CWU confers more than 3,000 degrees on Saturday

The nurse shouted to push. Not to Jeff Charbonnaeu's wife, who was in labor, but to him, to push her bed out of the room to another room for an emergency C-section.
The Charbonneaus' unborn daughter was in a breech position, and had to be turned upside down. In the process, her umbilical cord became wrapped around her leg and caused her heartbeat to stop with each contraction.
The C-section was a success, and when he looked up, he found among the nurses in the room were three graduates from Zillah High School, where he teaches, and among them, graduates from Central Washington University, his alma mater.
Charbonneau, the 2013 National Teacher of the Year, shared his family's story Saturday at CWU's commencement exercises to make a point to the class of 2014.
"I hope you understand what's waiting for you is to become the new collective us," he said. "You are the new society of the United States, you are our new heroes."

Read more of this story in the Daily Record.

Story by Andy Matarrese, photo by Brian Myrick