{"id":326726,"date":"2026-05-21T21:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326726\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:03:20","slug":"record-turnout-for-fresno-state-chicano-latino-commencement-on-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326726\/","title":{"rendered":"Record turnout for Fresno State Chicano\/Latino commencement on 50th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can say that no one parties harder than Fresno State Latino graduates.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, about 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

This year marked the 50th anniversary of commencement, a tradition that not only celebrates and honors students\u2019 perseverance and achievements but their culture and community.<\/p>\n

The celebration grabbed social media attention as the largest commencement celebration where graduates take the arena floor and turn it into a giant dance party.<\/p>\n

This year, graduates celebrated with a halftime light show. The ceremony also features folkloric dance groups, as well as graduates carrying flags from more than 30 countries.<\/p>\n

About 90% of those who participated are first-generation college students, organizers said.<\/p>\n

This year, the commencement recognized event founders Miguel Olguin, Tony J. Garduque, Frances Pena-Olgin, and the late Ernesto Martinez. The ceremony started in 1977 with 58 Chicano students. Mildred Garc\u00eda, chancellor of the California State University system, was the keynote speaker.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a social media video of the U.S. Marine Band playing \u201cEl Toro Mambo\u201d at the Fresno State graduation went viral.<\/p>\n

The commencement celebration at Save Mart Center has an average attendance of 13,000 people.<\/p>\n

\"About<\/p>\n

About 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration on May 16, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

(CARY EDMONDSON\/FRESNO STATE)\"About<\/p>\n

About 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration on May 16, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

(CARY EDMONDSON\/FRESNO STATE)\"On<\/p>\n

On Saturday, about 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

(Mexican Consulate in Fresno)\"On<\/p>\n

On Saturday, about 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

(Mexican Consulate in Fresno)\"About<\/p>\n

About 1,130 graduates participated in the Chicano\/Latino Commencement Celebration on May 16, the largest group in the history of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

(CARY EDMONDSON\/FRESNO STATE)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You can say that no one parties harder than Fresno State Latino graduates. On Saturday, about 1,130 graduates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[135825,135824,112,114,113,742],"class_list":["post-326726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-chicano-students","tag-commencement-celebration","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-fresno-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}