Moorpark College

While most graduates at Moorpark College’s 43rd annual commencement ceremony Wednesday were partaking in only one graduation this year, 17-year-old graduate Clarke Davis-Smith was a unique case.

Not only did Davis-Smith receive her associate of arts degree from the college on Wednesday, but she will also be receiving her diploma from Newbury Park High School next month.

Davis-Smith walked in Wednesday’s Moorpark College graduation, one of 350 students who chose to participate in the ceremony out of 1,217 graduates from summer and fall semesters in 2009, and spring 2010 candidates.

The college had a separate ceremony last week for graduates of the school’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program.

Moorpark College graduates 43rd class
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Davis-Smith began taking classes at Moorpark College during the summer of 2006 when she was about to enter her freshman year of high school. She would take her college classes at night after a full day of high school and dance classes.

Davis-Smith said she wanted to “academically challenge” herself and save her parents future college costs at the same time.

“I didn’t have time to eat or sleep for four years,” Davis-Smith said with a laugh.

Davis-Smith said she’s excited to be studying forensic psychology and criminal justice in the fall at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

During his time at the college, Brent Bain, 34, from Moorpark worked the early full-time shift at It’s A Grind coffeehouse and went to school full time to receive three associate’s degrees. His wife, Teresa Bain, also graduated this semester from EATM.

“(My wife and I) actually didn’t see much of each other this semester, so we’ll be making that up this summer,” said Brent, a music major, who will move with his wife to Yosemite, where he’ll be working as a hotel manager.

Thousand Oaks resident Melissa Keena, 20, took a 7 a.m. final the same day as the ceremony. It was the last final for the 19.5 units of classes she was taking this spring to complete school in time to transfer to California Lutheran University. At CLU she will study to become a teacher.

Melissa’s mother, Lynda Keena, 53, said she was “extremely proud” of her daughter for graduating from Moorpark College, the same school she graduated from in 1977.

During the ceremony, Moorpark College President Pam Eddinger addressed the students and welcomed them as the newest members of a “community of scholars” that will forever be part of the college’s history.

Associated Student President Ryan Krebs reminded the graduates that they were students at one of the top 25 community colleges in the nation.

“Wherever we go in life, don’t forget you went to that ‘college on the hill,’” Krebs said