Singer Selena Gomez has paid tribute to this year’s graduating students from immigrant families, according to billborad,com on Sunday (May 24). She acknowledged them in a video message from home, in conjunction with the Immigrad 2020 Virtual Commencement.
She noted that although the ceremony was online it was very real to the graduates and their families. She added that she wanted the graduates to know how important they were and that what they went through was a big part of the American story.
The singer mentioned her own family’s move from Mexico to America. She said that she was a proud third-generation American-Mexican. She said her family’s history and their actions helped get her to where she was today.
Gomez added that her story was not unique as each and every one of the graduates had a similar tale of becoming an American.
No matter where the graduate’s family was from, no matter what the graduate’s immigration status, each had taken steps to obtain an education, making their families proud and opening up their worlds.
Gomez sent her love to the graduates and her congratulations. She hoped that they would go on to do everything they wanted.
The virtual commencement was organised for graduating students across the country by Define American, FWD.us, United We Dream, I Am An Immigrant and Golden Door Scholars.
Gomez, 27, was born and raised in Texas and started her acting career at a young age in Barney & Friends. During her teen years she acted as Alex Russo on the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place.
Between 2012 and 2014, she was diagnosed with lupus. In 2017, she received a kidney transplant from her friend Francia Raisa. She broke an artery during the transplant so emergency surgery was done to build a new artery using a vein from her leg.
Earlier this year, Gomez said she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.