Overcoming adversity: How this CNM student became the schools graduation speaker
Ypma was a clear choice to be the student speaker at a graduation event that coincided with CNM's 60th anniversary. She holds a 3.93 GPA, is a member of the honorary society Phi Theta Kappa, has made the dean's list for two semesters, and has bold aspirations for the future.
But the path to speak at the largest community college in the state's graduation was full of adversity: childhood trauma from her parent's distressing divorce, a speech impediment, an autism diagnosis at age 11 and both her mother and her grandmother being diagnosed with cancer in recent years.
Despite being accepted to multiple four-year universities, including the two largest in New Mexico — the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University — Ypma elected to attend CNM and ease into the post-secondary experience.
"I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle a change or maybe properly communicate with my peers and professors. I would doubt myself, and thoughts would cross my mind: 'What if I'm alone again,' she said, speaking to the over 900 graduates and the thousands of attendees. "However, even through all of these challenges, CNM opened its doors to me."
She would later walk the stage and receive her graduation certificates in American Sign Language and Early Childhood Development and is on track to receive her associate's degree next May. During her speech, Ypma said her journey at CNM began when she was 4 years old, recalling laying in her mother's lap while she studied.
"I totally started bawling there because it was so true," Francine Cala, Ypma's mother, told the Journal following the ceremony.
While Cala did not want to discuss the divorce from Ypma's father, she acknowledged its impact on her daughter. She also suspected from an early age that Ypma might be on the autism spectrum, noting that she often played by herself and struggled to make friends.
"It's just amazing how much she has progressed. I'm just amazed, and then to see her on the stage, oh my God, I'm even getting teary-eyed now because that wasn't her. She's just blossomed into this beautiful person," Francine Cala said.
She credited her mother, Ypma's grandmother, Maureen Cala, with teaching her to become more independent and comfortable in social settings by taking her on trips to the grocery store and giving her lists of items to pick up.
"She never could have done that without the help from my mom, (she) really provided a lot of help for her because I was in school, and then I was working," Francine Cala said.
Francine Cala herself received two associate degrees from CNM, which propelled her to work in her current role as a medical assistant at the UNM Cancer Center. But during Ypma's sophomore year of high school, Francine Cala was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer that eventually progressed to stage four.
"It was a constant battle of having a fear of waiting," Ypma told the Journal. "I remember having to shave her head as I was managing my high school classes and everything, and then having to deal with just that emotional weight of, 'Will I have a mother tomorrow?'"
Her mother's battle with cancer lasted until Ypma was at CNM, when she eventually reached remission, but then Maureen Cala was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. The chemo treatment kept her from being able to attend CNM's graduation, though she did watch a livestream.
When she returned home from the graduation ceremony, Francine Cala said Ypma's grandmother told her she was amazed at the speech and how her granddaughter presented herself.
After she receives her associate's degree, Ypma plans to continue her studies over 700 miles away in College Station, Texas, at one of the largest public universities in the country: Texas A&M. She hopes to get her Ph.D. in urban education to improve the country's education so that "factors such as poverty, race and living situations do not prevent success and access to quality education."
But she acknowledged it would be hard to leave behind her family and new-found friends.
"I'm sad about it because I've had so many great teachers, especially in the education (department), and I made friends for the first time that are meaningful and long-lasting, and it hurts having to go," Ypma said. "But I know that if I'm successful in the Ph.D., I'm able to bring change to New Mexico that would benefit us for generations."
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