Sunday was the day Nadia Barghelame was to have walked across the stage at the Colorado Convention Center and received her diploma from Metropolitan State College of Denver.
It was the day Nadia, the youngest of three children, was to have fulfilled her parents’ dream of seeing all their kids through college.
“Your education is one thing no one can take away from you,” Mary Barghelame, Nadia’s mom, said. “We wanted all of our children to graduate from college.”
But in December 2004, Nadia, a 20-year-old scholarship tennis player who hoped to become a professional pilot, died with two others in a plane crash near Centennial Airport. The plane – a gift to Nadia, who was already a pilot, from her dad – had engine trouble shortly after takeoff.
And among all the sorrows the family experienced following the crash, one of the greatest, they said, was the realization that Nadia wouldn’t receive her diploma.
That is, until Sunday, when months of administrative wrangling by Metro State’s tennis coach and others culminated with a posthumous degree.
“It’s a tremendous gift,” said Ali Barghelame, Nadia’s brother. “It means so much to us.”
Nadia was one of 1,380 Metro State graduates to receive a degree Sunday, a record number for the school. A succession of speakers told those who donned the mortarboard to be exemplary leaders and seize the possibilities their education has given them. It being Mother’s Day, the graduates were also told to remember those who helped them succeed, especially mom.
“Without them and their love, we wouldn’t be here,” said Susana Osorio, the top graduate.
Gov. Bill Ritter spoke about the diversity of Metro State’s students. In terms of race and age, he said, the graduating class was the most diverse in the state. It also contained numerous students who went to school while holding down a full- time job, raising a family or both.
“You are America, you really are,” Ritter said. “And, as much as anything, you represent the promise of America.”
Ritter told the graduates to be passionate about their work, to remember where they came from and to be involved in their community.
“When you become educated, when you have this degree, you have become one of those people who can help other people in this nation and state change their station in life,” he said.
Nadia’s relatives, who have established a scholarship for female aviation students, were called to the stage after Ritter spoke. It had taken more than two years, a change to college policy and the board of trustees’ approval for them to get there.
When a school official presented the family with Nadia’s diploma, Abe Barghelame, Nadia’s father, shook his head side to side with emotion, reached out his hand and said thank you.
“This,” he said earlier, “is probably the best gift I have ever received in my life.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
