winds Arena from 4-6 p.m. As that day approaches, there are many emotions present. Many students are of course excited to receive their degree and move on in their educational or professional journey. However, there are also many who will miss the people they met over the years at EvCC, the close connections they made with their professors and the many opportunities that they had.

Of course, it’s hard to sum up all of the feelings revolving around this time of year. Even so, Jennifer El Khoury, an EvCC Honors Student, managed to sum it up in one word: “Bittersweet.”

El Khoury, originally from Lebanon, moved to the U.S. in 2024 to attend university because of the instability of her home country’s situation. Her aunt advised her to enroll in EvCC, and she has now been here for two years, this being her graduation year. Through her English 102 professor, Michael DuBon, El Khoury learned about the Honors Program.

After the Winter Quarter of 2025, her professor encouraged her to apply. “I signed up for an information session, and there I knew more about it — so I thought, why not?” El Khoury said.

DuBon credits Dr. Diane Brown, the director of the program, among those responsible for its success. He stated that having an Honors Program in a college “helps students be competitive by expanding their critical thinking skills and subject matter knowledge, providing experiential learning opportunities, building academic project management skills and building their academic resume.”

This meant that El Khoury would be doing extra work related to the class, but still apart from the actual material. She would be entering into a “contract” with her professor and completing a capstone project — an intensive workload digging deeper into that specific subject. She had two of these courses spread out across two quarters: one for psychology and the other for biology.

El Khoury’s psychology project focused on “the effects of social media on attention span,” she said, while her biology project focused on “vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, especially in our social-political climate now.” This biology project culminated into a 20-page essay.

Her biology teacher, Frederick Dooley, said “it offers students a glimpse into real world science and experiments … This is a good opportunity for resume building, networking and demonstrating their new skills.”

Being an honors student means more work. But there’s also a mindset behind choosing to be a part of the program: “You like to challenge yourself beyond what other people are doing, but at the same time, you like to challenge yourself because you grow through that,” El Khoury said.

El Khoury not only challenged herself within the Honors Program, but also became involved with EvCC clubs such as the Biology Club and the Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program.

“I feel like this was the highlight … because of the director of the MESA program, Dr. Zappala,” she said.

Dr. Marian Zappala stated that “EvCC MESA scholars find a community of support, inspiration and encouragement that allows them to tackle any situation.” Throughout that process, whether during difficult or celebratory situations, she gets to be a part of it all.

Through MESA, El Khoury was able to participate in the Summer Health Educational Program at Columbia University.

The hard work and dedication of EvCC graduates are what will propel them to June 14, where the celebration of completion will fill the arena. This wouldn’t be possible without the people organizing the event.

An EvCC student for a little more than a year now, Angelica Gomez is the student representative and co-chair of the graduation committee, alongside Justyce Wright, her advisor.

Her role within the committee is to help prepare for the ceremony, make covers for the pamphlets and make sure everyone RSVPs, both volunteers and graduates alike. She also connects with the Center for Disability Services to assist them in the process.

“It’s really cool, ‘cause this year there’s a record number of graduates,” Gomez said.

But this isn’t Gomez’s first time being involved:

“I think my favorite memory was from last year’s graduation — I worked at the ceremony as well. I was checking people in, and a really cool thing that I noticed was for everybody that was checked in, they were all coming in for one person — but it was just these huge groups of people,” she said.

“They were all dressed up. They came with gifts, joy, whatever, and I just thought that was super cool.”

At the Trojan Annex, students meticulously placed glitter, personal designs and other colorful decorations onto their caps. Although these students are preparing to graduate and leave EvCC, the impact that the school made for them will remain.

Amaia Nguyen and Yasmin Bucio sat together while they worked on their caps. “It’s been great here, but you know, (I’m) starting a new chapter, so it’s exciting,” Nguyen said. Bucio added to this, “Oh, I’m excited — a little nervous too, ‘cause I’ve been here for the past two years … so going somewhere else is a little nerve-wracking.”

Ryo Takeuchi, a Japanese international student, shared his EvCC experience.

“Since I’m an international student, I faced a lot of struggles at first. I needed to overcome the language barrier … I needed to adjust to American culture, but my friends helped a lot.”

Being a student for close to two years, Takeuchi said that his friends helped him learn English and made the whole experience really fun. He also said that being part of the Japanese Club allowed him to share his Japanese culture with others.

Amidst the events prior to graduation and the ceremony itself, students are nearing the end with finals only a week after. The summer beckons and the future awaits for those leaving EvCC. But as Gomez put it, there is still “that bittersweetness of saying goodbye.”