Standout
Grads Passionate About Everything from Film to Law
By Pat
Jacoby | June
16, 2006
Many of this week’s more than 5000 graduates
have outstanding stories. Here are a few of them:
A trio of young men who met in Media Computing classes
at UCSD and produced a full length feature film under
the name Wong Fu Productions, is among the many outstanding
graduates at UCSD on June 17, 18 and 19. Philip
Wang of Walnut Creek, Ca., a graduate of
Revelle College, Wesley Chan of Millbrae,
Ca., a graduate of Sixth College and Ted Fu,
originally from South Africa and a graduate of Eleanor
Roosevelt College, premiered their feature film, “A
Moment with You,” for an audience of some 500
on June 3 at UCSD. It was the culmination of three
years of countless sleepless nights and hundreds of
hours of sweat and tears, Wang said, and will lead
to their post-graduate relocation to Los Angeles to
seriously pursue their film work. “We were bored
our first year in college,” Wang said, “so
we started making videos on our computers for fun.”
This led to a major in film production and a number
of videos about college life and UCSD. Chan said the
three write the scripts, audition actors, film and
direct. Chan describes one video, “Yellow Fever,”
as a comedic short “that examines how Caucasian
guys are always able to ‘win over’ Asian
girls. Although the acting and humor is over-the-top,”
he said, “we learn that an individual’s
character is the ultimate deciding factor in relationships,
not race.” Local actors and two UCSD students
appeared in “A Moment with You,” which
the graduates plan to show at national film festivals
and on college campuses.
Lenore McCrory, 54, of La Jolla,
one of a small group of older students at UCSD, will
graduate from Thurgood Marshall College with a degree
in literature/English and has been accepted into UCSD’s
literature doctorate program. A native of Mexico,
she came to the U.S. more than 30 years ago to learn
English. McCrory says that a younger environment intimidates
her, but she always had an adventurous spirit and
a thirst for learning, which brought her to the U.S.
She is an advocate for the community college program
which promotes transfer to UCSD. As well as taking
classes at UCSD she is a writing tutor at Southwest
Community College, teaching both online and in a classroom.
Courtney Cross, of Dana Point, an
exceptional triple major student (Political Science,
Linguistics, History) with a 3.8 GPA, will graduate
from Eleanor Roosevelt College. With a strong record
of student leadership, she was admitted to every law
school to which she applied and has selected NYU.
Her brother, Jordan, graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt
College two years ago and was commencement speaker
that year.
Stefanie Schmitz, of Milpitas, is
graduating from Eleanor Roosevelt College with a double
major in Language Studies and Music. A clarinet and
sax player, she started her own band, Right Foot Blue,
in her sophomore year with seven other UCSD students.
“I always wanted to start my own band,”
she says, “so this was a dream come true.”
She also served as director of the Pep Band, comprised
of UCSD students, which plays at athletic events.
While a student studying abroad in Bordeaux, France,
she helped establish a small band at her university
which toured and played in local villages. She is
the recipient of the Oceanids Award for service based
on her outstanding service to the university.
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