TURLOCK, Calif. — Commencement ceremonies for the largest-ever graduating class in campus history at Stanislaus State began Thursday morning. And one woman in the crowd has gone to all 54 graduations, except for one, since the campus was established.
On Thursday morning, local philanthropist Dorothy Bizzini, accepted an honorary Doctorate of humane letters.
"The students actually invited me first. They always did," Bizzini said.
Year after year, Bizzini dedicated a day or two in May just for celebrating local students.
"I can't stop smiling, I tell you, I just cant stop smiling, it's just wonderful!" she said.
Bizzini was there for the university's first ever graduation back in 1965 and kept coming back every year after that, except for one year, while she was traveling in Europe.
"I couldn't say no, and so I started coming to all of the graduations," she told ABC10. "It is so fun to sit there and see the students as they walk up and get their diploma and they have this big smile on their face and that makes it all worthwhile."
With a little bit of help from Bizzini, this campus has seen exponential growth. At the first graduation she attended, she says there were only about 25 students. This weekend, there are more than 3,500 graduates, a new record for the university!
It all started after she took up an interest in real estate, started buying some apartments around town and eventually heard the new university coming to Turlock needed a little help.
"We built a very large apartment complex and we had students there. It was one of the dorms where the students got to live and I got to know the students," she said.
She kept donating money and time, serving in a number of different roles on an advisory board and the Foundation Board of Directors. They even named a building after her and husband a few years back.
"And then I'll introduce myself and they'll say, 'I thought you were dead'!" she joked.
But after watching 53 years of graduations, Thursday was her turn.
"It is my honor and privilege to invite you to accept this honorary Doctorate of humane letters," Dr. Ellen Junn, President of Stanislaus State said to Bizzini.
"I was just so shocked when President Junn told me and the only thing I could say was thank you, thank you. It really does mean a lot to me," she said.
Not that she would have missed it anyway.
"President Ellen, you didn't have to give me this doctorate degree for me to be here today. I would have been here anyway," she said.
Her parting advice for graduates: Give back to this campus.
"And if it's only to give $10 this year, within a couple of years, they can give $100, and in a couple of years, they can give $1,000. So, I really do encourage them to give back because they need to feel always a part of this university," she said.
And she says she'll keep coming back, year after year, for as long as she can.
"Until I can't come anymore. Until I can't make it. As long as God's willing, that's what I always say," she said.
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