Grads celebrate education, friendship
Tanner Vandecoevering, for instance, stepped out onto Blaine Street, posed for a photo, walked over to deposit a symbolic acorn in an oak bowl, then strolled up College Drive to the strains of “Pomp & Circumstance.”
He stepped onto the same stage that’s always used for graduation, but this year set up along the street so his family, following in two white vehicles, could watch him accept his diploma and pose with President Miles Davis.
Then the fourth-generation Linfield graduate continued, posing for more photos and accepting congratulations from business faculty members lined up in front of Pioneer Hall.
Referred to as “carmencement,” the unusual format for graduation was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Usually, a crowd of several thousand people squeezes into bleachers and chairs set up on the lawn across from the Melrose Hall administration building. This year, grads and their families appeared one-by-one, social distancing and wearing masks.
Some families filled one vehicle, some brought two. Shakayla Snyder’s family filled a utility trailer pulled by a large pickup to see her receive two degrees, in marketing and in wine studies.
Alan Hay, a 1950s alum, rode alongside as his grandson, Cooper Bousquet, walked the graduation path.
“This is great,” he said. “Cooper did a fine job.”
The most recent member of his family to graduate from Linfield, Bousquet received his degree in finance and management. He already has a job lined up: in late June, he will join RVK as an investment analyst who tracks the market, looking for the best-performing stocks.
Through May, the McMinnville High School grad will continue working for Botten’s Equipment Rental, as he has for 2 1/2 years. “I love this job,” he said. “It’s helped pay my way through college.”
His father, David Bousquet, also is a Linfield alum and his mother, Molly Bousquet, completed her teaching license there. That legacy helped him decide to stay in McMinnville for college. So did Linfield’s great business department, Bousquet said.
And football helped, too. He played for the Wildcats for three years; the coronavirus pandemic kept him from playing as a senior.
Because of the pandemic, Bousquet also didn’t get to spend a January term in Spain, as he had planned. Since Linfield moved its spring semester forward, starting in January, he will take that “Jan Term” in May, instead, but stay on campus.
After that, he hopes to travel a bit before starting his new job.
When he leaves Linfield, he will take with him great memories of spending time with all the friends he made in the past four years. He will see them again, often, he said.
“They’re lifelong friends,” he said. “That’s the part that makes me the happiest.”
Last year, Linfield didn’t hold a formal graduation ceremony, although some students picked up their diplomas in person. Commencement was postponed, then canceled, because of the continuing pandemic.
Eager for a ceremony, some 2020 grads returned Sunday to cross the graduation stage. “Thank you for coming back,” Provost Susan Agre-Kippenhan told August Harter as she handed him the diploma for the marketing degree he finished in December.
Jake Jenkins, an education major from Maple Valley, Washington, said he missed having commencement when he graduated in 2020. So this year, as his family drove alongside his brother, Zack Jenkins, a 2021 grad. Jake was wearing a black robe and mortarboard as well.
After Zack, a marketing major, picked up his diploma, Jake jumped out of the car and followed him to the photo area, then through the faculty gauntlet.
“We cheated the system,” Zack said, delighted to have his older brother at his side.
The brothers are four years apart in age, but, since Jake took a couple years off, were one year apart at Linfield. They said they really enjoyed celebrating graduation together.
Besides, Zack said, “that makes it easy for Mom and Dad.”
Another Mac High graduate, Zeila Medina Martinez happily accepted her Linfield diploma Sunday. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary/mid-level education with an emphasis on science and English language development
She is proud to be the first person in her family to graduate from college. But her family may be even more proud.
“They’re super excited,” she said. “Especially my mother. I’ve passed her level of schooling and I have a career. She’s so happy.”
Medina Martinez said she chose Linfield because it was close to home, allowing her to stay near her family. The university also offered her a great financial aid package and allowed her to apply like any other U.S. resident; since she’s a DACA recipient, many schools asked her to apply as an international student, instead.
Her teachers and counselors at Mac High, especially Maria Sandoval in the college/career center, were instrumental in persuading her to continue her education in the first place.
Growing up, “I didn’t even know I’d go to college,” she said. “Never in my life did I imagine I’d be graduated from high school and college as well.”
For her college major, she had to spend time student teaching. That internship turned into a full-time job: she’s been teaching ELD classes in Newberg since December.
“That was just one of the opportunities Linfield offered,” she said, noting that both her school and employers have been very supportive of her efforts to work full time while finishing her college classes.
Now that she has graduated, she plans to save up for a vacation — something she hasn’t had for quite awhile. Then she will think about graduate school.
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