COCC Journalism Student to Give Graduate Commencement Speech

In just eight days Central Oregon Community College’s class of 2026 will be celebrating at graduation on Mazama Field.

Ray Randall, COCC student and current intern for the Source, will be one of 300 at the event. He will be receiving his diploma at commencement and be among the ceremony’s speakers, offering a reflection on the scholarly journey and personal privileges.

“I feel like people, now more than ever, don’t like to acknowledge their privilege, when like it or not we all have privileges in one way or another,” Randall told the Source. “I think it’s important to look back on and kind of reflect and take that twofold consideration.”

Randall was awarded a scholarship to continue his education from the highly competitive Jack Kent Cooke Foundation this May. Last summer he was also accepted into a mentorship program with the revered New York Times Corps. Since last fall, he was served as COCC’s Afrocentric Club President. This August, he will be packing his things and setting out for Howard University in Washington, D.C.

“Coming to Central Oregon from California was a big change because of the many differences in culture and diversity,” Randall says. “I will be sad to leave, but I’m just looking forward to being one of many again and not being constantly singled out visually.”

Randall says the first six months of living in Central Oregon was a culture shock, and he struggled to find a community.

“I struggled to connect with a community, and that’s never happened to me before,” Randall says. “In Southern California someone is their identity first and their race second, but here that is kind of flipped on its head. Your race and ethnicity comes before. That was a big shift for me.”

While studying at COCC, Randall has also been working at The Broadside, a student-run newspaper on campus. He says he worked his way up from editor to editor in chief within one year’s time. In his spare time he says he enjoys watching movies, playing video games, spending quality time with his family and reading.

“There’s plenty of beautiful parks here and areas for me to relax, but I’m also really busy, so I spend a lot of time at the desk,” Randall says.

His experience working as a reporter and editor at The Broadside has, he feels, made him into a stronger reporter and writer. Randall says he has been able to apply the tenets of journalism to his personal hobbies, including fiction writing.

“It’s just helped me understand writing on a deeper level,” Randall says. “I am also able to turn those stories around and understand the fundamental principles and teach those to editors and journalists that I supervise and manage.”

In August, Randall will be entering HU, one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, as a junior. During his senior year, in 2028, he’ll travel again to Manhattan to meet his NYT Corps mentor.

“I’m stoked,” Randall says of the upcoming trip. “New York Times is a household name and being able to see that environment is just exhilarating.”

Randall told the Source that in five years he thinks he will be in grad school striving towards becoming a history teacher, which he says is one of his ultimate goals. The other ultimate goal: continuing down the path of journalism.

“I’ll likely be somewhere on the East Coast pursuing journalism, trying to help make the world a better place,” Randall says.