Hillsborough Community College has become a tradition for one Bay Area family.

  • Siblings Shahrzad and Shariar Zamani graduating from HCC next week
  • Father Jamshid Zamani graduated from HCC in the 1980s
  • Mother Faetema, raised in Iran, now working toward degree at HCC

Siblings Shahrzad and Shariar Zamani, are graduating from HCC next week. Shahrzad will be the commencement speaker at the ceremony.
 
"It feels amazing," Shahrzad said.
 
Their dad, Jamshid Zamani, knows the feeling. He donned the HCC cap and gown in the 1980s.
 
But their mom, Faetema Zamani, never went to college. She was raised in Iran and banned from higher education.

After moving to the United States, her children convinced her to give community college a try.
 
"They push me," Faetema said. "They encouraged me."
 
So after more than 30 years, Faetema started taking English classes at HCC this semester. Her husband was shocked.
 
"I could never imagine she was going to go back to school after all these years," Jamshid said.
 
And although her children are celebrating their upcoming graduation, they can't wait to celebrate the day their mom walks across the stage.
 
"When I see my mom graduating, it'll be the best feeling ever," Shahrzad said. "Because I think she has accomplished something in her life that she has wanted as a teenager. She'll finally be able to pass that milestone."
 
The HCC campus thus represents much more than school for this family.

It represents their future.