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--> When Louis Olivas earns his bachelor's degree in social science Saturday from Southern Oregon University in Lithia Park, it will have been 32 years in the making for the 63-year-old Medford man. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA The graduate Medford man completes his higher ed degree after 32 years in the system By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings When Louis Olivas set out to accomplish his dream of attaining a college degree, he had no idea the journey would take 32 years to accomplish. "It takes the regular student four years, it took me 32," Olivas smiled with quiet pride. He will graduate this weekend with fellow students from Southern Oregon University. Growing up in the small town of Fabens, Texas, Olivas, a Medford resident, graduated high school in 1958 with all the intentions of pursuing a degree. Obstacle No. 1 - money. "I wanted to go to college - that was my plan but my parents could not afford to send me at that time," Olivas recalled. Unable to afford college, Olivas chose to enlist in the U.S. Marines, becoming a soldier in the Vietnam War. His expedition into the Armed Forces earned him a G. I. Bill payoff, thus providing a way to fund his dream. Then came obstacle No. 2 - college entrance exams. After serving his country, Olivas returned to Texas hoping to be admitted into the University of Texas at El Paso. However, being unable to pass the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, Olivas was denied admittance and urged to either improve his test scores through classes or research the possibility of a junior college. The only problem with going to a community college was the fact that there wasn't one in Fabens and there wouldn't be one for at least five years, according to Olivas. Dismayed, Olivas set out for a change of scenery in Santa Monica, Calif., where his older sister and her husband lived. It was there that Olivas was finally able to get his first taste of college life at the ripe age of 26. "There was a junior college (Allan Hancock College) there that I fell in love with one summer," he said. After spending only a year in Santa Monica, Olivas relocated to Los Angeles where he proceeded to attend five different junior colleges. "When I completed one semester term I enrolled into another junior college," Olivas said. Moving around to cater to different jobs made it difficult to commit to one college for any length of time, according to Olivas. It was also difficult to find the courses he was interested in because he was only available to take night courses, significantly limiting his options. Despite jumping from one college to the next, Olivas was able to attain an Associate of Arts degree in journalism from East Los Angles College. While this was a giant step toward his goal, Olivas' dream of one day becoming a college graduate would soon be derailed. Bouncing around to a couple more schools, Olivas eventually entered California State University-San Bernardino where he majored in sociology. He would have liked to continue pursuing his journalism degree but the courses were not available at night - the only time Olivas could dedicate to his studies. "At that point, when I left Cal State, I was ready to take my required courses to graduate. However, the majority of those courses weren't offered at night," Olivas said. The difficulty of juggling full-time work with part-time school, coupled with the fact that his G.I. Bill was now depleted, prompted Olivas to put his college graduation pursuit on hold. The obstacles had finally outweighed the dream - but only for a time. "About four years after I moved to Oregon - that's when I decided to go ahead and complete my studies and get my degree," Olivas said, now 63. According to Echo Fields, program coordinator for the social science degree completion program in community development at SOU, Olivas was extremely thorough when he set out to come back to school. "He doesn't wait for the world to come to him," Fields said. "He's very self-directed and I really admire that." Working with Fields, Olivas applied for and received funds appropriated by the state Legislature for under-served populations. "The under-served population at SOU was older, working people," Fields said. "If the Legislature hadn't made that money available, it might have made things more difficult for him." Spending two years taking part-time night classes offered through SOU, Olivas was finally able to put his last course behind him in March, earning a bachelor of science in social science with a major in community development. "It was raining that day. I went to the Medford Library to check my final grade in math. It was a B-minus and I didn't expect to get a B-minus," Olivas grinned. "Once I saw that - that was it." Although Olivas has accomplished his main goal, he still has several other projects (all related to his recently acquired degree) to keep himself busy. "Last year I volunteered to mentor English students at SOU for grant-writing," Olivas said. That experience sparked an interest to combine his community development degree with his desire to write. In his limited spare time, Olivas now writes grants and volunteers for several non-profit organizations including AmeriCorp, the Disability Advocacy for Social Independent Living, or DASIL, and El Milagro Limited Liability Company, which focuses on the cultivation of organic crops. "There are lots of things I want to do," Olivas said. "I would like to be part of a (non-profit) foundation - to be involved in some kind of research." For now, Olivas is looking forward to walking with SOU's other 1,165 graduates. He is one of 102 minorities graduating and one of 536 students receiving social science degrees. "Looking back, I knew that someday, someway I would complete college, and here I am," Olivas said. "It makes me very happy." SOU holds its 76th annual commencement ceremony from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday at the Lithia Park bandshell. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: Webmaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing