Contact: Jay Thompson
805-235-0955; jthompson@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly will honor two students with posthumous degrees during the upcoming 2026 Commencement ceremonies June 13-14 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

Graduate civil and environmental engineering student Cortland Silverio Rodriguez, who passed away Nov. 9, 2025, in Monterey County, will be honored at the College of Engineering’s first ceremony at the 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 13.

And Sean Ogawa Hillman, a first-year architectural engineering student from Washington state who died April 24, 2023, from injuries suffered in an accident near campus, will be celebrated at the 12:30 p.m. Sunday, June 14, ceremonies for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design, or CAED, and the Bailey College of Science and Mathematics.

Hillman, 20, was critically injured in a vehicle vs. bicycle collision just after 4:30 p.m. April 21, 2023, on Grand Avenue at Fredericks Street, about three blocks south of the eastern campus entrance. He was taken to a local trauma center, and three days later was taken off life support, after his mother arrived from Tokyo and the Office of the Dean of Students hosted a session for his family, friends and others in his residence hall to help process their emotions.

A week after the accident CAED’s Design Village competition was held at the college’s outdoor Experimental Structures Laboratory in Poly Canyon. Hillman’s teammates pushed for an additional Design Village objective: honoring their fallen teammate.

The annual, highly anticipated event is seen as a rite of passage for first-year architecture students with its emphasis on hands on, project-based learning. Participants work in teams to design and build the inhabitable structures within the canyon, which they must transport (by hand and foot) a mile up Poly Canyon Road, set up, live in and disassemble at the end of the weekend.

Some students wore green in his honor or printed his name on their structures, and a group remembrance was held the first night of the three-day event. His hammock was also turned into a memorial.

Cortland Rodriguez

Rodriguez’s father and about 20 family and friends will be at the ceremony. His brother will be accepting his degree.

The resident of Marina, California, was five weeks from his 28th birthday when he died of natural causes, the family said. 

The master’s student, born Dec.16, 1997, was a graduate of San Carlos School in Monterey, Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville, and he earned a bachelor’s degree at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Civil Engineering, ’23). At the time of his death, he was about to conclude his third quarter at Cal Poly.

Cortland is survived by his parents, father Leigh Rodriguez of Marina and mother Kimberly Pisto of Monterey; an older brother, Ashton Rodriguez of Los Angeles; a maternal grandfather, John Pisto (Cheryl “Auntie C”) of Monterey and his maternal grandmother, Eileen Love, of Brentwood. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Silverio and Eleuteria Rodriguez; and his uncle, Silverio Rodriguez, Jr.; and on his maternal side, his aunt, Tawni Neikirk. 

Cortland is also survived by numerous uncles, aunts and cousins.

Sean Hillman

Hillman’s parents and grandparents will be attending commencement.

The son of Mayumi Ogawa and Carl Hillman was born in Seattle on March 7, 2003. He moved to Tokyo with his mother when he was 5 years old. There, he received an excellent education over the next 13 years, developing a love of swimming, water sports and participating in the Junior Olympics on the Kotu Ku Canoe sprinting team.

In 2018, he returned to Seattle to live with his father on Vashon Island, living a short time with Kim and Adelia Cronin. He participated in many Vashon High School activities, including the Pirates’ golf team. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Hillman began Running Start, a remote learning program at Tacoma Community College, earning an associate arts degree. The teen loved to work. While attending school remotely he held three jobs: assistant manager of the Vashon Community Pool; construction worker with Ed Palmer Construction; and as a host and server at May's Restaurant in Vashon.

In addition to his parents, Hillman is survived by his grandparents Mary and Mark Hillman; uncle Luke Hillman (Rie); cousins, Iona and Nina Hillman; and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. 

Top photo: A graduate at the 2025 College of Architecture and Environmental Sciences searches the crowd at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.     

Cal Poly photo by Dylan Head