COS recognition celebration honors graduates of color
It was a validating night for College of the Sequoias student graduates of color.
On Sunday, numerous scholarships were awarded during the college's second annual Tulare-Kings African American and Students of Color Celebration in the Porter Field House on campus. Two Black honorees also received a new award of excellence, named for one of the first Black instructors at COS.
Curtis Allen, COS director of HBCU (Historically Black College and University) Pathways, began the event last year because he said Tulare and Kings counties were the only areas without a celebration to recognize the achievements of traditionally marginalized students.
Harvard graduate returns to Visalia
Jesus Murillo returned to his hometown to give the keynote speech.
He referred to himself as a "little brown kid" who was able to overcome the double disadvantages of being poor and of mixed race. He said he was able to achieve his goals through the support of his mother and two COS staff who became his mentors, Juan Vasquez, COS dean of students, and Brett Kennedy, EOPS (Extended Opportunity Programs and Services) advisor.
The advisors said they immediately saw the potential in Murrillo.
“In five minutes, I knew he was going somewhere,” Kennedy said. “Once he got into student leadership, there was no stopping him.”
Murillo, who is African American, Chicano and Indigenous Mescalero Apache, said he saw how his mother struggled with long working days to support the family. He saw relatives get into trouble and knew he didn’t want to go that way. He wanted to engage with what he called the elite to find ways to help marginalized people.
His high school counselor didn’t encourage him to attend college. Even so, he was accepted to Sacramento State but couldn’t afford to attend.
He enrolled at COS with trepidation.
He knew many students ended their education at community college, but he wanted to go farther to achieve his dreams.
Meeting the right people
Kennedy encouraged Murillo to join B-STARS. Then both mentors invited him to attend the A2MEND (African American Male Education Network and Development) annual conference in Los Angeles.
With a 4.0 GPA, Murillo had already been accepted to UC Berkeley, but at the conference he met representatives of HBCU, the top black colleges in the nation. When representatives from Fisk University saw Murrillo’s resume, they immediately offered him a full scholarship.
“I was passionate about social justice, and Fisk was a leading charge of that,” he said.
Murillo was named salutatorian of his class at Fisk and then got a full scholarship to Harvard’s Divinity School. But it wasn’t all success stories. He bombed the LSAT test to get into law school. He was a Rhodes Scholar finalist but didn’t get it. The first time he applied for a U.S. Presidential Management Fellow (PMF), he didn’t succeed.
“But one thing about me, I’m persistent,” Murillo said.
When he didn’t get into law school, he was encouraged to apply to the master’s program at Harvard Divinity School.
“I didn’t want to be a minister, but I was told it could lead me to a career in politics," he said. "A lot of people get corrupted in office, and this would help me find my moral compass.”
Moral leadership
Murillo was able to have many deep discussions on how morals are created, hypocrisy, government structure and why the Jan. 6 storm on the U.S. Capitol happened.
On his second try, he did become a fellow, a two-year appointment in government that guarantees a permanent federal job when you finish. Murillo just finished six months with HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) and is starting another six months with the Department of Agriculture. For his second year as a fellow, he can choose to work in two other federal departments.
His ultimate goal?
“I want to do five or six years in government to get a full understanding of how things work,” he said. “Then I want to get a state government job in New Mexico.”
Murillo was born in New Mexico and spent his first five years there. He often returns to the area and wants to be able to improve the lives of people there.
Would he eventually want to become governor?
He doesn’t rule it out.
Recognizing excellence
The Charles Parker Award of Excellence was presented for the first time during the celebration.
Parker has been an English teacher at COS for 35 years, only the third African American teacher to be hired at the college. Soon after being hired, he started Tulare-Kings Counties Mass Choir as a branch of the B-STARS club for black students. Members of the choir performed the music at the celebration.
Receiving the award of excellence were Lance Brooks, a retired Visalia police officer, and Willard Epps, retired Tulare fire chief. Both men have had a long history coaching at COS and helping youth.
Kenny Jackson Jr. who is graduating from Mission Oak High School, was chosen from the scholarship applicants to give a short speech of encouragement to the students.
High school and COS graduates were invited to attend and receive graduation certificates. Many of them were the first graduates in their family, including mother/daughter Brooklynn and Sarah Quiroz, who were celebrating graduating from Visalia Charter Independent Studies and COS respectively.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: COS recognition celebration honors graduates of color
