SAN MARCOS ---- Cal State San Marcos celebrated the more than 65 black members of the class of 2004 on Thursday in a rousing, emotional ceremony that launched the commencement season.

Called to attention at the Clarke field house around 5:45 p.m. by the ever more insistent drumming of the West African-style Teye Sa Thiosanne, some 200 people joined to wish the new grads well and godspeed.

At the urging of Honey Folk, a student about to graduate this month along with her sister, Crystal, the students sitting near the front of Room 113 stood up, turned around and applauded their families, friends, teachers and CSUSM staff that supported them during their college careers. The Folk sisters are leaders of the student government organization, Associated Students Inc.

The keynote speaker, Darlene Willis, who is executive officer for the chancellor of student affairs at UCSD, told the students that even though they may figure they're leaving school, they ought to aim for even higher education.

A bachelor's degree, she said, is now about equal to a high school diploma years ago. More education, she said, would mean the difference between the grads "receiving a job" and having a career. Willis, who grew up in an inner city neighborhood in Oakland with five sisters, said "job" translates to "just over broke," while a career means getting paid to do one's passion.

Speaking from a podium draped with Kente cloth signifying heritage, achievement and excellence, Willis urged the students not to let the cost of more education keep them from having that career.

She quoted from a sign her husband had seen posted on a wall at a university in Maryland: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

Urging the grads to surround themselves with positive people, she said, "we are a resilient group of folk. We've had to endure a lot to get where we are today. And, believe me, the struggle is not over."

Telling them to "question the system, always question the system," Willis challenged the students to live their lives in ways that honor people such as civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. ---- people "who died so you could sit in these seats tonight."

CSUSM President Karen Haynes said she wanted the students to know how proud they have made her and the staff and faculty. "I hope you have been enriched over the four years you have been here," the president said. "You have enriched our lives as you have been with us."

The gathering, billed as a recognition ceremony, is the first of four gatherings in May of distinct groups in the class of 2004.

Women's studies grads are set for a May 14 lunch at Acapulco Mexican Restaurant on Restaurant Row in San Marcos. The same day, students once considered unlikely college prospects because of poverty and disabilities, will celebrate at Arts 240. On May 16, the La Raza group honors Latino students at the Clarke field house.

The formal university commencementtakes places in two ceremonies onMay 15 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.