Graduates reflect

More than 300 students celebrated the culmination of years of study as they received their degrees Saturday morning on the Mesa Building lawn at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

Grisel Aranda, 22, said her four-year experience at UTPB made her reflect back to the person she was when she began college.

"College gives you a new outlook on life," Aranda said. "It changes you a lot. It makes you a better person."

Aranda graduated with two bachelor's degrees Saturday - one in Spanish and another in biology.

Like Aranda, Nathan Lind, 25, said graduation also made him remember where he was when he graduated from high school.

"I was like everybody else," Lind said. "I wanted to get out of Odessa when I graduated."

Lind said he attended the University of New Mexico but tuition costs brought him back home.

"It gave me a second chance," he said. "That's what I'm going to remember most about graduation. I'm happy with how things turned out."

Tryon Lewis, the Republican nominee for the Texas House of Representatives District 81 seat, gave the commencement speech Saturday morning. Lewis faces Libertarian candidate Elmo Hockman on the ballot in November.

Lewis spoke Saturday about how his family worked in the oil business and many of his relatives never graduated from college.

Aranda said she could relate to Lewis' words.

"I can relate since neither my mom or dad even graduated from high school, and I only have a few cousins and an uncle who graduated from college," she said.

Aranda said being the first in her immediate family to graduate made the four years of college worth all the work.

"It's a great feeling," she said. "I didn't realize it until now, but it was a lot of work, and it was worth it."