The event was hosted to celebrate the graduating class of 2023 with family, friends, campus staff and faculty.
May 22, 2023
The Dream Resource Center and Improving Dreams, Equity, Access and Success (IDEAS) collaborated to host the 9th Annual Dreams Beyond Borders Graduation Celebration in Jack Adams Hall on Friday.
The event was hosted to celebrate the graduation of undocumented students from the class of 2023 with friends, family, campus staff and faculty in attendance for a day filled with music, food and ceremony. Over 100 people attended the event.
The program commenced with a welcoming speech by IDEAS President Ricardo Sanchez and university remarks from SF State Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Dr. Jamillah Moore, who spoke about the struggles that undocumented students go through and how crucial familial support is in the pursuit of education.
The event continued on with a speech from keynote speaker DJ Sizzle Fantastic, an undocumented artist and entrepreneur who is currently the director and co-founder of Cumbiatón, a nationwide event celebrating Afro-Latin culture and music.
She spoke about her life experience, the implications of being an undocumented person and their resilience in navigating through a system they exist on the outside of.
“Living our life in a limbo feeling like I was the only person my age living in the shadows of being undocumented,” she said. “A lot of my friends were getting their first jobs at the mall. I was out working with my mom as a housekeeper and a street vendor. One thing about immigrants is that we get things done. We don’t back down and we push forward.”
The celebration concluded with a presentation of the graduates, and a closing speech from Griselda Madrigal Lara, who is coordinator at the Dream Resource Center.
Lara stepped into her position last year and spoke about her time working at the DRC and the obstacles surrounding immigration before thanking the families and friends of graduates who were in attendance.
“This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding positions I’ve ever had,” Lara said. “Challenging because of all the roadblocks due to immigration policy and rewarding because amidst all obstacles, I see you all persevere and accomplish this huge milestone that is graduating.”
The University of California system recently voted to pass a student-led campaign legally allowing every student at UC schools to be able to work and get paid regardless of their immigration status.
IDEAS is an organization on campus that supports and encourages undocumented students to continue higher education. It provides resources to students through campus events and workshops to educate them about scholarships, legislative updates and other resources.
Oliver Elias Tinoco, the incoming president of IDEAS, spoke about the significance of this decision for undocumented students and the obstacles they face in finding jobs.
“Positions on campus are framed as open to all students, and there’s that invisible asterisk that you don’t know about and so you go in for a job and find out undocumented students need not apply,” Tinoco said. “With this, it opens the door for schools to put the work into creating work opportunities [and] internship opportunities for students who have not been able to have that.”
