Germain Pichop

In his native country of Cameroon, in West Africa, Germain Pichop grew up with a dream of coming to the U.S.

His main focus was school and the hard work that came with it, he said.

Now that he is established as a business professor at OCCC, Pichop has devoted himself to helping others achieve their dreams.

Pichop is involved around campus. He participates in and monitors multiple business clubs for students, including Kappa Beta Delta, Multicultural Business Club and Students in Free Enterprise.

Cheers, whistles and dozens of names rang out in counterpoint to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” as OCCC’s graduating class of 2012 filed into the Cox Convention Center Auditorium.

Before the ceremony, Alissa Thompson, who graduated with an associate degree in biology, said she felt nervous.

“I’m a disabled vet and I suffered amnesia in Iraq. So I … have no memory of my high school graduation. This is like graduating for the first time.”

The 25th anniversary of OKC Pride is going to see a few changes, said Josh Sauer, OKC Pride vice president.

“We had a lot of different patrons and volunteers develop symptoms of heat exposure,” Sauer said.

“We sent several folks to the hospital,” he said.

“And that was a trend that didn’t look like it was going away any time soon, and so we decided to move the dates one month early, to May.”

Specifically May 18 through 27, Sauer said, and with the additional change of a Pride week, instead of the usual weekend.

Another change is the venue of the festival, which has been changed from the park down by 39th and Penn to the new Film Row downtown at Sheridan and Lee.