Eight years ago, Laura Castro came to the U.S. from Colombia. She was 12 years old and didn't speak a word of English.

Yesterday she delivered a speech to 5,000 people at her graduation from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College with a single sentence of Spanish: "Mami, gracias por tu apoyo," or, "Mother, thanks for your support."

Castro's family brought her to Chesterfield County from Colombia for the educational opportunities and a chance for a better career.

Now she's well on her way, with three scholarships that will pay for her continued education at the University of Virginia.

Castro graduated yesterday summa cum laude from Reynolds with three associate degrees and a 3.96 GPA. She was one of 900 students to receive 1,000 degrees and certificates from the community college's three area campuses yesterday. The school's 35th commencement was held at Virginia Commonwealth University's Stuart C. Siegel Center.

Virginia Secretary of Public Safety John W. Marshall was the speaker.

At the same time, 16 miles away in Chesterfield County, John Tyler Community College was awarding 672 degrees at its 40th commencement ceremony. Virginia's secretary of education, Thomas R. Morris, spoke to graduates from the school's two campuses.

When Castro graduated 11th in her class at L.C. Bird High School in 2006 as an honor student with a 4.1 GPA, she had more than a few options. She chose community college to avoid debt and focus on her studies rather than working to pay for them.

"At first, I was apprehensive about attending a community college because all of my friends where attending four-year universities," she admits. "I was disappointed that I couldn't make my dreams come true just like my friends."

But Castro leapt into the school and all it offered. She quickly realized it had been the right move.

"It was great to see how challenging it was, and it was awesome to be able to be involved in so many programs," she said.

Castro has been a Reynolds Student Ambassador, a student representative at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and was this year's elected Student Council Administration president.

Together with friends, she formed a club called the Diverse Organization of Ethnicities, which brought together immigrant students to talk about their backgrounds.

"It has been fun to be able to get together with all kinds of people and see all our differences, but realize that we were all very similar," she said.

Her interest in that area helped pave the way for the student, who plans to major in international relations with a concentration in Latin American studies at U.Va. And with her studies at Reynolds paid for through scholarships, she's heading there debt-free and confident.

"I'm just happy to be able to keep moving forward," she said.

Contact Wesley P. Hester at (804) 649-6976 or whester@timesdispatch.com.