Student Experience
Intergenerational keynote speakers Becky G and Olga Talamante inspire graduates at UC Santa Cruz Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration
This year’s bilingual ceremony featured danzantes, live musical performances, and a powerful keynote conversation between global superstar and activist Becky G and lifelong organizer and human rights advocate Olga Talamante (Cowell, ’73).
Becky G delivers her keynote address during the Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration. (Photos by Carolyn Lagattuta)
More than 450 graduating students and over 2,000 family members, loved ones, faculty, staff, and community members gathered Sunday evening at the East Field at University of California, Santa Cruz for the 54th Annual Chicane Latiné Year-End Celebration, a beloved campus tradition hosted by El Centro that honors the achievements, resilience, and cultural pride of Chicane and Latiné graduates.
This year’s bilingual ceremony featured danzantes, live musical performances, and a powerful keynote conversation between global superstar and activist Becky G and lifelong organizer and human rights advocate Olga Talamante (Cowell, ’73).
Together, the speakers highlighted the importance of intergenerational community, reminding students that their accomplishments are deeply connected to the struggles, sacrifices, and dreams of those who came before them, while also inspiring them to carry these legacies forward with creativity, passion, and joy as they step into the next stage of their lives.
“We simply were not meant to go through this life alone,” Becky told an excited crowd of graduates and their loved ones. “It’s in the community we share today, where we can proudly celebrate ourselves and each other, that we fill our hearts, re-charge our souls, and remind one another that we are part of something bigger.”
Becky’s appearance was a special surprise for the students, who welcomed her to the stage with thunderous cheers. Becky congratulated each of the over 450 graduates as they crossed the stage, handing them their diploma covers and taking celebratory photos.
Beyond her chart-topping music career in both English and Spanish, Becky G has become an influential advocate for mental health awareness, immigrant communities, and gender equity. Her presence at the celebration underscored the importance of representation and the power of seeing one’s lived experiences reflected on stage.
Sharing the stage alongside Becky G was Olga Talamante, whose decades-long legacy of activism and advocacy has inspired generations of Chicana and Latina leaders. Talamante, Executive Director Emerita of the Chicana Latina Foundation, reflected on her journey from working in the fields in Gilroy, California, to becoming an internationally recognized advocate for human rights and social justice.
A former political prisoner in Argentina during the mid-1970s, Talamante has dedicated her life to organizing around immigrant rights, labor justice, LGBTQ+ liberation, and educational access. Her remarks reminded graduates that courage and collective action are needed to co-create the world they want to see.
“My family was here with me when I went through my graduation ceremonies in 1973,” Olga told the graduates and their family and friends. “It was in the middle of harvest season, but they left the empty buckets of prunes, the baskets of garlic, the boxes of strawberries, to fill them instead with hope, with dreams come true, with love, as you fill the hearts of your families.”
The ceremony also uplifted the role of campus spaces such as the Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas and the Chicanx Latinx Resource Center, better known as El Centro, which continue to support students through community-building, research, mentorship, and culturally sustaining programming.
As graduating student Andres Martinez Sabino shared, “Spaces like El Centro and the Dolores Huerta Research Center are important during times of uncertainty and fear because they are places where students can gather, organize, and empower one another to create change. They give us an opportunity to better understand our own needs and how we can work within the university and our existing resources to create the change we want to see.”
To celebrate the occasion and the class of 2026, the Huerta Center and El Centro are launching Latiné Futures, a fundraising initiative to support their ongoing work advancing student success, learning, and community empowerment, as well as interdisciplinary research connected to Chicane, Latiné, and Latin American communities.
“Tonight reminded us that our students do not arrive here alone. They carry generations of sacrifice, resilience, brilliance, and love with them,” said Jessica Taft, Faculty Director of the Huerta Center. Xiomara Lopez, Director of El Centro, added “seeing Becky G and Olga Talamante together on stage reflected the sense of collective purpose, community, and courage that our students have consistently demonstrated in their time here at UCSC and that we know they will continue to show the world as UCSC alumni.”
In recognition of Becky G’s barrier-breaking artistry and advocacy for underrepresented communities, Chancellor Cynthia Larive presented her with the Chancellor’s Medal during a small gathering before her speech.
UC Santa Cruz, ranked among the world’s top research universities, awarded degrees to more than 5,000 students across undergraduate and graduate programs during this year’s commencement ceremonies. The Class of 2026 represents the university’s ongoing mission to produce graduates who lead our world forward, seeking to create lasting, positive change for all.