All in the family
By VICTORIA CISNEROS, Student writer
This family of Bulldogs had no idea they would all eventually enroll at Fresno State, let alone graduate together in the spring of 2019.
Hailee Rincon and Kyle Martin are brother and sister who are first cousins to Skylar Lopez. Hailee, Kyle, and Skylar are second cousins to Mariah Calvert, and Mario Martinez and David Cuevas are Hailee and Mariah’s significant others, who have both been part of the family for years now.
Regardless of the labels, these Bulldogs are family and are excited to graduate together this May. While Kyle is still a sophomore, he is excited to see his sister and cousins walk across the stage at University Commencement and continue to “feed off their success.”
The group has loved navigating college together since their age differences never allowed for a shared school experience.
“It’s a huge milestone, cause we all graduated from high school at different times, between a three to six year gap, and now we realize we’re all graduating together. It’s surreal,” said Mario.
As they all conquer the same daily struggles, the group has found ways to encourage and support one another, including through deadline reminders, campus meet ups, and ‘good luck’ text messages.
“We didn’t have family from prior generations that could help us, so a lot of it had to be on our own,” said Skylar.
“We kind of figured out from each other how to do this thing. We didn’t have someone telling us we had to do this or that, and we all just kind of learned from each other,” added Hailee.
Each of them is proud of their accomplishments, both individually and collectively, and humbled to have had the opportunity to succeed.
“It makes me excited and it makes me humbled that we’re setting up a foundation for our children and the next generations of our family to see that there was a whole group of us who were able to [graduate], and do it together, and to be able to prove as a family that we’ve gone beyond past generations,” said Skylar.
The future is bright for each of these cousins as they prepare to graduate and serve the community as proud Fresno State alumni.
Skylar Lopez — Psychology
“I want to get into the grad program for Marriage, Family, Child Therapy. I also think it’s a big deal to give back to the community and give back to the school that has given so much to me. I want to be an onsite therapist so maybe being a therapist here on campus.”
Mariah Calvert — Studio Arts
“I plan on going somewhere else to get my master’s, but with doing that, I always think about coming back to Fresno State as a teacher after I have my master’s because my teachers have given me so much. The community here and my cousin’s support, it’s amazing. I wouldn’t mind spreading my wings and then coming back home.”
David Cuevas — Graphic Design — Illustration
“The next step for me is just using the skills I’ve learned in college with art and design to do work in that related field and start something where I can have the experience and possibly go back and get my master’s degree or teach part time. That way I can be the teacher that I needed when I was in college and help other students see how design is changing.”
Hailee Rincon — Liberal Studies
“I’m into the program to become a teacher, my credential program, and I will be in the Fresno Unified School District teaching, so I think that I can, as a teacher, shape those young students to really have that goal that one day [they] can go to college.”
Mario Martinez — Kinesiology
“My next step would be getting more experience at schools or in the classroom as far as teaching physical education and then in the near future looking to come back to the single subject credential program at Fresno State.”
Kyle Martin — Business Administration
“We all have days where we’re like, ‘What am I doing here? Is this really worth it? Is this what I want to do?’ So when I am having those days, I can look back on them and see [my sister’s and cousins’] success and it kind of eases my mind.”
