Manhattanville University held its undergraduate commencement ceremony on Saturday. With cheers, hugs, and proud families, the Class of 2025 reflected on years of hard work and looked ahead to bright futures.

Student leader and graduate Karla Desoto said, "I'm feeling very excited, definitely a bittersweet moment."

While fellow graduate Gavin Dawson reflected on being a first-generation college graduate.

"I'm really happy to be the first of my family to do it, you know, and to make them proud," he said.

Among the throngs of graduates, Irving Escobar stood out. The husband and father of two, soon to be three, overcame unimaginable personal loss to earn his nursing degree.

Eight years ago, Escobar decided he wanted to go back to school. He took his prerequisites and started to apply. He was rejected by six schools.

"My confidence was at an all-time low. I said, 'Maybe I am not good enough'" he said of the situation.

In 2020, COVID-19 claimed the lives of his stepfather, his best friend and his wife's grandmother. That same year – he says his mother was murdered while visiting her home country of El Salvador.

Escobar also lost his father to illness last year.

But amid all of this tragedy and rejection, Escobar says his wife convinced him to apply to one more school, Manhattanville University. He was accepted and spent two years commuting two hours a day from Westbury, Long Island for classes. He finished his degree on an accelerated timeline.

"I am beyond grateful because now I am walking in what I once prayed for. I get emotional thinking about it, because I never thought it would happen," he told News12 while preparing to walk across the stage.

He now plans to use his nursing degree to care for others with the compassion he once needed himself.