in california -- >> lizzette flores. >> reporter: you see the parents of lizzette flores when she walked across the stage. she's the first in her family to graduate college. >> do you think you could have done it without your parent's support? >> i definitely don't think so. >> when she had her official grad photos taken, she knew what she had to do. >> i definitely felt like i needed to include my parents, because they were such a big part of my educational journey. >> reporter: this graduation season, now a season of gratitude for students like celeste zamora. >> it wasn't just me who graduated. my parents also graduated with me. >> we did it, we did it! >> remember brenda and her mother? that's them after graduation, celebrating what they both accomplished. >> because of her believing in me and her sacrificing a lot of stuff, to make sure my dreams come true, it's like her dreams came true. >> just a huge congratulations to those grads and to their families, including, by the way, brenda's sister, who's set to start college this fall. that's "nightly news" for this sunday. lester holt