The Save Mart Center in Fresno, California is packed. Thousands of family members fill the arena, while over a thousand graduates prepare to walk the stage at the 50th Annual Chicano/Latino Commencement Celebration at Fresno State. Located in the heart of California’s Central Valley, this is the largest, bilingual, bicultural affinity graduation celebration in the entire country.

Created as a response to a very specific kind of invisibility, one that showed up in mispronounced names, absent cultural traditions, and the feeling that many Latino families did not fully belong in academic spaces, this ceremony does something a little different: it reads the names of the parents and family members of the graduates while they walk across the stage and collect their diploma. Because even though their degrees are handed to one person, they still represent the labor of an entire family. For many graduating students, this ceremony also carries the weight of generations of sacrifice, migration, and hard work from family.

Latino USA producer Adreanna Rodriguez follows three graduates, and their families through one of the largest celebrations of its kind, exploring what it means to earn a degree and honor those who made it possible.

Featured images courtesy of Adreanna Rodriguez, the Rangel sisters and Amy Sorondo.

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Episode credits:

Host: Maria Hinojosa

Producer and reporter: Adreanna Rodriguez

Editor: Fernanda Echavarri

Fact Checker: Roxana Aguirre

Social Media: Luis Luna

Engineer: Stephanie Lebow

Managing Editor: Fernanda Echavarri

Executive Producers: Peniley Ramirez and Maria Hinojosa