About 860 college-bound high school students attended College Signing Day at UC Riverside on Wednesday, May 1, as part of a simultaneous celebration across all nine University of California undergraduate campuses.
The event is part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative, which celebrates the achievements of students committing to higher education just as National Signing Day does for athletes committing to a school.
The students, seated in the bleachers at the Student Recreation Center, watched a livestream of Obama’s speech at UCLA, where she was the keynote speaker, following UCR’s program that included music, dance, and speeches.
“I want you all to know, you are about to make the best investment you can possibly make,” Obama told the students. “In order to be here today, you kept on reaching higher for yourselves and for your future. You told all those doubters that they’d better make room. That is what this is all about, making people make room for you where you belong.”
At UCR’s celebration, Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox urged the students to find their path and seek advice from those around them as they embark on their college years.
“We’re here to celebrate you,” he said. “All of your success, all you’ve accomplished. Enjoy the moment.”
Fernanda Ambrosio, a fourth-year biochemistry major and student keynote speaker, told the high school students of her own journey to UCR. She was born and partly raised in Mexico by parents who didn’t finish high school. She faced discouragement along the way but said she ultimately made it as the first person to go to college in her family, transferring to UCR from Riverside City College.
“College didn’t just give me an education; it gave me a second family,” she said. “It changed me; it molded me, and it gave me a purpose.”
Artist and poet Nate Howard, UCR’s keynote speaker, led the students on a call-and-chant as he advised them not to be discouraged by detractors along the way.
“You have to look in the mirror, realize you are the author of your story,” he said.
The students, who came from more than a dozen school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, were greeted with boxed lunches and bags of swag that included pom-poms, a T-shirt, and hand sanitizer. They posed for photos in front of a backdrop of blue and gold balloons with some taking selfies with Scotty the Bear. As a DJ played music, several took to the dancefloor with Scotty joining them for some songs.
The names of all the students and the colleges they plan to attend flashed on two screens next to the stage.
Among those in attendance were several bound for UCR this fall. Hailey Rivera, Joceylyn Hernandez, and Zugeyly Ramirez, who have known each other since they were freshmen at Vista Del Lago High School in Moreno Valley, said they were excited to be going to college together.
“It was one of my top choices,” Rivera said of UCR.
The three high school seniors said they weren’t sure what to expect with College Signing Day and were excited to be there.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” Hernandez said of the festive atmosphere. “This is so cool.”
The event was organized by the Undergraduate Education and Undergraduate Admissions departments with volunteer support by the Well, R’Pantry, ROTC, AmeriCorps, Undergraduate Education Student Advisory Committee, Academic Engagement, and the Health Professions Advising Center.
