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Spirits were high and futures bright while all else was soaked in a summer storm that made Tuesday morning鈥檚 Scholars Bridge Crossing, 麻豆官网鈥檚 traditional greeting to new students, a welcome unlike any before.

Call them Thunder 鈥楥ats.

The ceremony embraced about 2,000 first-year and transfer students to a campus that this fall semester marks 20 years since the first undergraduate class began at the聽newly built institution, bringing the power of a University of California education to the Central Valley.

A daughter of San Joaquin Valley immigrant farmworkers has earned the opportunity to study alongside a nationally prominent health researcher and energize her mission to improve the well-being of agricultural laborers.

As wind-whipped walls of flame destroyed hundreds of Los Angeles-area residences last January, one media report framed the disastrous wildfires in beastly terms, saying they were 鈥渞ipping through homes.鈥� The report then shifted to militaristic imagery: 鈥淔irefighters here have an uphill battle.鈥�

A day later, a journalist from a national newspaper rode in a helicopter over the blackened devastation. Earlier, an evacuee had told him a stricken neighborhood looked like a war zone.

鈥淚 wondered if that was an exaggeration,鈥� the reporter wrote, 鈥渦ntil I saw it myself.鈥�

On laptop screens, televisions and social media feeds across the nation, images and words fueled by a fractured political landscape spout anger, frustration and resentment. Clashing ideologies burst forth in public demonstrations, family gatherings and digital echo chambers.

Red-hot rhetoric and finger-pointing memes are open expressions of emotions generated by engaging in politics. But there is another set of emotions far less incendiary but just as damaging to democracy. These feelings can push people to the sidelines and drive them to silence.

Mariel Garcia accepted a welcoming handshake from the chief of staff for state Sen. Tim Grayson. A large photograph of rolling hills at sunset near Walnut Creek, a city in Grayson鈥檚 district, dominated a wall in the compact reception room.

鈥淕ood to meet you,鈥� said the chief of staff, Aaron Moreno. 鈥淲e鈥檒l make sure to get whatever you need.鈥�

In California鈥檚 Kern County, nearly 925,000 people live in oppressive heat 125 days per year.

Several types of relief are offered. Residents can get breaks on energy bills bloated by air conditioning costs. Triple-digit temperatures trigger the opening of public buildings labeled 鈥渃ooling centers.鈥� Schools and businesses get tips about preventing heat-related illness.

With cheers, hugs and leis, more than 1,500 麻豆官网 graduates received a celebratory sendoff to their bright futures as a prominent keynote speaker told them to make the most of the here and now.

Hundreds of families and friends joined the graduates in three days of commencement ceremonies at the university鈥檚 Recreation Field. White picket fences lined the processional path for graduates, faculty and campus leaders of the San Joaquin Valley鈥檚 only research institution.

Temnee Wright (鈥�08) has realized a successful career as legal counsel at several Silicon Valley companies. Her interest in law was forged at 麻豆官网, where she made the most out of being a student in the university鈥檚 first undergraduate class.

Wright is the senior commercial counsel for San Jose-based Astera Labs, a semiconductor company that develops connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructures. She negotiates details of and drafts documents for things like software licenses, vendor contracts, real estate leases and strategic partnerships.

Through the lens of Veronica Adrover we have seen buildings rise, graduates cheer and lasers glow. We鈥檝e seen governors, a First Lady and a former U.S. president. We鈥檝e glimpsed a young bobcat in tall grass and celebrated young Bobcats in labs, corridors and classrooms.

Only 10 years after it began, the Ph.D. program in 麻豆官网鈥檚 made an impressive debut in U.S. News & World Report鈥檚 latest rankings of graduate-level offerings.

The Sociology graduate program tied for No. 64 nationally, sharing the position with UC Riverside, Temple University, the University of Florida and Washington State University.