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"Fifty years ago, I was born right down the street in La Mesa," said Deckard, a senior scientist at the Navy's Space and Naval War Systems operation in San Diego, who last year was inducted into the Grossmont Walk of Fame.

"At the same time, Grossmont Junior College was born on the campus of Monte Vista High School with 1,500 students. Today, the students top almost 20,000, who call this home to their educational pursuits. Grossmont College was and continues to be a gift to the communities of East County."

It was a grade of A at Grossmont that launched Deckard into a groundbreaking struggle to become a woman leader in her field of choice, laser technology.

"Little did I know," she said, "much of the world had not embraced the idea of women studying the field of physics." When she started college in 1978, she was refused entry into the university's physics major. After a year, she found herself back in La Mesa, when she decided to enroll at Grossmont.

"What a blessing that was," Deckard said. "With the help of a dedicated physics teacher, I earned my first A in physics and was on my way to become the physicist that I am today."

That instructor, Bob James, was at Deckard's Walk of Fame induction last year.

"It was a great opportunity for me to convey my appreciation for him," she said in an interview, "and for him to see what had happened to me. He had not been aware of the impact he had on my life. I know that many of the instructors never know what great impact they may have on a student."

Grossmont President Dr. Sunita V. "Sunny" Cooke used a bit of administrative detail to confirm Deckard's remark about Grossmont's "gift to the communities of East County."

"To show you the impact of our college," Dr. Cooke said, "we have served 1 in 3 adults living in the East County and some 1.6 million people since we started."

On a pleasant, breezy Wednesday evening, with crowds of friends and family watching from the lawns and plazas, Dr. Cooke gestured to rebuilt skeletons of buildings, the new Student and Administration Services Building to the south, and in the east view, the sprawling frame, already dramatic, of Grossmont's new Griffin Center, standing by as sentinels to the promise of the future.

"We are in the midst of several construction projects that we are very excited about," she said. She explained they are the last major projects from a bond measure passed by voters in 2002. "Both these projects represent your tax dollars at work," she told the audience, "and we thank you for your support."

"Happy Birthday, Grossmont College!" shouted GCCCD Chancellor Dr. Cindy Miles, informally kicking off a year-long celebration of the college's 50th anniversary. Dr. Cooke, additionally, "plugged" a book about Grossmont's history titled, "Grossmont College, Celebrating 50 years." She said the book would be available for a short while after the ceremony. The price? "Do you remember what year Grossmont College was founded?" she asked. "That's right, 1961. So the price of our 50th Anniversary commemorative book is nineteen dollars and sixty-one cents. Plus tax." A significant portion of the proceeds will benefit the Grossmont College Foundation.

Among special guests were five Grossmont graduates, one from each of the decades in the college's history. They were musician Jose Molina Serrano, from the 2000s; nurse Sheila Erickson, from the 1990s; financial planner and former NFL star Brad Daluiso, from the1980s; Clara Harris, a recent inductee into the San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame, from the 1970s; and from the 1960s, Ron Oliver, an Edco Disposal executive, who for the occasion wore a bright tie-dyed t-shirt under his black robe.

Speaking in behalf of the graduates was Timothy Snowball, whose achievement at Grossmont squared nicely with Chris Deckard's "life is a struggle" remark. Snowball, 27, who battled severe depression and didn't graduate from high school, received not one, but two, associate degrees, with honors, during the ceremony, in Political Science and University Studies.

Because of his medical history, when Snowball told people he wanted to go back to school, at Grossmont, he said some told him he was "wasting my time. They told me that I should forget about school. I am glad that I didn't listen to them."

Like Deckard, it was an A that turned the trick. "More than anything else," he told the graduates, "I remember the pride I felt the first time I earned an A in a course. My entire perception of school was changed forever. For the first time in my life I felt hope for the future. From that point on, I devoted myself to Grossmont with a drive and determination that I had never before experienced. With each successful grade and semester, my self-doubt was replaced by self-confidence. It is an amazing thing when you first realize your own potential."

Snowball told the graduates that "challenges are not something to be feared, but to be embraced," as, in this year of budget meltdown, heads nodded through the ranks of students, faculty, and administrators. "It is through overcoming challenges, not avoiding them, that we grow and become strong. I now look forward to the many challenges that await me in the future."

One such challenge lies just over the horizon. In the fall, Snowball will begin political science studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

"Believe me," he said, "that is something I once thought was impossible. I know now there is no such thing as impossible."