170 Nevada clients complete journey, celebrate recovery at WestCare’s graduation event

About 170 people sit in front of the stage at Zappos headquarters in downtown Las Vegas carefully listening to WestCare Regional Vice President Leo Magrdichian’s instructions.

He’s coaching them on how to step across the stage, move the tassels on their mortarboards and wave as they accept their graduation certificates.

It’s a final piece of guidance from WestCare for the graduates after a long journey in the addiction rehabilitation program. WestCare’s first graduation ceremony in four years was Tuesday.

WestCare is an international mental health and addiction assistance facility with over 40 years in Nevada. In Las Vegas, the company has been commemorating their clients’ completion of their sober living programs through graduations for decades but had to put the tradition on hiatus in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Magrdichian, who started as a counselor with the group before moving up to regional vice president, said including the graduates from years where a ceremony wasn’t held in one night of celebration was an easy decision to come to — and one they are owed.

“It’s one of those things where, if I can do something for one person, I have to be able to do it for everybody, and if I can’t do it for everybody, then I shouldn’t do it at all,” Magrdichian said.

Magrdichian and others highlighted the importance of the event in bolstering participants’ resolve and showing them that their hard work toward healthier lives is valued not just for their own sake, but for their loved ones’ sake. The graduation was packed with families and friends, including many children of graduates, all gathered to watch their parents, siblings, children and friends take the next step.

Magrdichian also noted how the ceremony was intentionally a graduation, giving participants who may have missed certain milestones that unique life experience.

“For some of them, the truth of the matter is, this is the first thing they’ve started and actually carried it out to completion,” Magrdichian said.

That was the case for Cory Stowe, a 2024 graduate of WestCare’s program. Stowe’s crossing of the stage was his first-ever graduation. For him, the night was equal parts celebration and a time for reflection.

“I wish my mom was here, man, because she always said she wanted to see one of her kids with a cap and gown on, and this was my chance,” Stowe said.

Right alongside Stowe was fellow 2024 graduate and friend Martin Limon. The two found each other after coming off the stage to relish in their shared achievement. They had met during the program, and Limon said Stowe’s friendship and others’ was what pulled him through the difficult detoxification portion of his recovery.

“They told me, ‘Stay strong,’ They gave me words of encouragement, they gave me positive feedback, and that made me stay,” Limon said. “If not, I would have walked out the doors.”

Like Stowe, Limon had his own personal achievement crossing the stage beyond his completing the program. While it wasn’t Limon’s first time donning a cap and gown, Tuesday was the first time he did it sober — for him, a symbol of pride and a sign of a new start.

“The past few times I actually walked the stage, I was on drugs, but this time it felt pretty good, and I was actually proud to walk sober for the first time,” Limon said.

Stowe and Limon are from WestCare’s 2024 class, but dozens of the more than 170 participants celebrated completing their programming as early as 2020. As they walked the stage, their names and years were called out, all met with a roar of cheers.

And for some, two years were called out — those strong enough to readmit into programming after relapsing. WestCare officials noted the that graduates present Tuesday, especially those from earlier years, were signs of dedication by participants.

“These are individuals now, some of them who graduated four years ago, and they’ve been vetted and meet the criteria to participate in graduation now, meaning that they’re still clean and sober and they’re still moving forward,” Magrdichian said.

In addition to the graduation ceremony, officials from across Nevada spoke to espouse WestCare’s positive influence on the state and sing their praise for the graduating classes. Political powerhouses such as Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., sent in video messages encouraging graduates, and others like Las Vegas mayoral candidate Shelley Berkley and Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom made in-person appearances.

Alumni of the WestCare program also spoke, underscoring the long-term benefits of the program. Dawn Marie Cortez, a WestCare children’s counselor and 2014 alumni of the program, shared how her life changed for the better after participating in an eight-month program. Now on the way to finishing a master’s degree in social work, what Marie Cortez said she truly took away from the program was family.

“I had never spent a holiday alone, a birthday alone, anything alone because I have my alumni family, and I want you guys to know I am so proud of you,” Marie Cortez said during the graduation.

 

 

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