Activity Reports
Graduation of the Sobrato San Jose CET Class of 2003
 The graduation of 65 job ready students and working alumni on Friday, February 6, 2004 was one of Sobrato CET's finest ceremonies to date. The fully packed Antonio R. Soto Theatre in San Jose, California abounded with balloon carrying well-wishers and happy faces that came to support the Graduating Class of 2003. The graduation proceedings were expertly moderated by Dan Morales, Recruitment and Outreach Manager. Following the Pledge of Allegiance led by Admissions and Student Council Advisor, George Leanos, Medical Assistant program student, Gloria De La Cerda, sang the National Anthem.
Representing the employment sector was Ken Stern, General Manager of EZ Electric of Sunnyvale, CA. Accompanying Ken was a former CET student, Juan Padilla, who has worked at EZ Electric for several years now. Ken, whose company has hired no less than 50 students from CET in recent years, spoke highly about the training of CET and of the high caliber, reliability and productiveness of workers that CET trains. He added that his company had grown by 40% in the last year and that he would continue to work actively with CET and give serious consideration to hiring many more of CET's students.
Juan Padilla, a Mexican immigrant, spoke about his fifteen years as a farm worker before he came to CET. He told the audience that in all the years he did farm work he only received a fifty cents raise. He spoke proudly of CET saying that he did not speak English when he came to CET but took advantage of every opportunity to learn more English. After leaving CET he continued learning English in college. He told us  that, in fact, his wife was now going to college to become a teacher. Juan spoke to the audience both in English and in Spanish and challenged the students to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded to them by CET. He eloquently stated that what CET does is to "wake up the giant in each of us; the giant of courage and of hope." He told the students to "get up and go ahead. Don't be a loser, keep going. You'll be a loser if you stop trying." He thanked his former instructors, Tom Trujillo and Richard Noriega, for all the support in not only teaching him the Building Maintenance skills but also for the constant advice, counseling, encouragement and love for learning that they shared with him. Juan earns $25.00 an hour as an electrician at EZ Electric Company.
 The Commencement Address was presented by Carlos Figueroa, President of the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Figueroa first reiterated the statements of encouragement made by Juan Padilla. He then spoke about the importance of small business and minority enterprises and the role that the Hispanic Chamber plays in the promotion and development of these entities in the community. He acknowledged, and was highly impressed with, the strong commitment of CET students to come to training in San Jose, particularly farm workers who commute daily from as far as King City, Soledad and other distant rural communities. He offered to work hard to help promote CET with employers and to continue to support our ongoing work. He spoke about the possibilities of small business development and offered to help staff and students in any efforts to establish such ventures.
The Presentation of Graduates was overseen by CET Industrial Relations Specialist, Rose Salazar, who along with CET instructors greeted the graduates as they stepped onto the theatre stage where they were congratulated and presented graduation certificates.
Closing the graduation ceremony remarks was CET's Executive Director, Ms. Hermelinda Sapien. Ms. Sapien congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to continue their education and to move forward. She told the audience about her growth at CET over the last 36 years and how she initially worked at CET as an administrative assistant and later worked her way to becoming the HR manager, CET's only deputy director, and now the Executive Director of a nationally recognized job training program.
To close the graduation ceremony, Jerry Melendrez, Printing and Graphics training program instructor, implored the graduating class to "Lean on Me" as he sang a stirring rendition of Bill Wither's inspirational song. The program concluded as usual with cameras flashing as beaming graduates received the due praise of family and friends.
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