19 Valedictorians Among Chaffey Graduating Class

They include aspiring teachers, lawyers, actors and more. Several are immigrants, the first in their families to go to college and many are waiting on letters from their “dream schools.”

They are Chaffey College’s class of 2025 valedictorians, an honor bestowed upon full-time students with a cumulative grade-point average of 4.0.

“It is very easy for me to get caught up in the hard work, that I forget to take a moment to appreciate my accomplishments,” said Jessica Gerges of Glendora. “This title is a motivating reminder that my hard work pays off.”

Gerges, an Egyptian national, plans to transfer to a University of California campus and pursue a career as an education attorney. She chose the path after witnessing the challenges that immigrants sometimes face when trying to get a college education in the U.S.

“I want to advocate for those who face these barriers, whether due to language, disability, or circumstances, and fight for the policies and protections that will give every student a fair chance to succeed,” she said.

Chaffey College will celebrate the achievements of more than 2,800 students receiving more than 3,800 degrees and certificates May 22 at its commencement ceremony at Toyota Arena in Ontario.

Ngoc Hai Trieu Le, an accounting major from Fontana, came to the U.S. from Vietnam in search of a better life. She worked full-time at Pho Rex in Upland while taking classes at Chaffey, and still managed to finish at the top of her class.

Le hopes to follow in the footsteps of her cousin, who works as an accountant for a corporation.

“I’ve liked working with numbers since I was a child,” she said.

Her dream school? UCLA. But she has already received acceptance letters from University of California Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and Cal Poly Pomona.

Riverside resident Yusan Tse is an international student from Hong Kong who graduated from Western Christian High School in Upland and enrolled at Chaffey as a computer science and math major.

He credited his professors, family and friends with helping him succeed. But he also considers it important to keep his life balanced with personal hobbies such as playing music and reading.

“They provide a personal realm of self-expression and entertainment separate from the usual academic activities,” he said.

Tse has been accepted to his dream school, University of California Berkeley, where he plans to major in computer science.

All three valedictorians say that Chaffey taught them important life lessons such as time management, finding something interesting in every class, as well as problem solving.

The other valedictorians are Ghazal Badih, Shay Guevara, Makena Bennett, Elizabeth Makahleh, Anthony Soliman, Anasimon Pichay, Catalina Rodriguez Riveros and Charlotte Tate, all of Rancho Cucamonga; Isabella Becerra and Andrea Cisneros of Ontario; Aseel Nemer, Eric Salas and Kevin Moreno of Fontana; Sarah Makarem of Moreno Valley,  Hannah Rivera of Corona and Wesam Yaghi of Upland.