A record amount of students to graduate from Sac State

(KTXL) — Thousands of graduates will walk the stage at Sacramento State’s commencement ceremonies Friday through Sunday.

Commencement ceremonies for Sacramento State began Friday and will continue Saturday and Sunday. According to the university, a record of 9,574 graduates will walk the stage during seven ceremonies across the three days.
•Video Above: Sacramento State President Robert Nelsen announces retirement

This year’s ceremonies are also the end of an era for the university, as it’ll be the final commencement for President Robert S. Nelsen, who will retire in July after serving in his role at Sacramento State for eight years.

In November, Nelsen announced his retirement in a video shared by the university.

“I am excited to celebrate graduation with our students and their families and friends at this incredible venue one last time,” Nelsen said in a message to the campus community.

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Sac State to honor two former students

At this year’s ceremonies, the university honor will present two honorary degrees to former students, one of who died before graudating and the other whose academic career ended after his life was “tragically altered.”

The student will who be posthumously honored is Aaron Nevin Rehman, who was killed when his motorcycle was stuck by a car in 2013. The collision happened along Fair Oaks Boulevard a few days before Christmas, according to the university.

As a Sac State student, Rehman majored in biology and dreamed of becoming a physician.

His family will accept his honory bachelor’s degree and two of his siblings, Xavier and Janette, will also graduate with Biology degrees, according to the university.

The other student who will be honored is Stephen Googooian, who studied history at Sac State, but his academic career ended after his vehicle was hit by a drunk driver on August 2018.

According to the university, Googooian “suffered devastating injuries” and was about a year from graduating with a history degree. Googooian had to learn how to walk again after being in a coma for several months.

His mother Linda said on the university’s website that he still has “significant memory loss” and “some physical challenges,” but works part time.

The university said Googooian and his family will attend the ceremony to accept his honorary bachelor’s degree.