On Thursday, August 20, the Los Angeles LGBT Center hosted its annual graduation ceremony, celebrating the achievements of students who completed educational and vocational training programs over the last year.
In addition to nearly a dozen graduates of high school, GED, and higher education programs, the 2026 ceremony recognized more than 50 graduates of the Center’s social services and culinary arts training programs, which prepares students with the skills and experience needed to enter the workforce.
“It means so much to look around this room and see our graduates surrounded by chosen family, friends, mentors, and so many others who have supported them throughout their journey,” said Susan Feniger, celebrity chef and member of the Center’s Board of Directors who helped launch the Culinary Arts program. “Today is about celebrating you, what you’ve accomplished, how far you’ve come, and everything that lies ahead.”
Among the graduates was Chasidy Hyman, a newly minted alumna of the Culinary Arts training program. She enrolled in the program last year, hoping to channel her passion for food and develop practical job skills. What she found was a space to foster her own creativity and build connections with her peers and teachers.
“It felt like a family,” she said. “I remember that week [of the Intergenerational Thanksgiving Dinner], I was there all week. I had processed about, I think they said maybe 700 pounds of turkey … Getting to be a part of that was my proudest moment. Getting to see everybody enjoy everything that we had worked so hard for that week.”
Hyman now works in a commercial kitchen that supplies meals to family shelters across Los Angeles.
Bryan Anthony Celis, a graduate of the Center’s Social Services vocational program, found support at the Center after previously experiencing homelessness. “I didn’t know at the time that I was being connected to something much greater than me,” he said in a speech addressing the crowd of graduates, staff, and supporters.
Celis currently serves as a volunteer intake advisor at an LA-based homelessness nonprofit and is pursuing further education to help other youth find the same support. “Now, my purpose is clear,” he said. “To open pathways for young adults who deserve a real chance at life and using what I learned so others don’t have to walk it alone.”
Evita Erina, a youth who came to the Center after experiencing housing insecurity, was recognized for completing her degree at UCLA. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Clinical Psychology at Cal State Los Angeles, focusing on interracial and generational trauma.
“I’m permanently housed, and the change is more than practical—it’s psychological and neurological,” she said. “It means I can breathe without always bracing. It means my focus can shift from coping to creating, from surviving to learning.”
After completing her education, she hopes to apply her experience to help other young people at the Center as a mental health clinician. “I want to be able to tell the youth residents that I see you. I understand because I was one of you,” she said.
Congratulations to all of the Center’s graduates, and thank you to all of our partners and supporters who make programs like these possible.
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