Quinsigamond Community College celebrated over 1,400 graduates at its 61st commencement ceremony last month. Keynote speaker Dr. Matilde Castiel, a physician, public health leader and former commissioner of Health and Human Services for the City of Worcester, commended graduates for their resilience and encouraged them to focus on humanity and take care of others.
Castiel detailed a journey that started when she left Cuba at age 7, without her parents, through Operation Peter Pan, a U.S.-backed initiative from the early 1960s that relocated over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children to America. Like many of the children, Castiel and her brother lived in foster homes until their parents could enter the country. They worked hard to build a new life and Castiel eventually began her pursuit of serving communities through healthcare.
“If that 7-year-old girl…at the Havana airport, holding a small suitcase and knowing only three English sentences, could one day stand here speaking to all of you,” Castille said. “Then I promise you this: there is no limit to where your journey can take you.”
Castiel noted how in the past, she questioned if she belonged in a field where only 2% of physicians are Latina women, yet Latinos make up nearly 20% of the population. Inspired by her hardworking parents, she didn’t shy away from the challenge, but she emphasized that there is still work to be done in terms of access to educational and professional opportunities.
“Graduates of Quinsigamond Community College, you already possess something powerful. You know how to keep going when the odds are stacked against you. This degree is not just a credential; it is proof that you belong in every room that you walk into,” Castille said.
Student Government Association President Ryan Heath spoke at the ceremony about the external pressure he faced after graduating high school. While enrolling at QCC wasn’t usually part of the advice he received, he realized the choice was his alone. Heath, who is transferring to Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the fall, encouraged graduates to stay true to their beliefs even when others don’t see the same vision.
“What I love about our community college is that all of us were able to reach the same mountain top, yet we’ve all had our own complex and challenging paths of climbing here,” Heath said. “Some of us are balancing multiple jobs or raising a family. Some of us are trying to balancing a social life while stressing about that 11:59 due date. Yet despite all of the roadblocks that were ahead of us and all of the doubt, we still made it.”
QCC President Dr. Luis Pedraja acknowledged the perseverance of the graduates and recognized QCC faculty and staff for supporting students throughout their journeys of pursuing higher education.
“Graduations are the culmination of years of hard work, overcoming obstacles, and pushing onward,” Pedraja said. “Graduation does not signal the end of a chapter, but the start of a new one. It is a commencement, a beginning, a launchpad for future possibilities. It is the beginning of a career, of further studies, of a profession, of a new life.”
To see all the photographs from the ceremony, go to qcc.edu/commencement.