Yang will receive degree

By Maria Miranda
The Collegian

The dream of graduating college has come true for Shee Yang, the Fresno State student who died in a fire with two of his nieces on March 19. He will receive a posthumous Bachelor of Arts degree in social work.

The degree will be awarded to the family in a private ceremony at a time of their choosing, said Paul M. Oliaro, vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Oliaro said the degree is not being given out of sympathy for the family. He said it is an earned degree since Yang was in good standing in his remaining classes.

Yang, 22, had already met all the criteria necessary to graduate in May. He died only months before graduating when a fire burned his family’s mobile home in Clovis.

Oliaro said strict criteria are used to determine if a student can receive a posthumous degree.

“They don’t occur often, but when we are able to do so we are very pleased,” Oliaro said. “It’s comforting to the family.”

Yang’s family was excited to learn that Yang’s hard work would not be in vain.

“We are very happy about it,” said Kao Yang, Yang’s older brother. “He was going to be the first one to get a degree.”

Yang’s cousin Paula Yang said the family was speechless at the news as well as sad.

“We were very sad because everyone wanted to see Shee get the degree,” Paula Yang said.

Paula Yang said Yang’s father, who was a teacher in Laos, holds education in high regards and was very pleased at the news.

For Kao Yang, the degree shows how hard Yang worked to make his family proud.

“It’s the most important thing I can ask him to give our parents,” Kao Yang said. “That was my hope for him to get his degree for my family and for himself.”
Now, Kao Yang said he has to figure out what to do without Yang.

“He’s gone and I’m on a different road now,” said Kao Yang, who had plans on getting a house and car with Shee Yang to help their family.

“It is so hard,” Kao Yang said. “He [was] the most important person in the family.”

Paula Yang believes Yang would have done well as a social worker and probably would have worked with the elderly.

“All of our older relatives [found] him pleasant and easy to be around,” Paula Yang said.

Paula Yang also described Yang as charming, friendly and sociable.

“He was such a kind hearted person,” Paula Yang said. “He’d never say no and he’d do anything to accommodate his friends.”

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