Royal's Villafana speaker at banquet

MOSES LAKE - Seven people who beat the challenges they faced on the road to college were recently honored by the Big Bend Community College trustees at the "Transforming Lives" banquet.

Aryan Dehbozorgi, Tabatha Delong, Alicia Wallace, Maribel Gomez-Aguilar, Arnoldo Garcia, Lupe Campos and Emmanuel Garcia faced rough going in their paths to college but made it anyway, said Doug Sly, a college spokesperson.

"In recent years trustees have had difficulty naming a 'winner' for the Transforming Lives award," Sly said. "The personal stories are so compelling that trustees struggled to pick one over the rest to represent BBCC at a recognition event in Olympia."

As a result the trustees decided in 2014 to host a banquet to recognize all the nominees, Sly said.

Diana Villafana, BBCC Student Success Center coordinator, was the keynote speaker. She grew up in Royal City and came from a household that spoke only Spanish. She completed a bachelor's degree in social work in 2012.

"My biggest accomplishment is breaking the typical education cycle that most Latinos fall into," she told the audience.

Some of the nominees are the first in their family to graduate from high school and to attend college Sly noted. Others overcame a troubled past and used education and the support they received at BBCC to transform their lives.

The nominees, their family and friends, were joined by trustees, BBCC President Terry Leas, the college's vice-presidents and deans.