Local judge to speak at VGCC Adult Basic Skills Commencement

Vance-Granville Community College will hold commencement exercises dedicated exclusively to new graduates of Adult Basic Skills programs on Thursday, May 3. The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. in the Civic Center on the college’s Main Campus in Vance County.

Those being honored will include approximately 460 students who have completed either the Adult High School Diploma program or the General Educational Development (GED) High School Equivalency program in the past year, of whom at least 75 are expected to participate in the ceremony.

The Honorable S. Quon Bridges (pictured above), a district court judge for the state’s Ninth Judicial District (Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties), will be the principal commencement speaker. Judge Bridges graduated from the North Carolina Central University School of Law in 1981 and began his legal career with North Central Legal Services in Henderson. He later worked as an attorney in private practice, a public defender, and an assistant district attorney for the Ninth Judicial District. Bridges has served as a judge since 2007 and won the 2008 election to retain his seat. He is also a former Oxford city commissioner. Active in his community, Bridges has been a big brother in the Friends of Youth program both in Henderson and Oxford. He has received two Service to Mankind Awards from the Jubilee Sertoma Club of Henderson and Oxford. Bridges was the first Judge to preside in Granville, Franklin and Vance counties in the newly established “teen court,” and was the teen court volunteer of the year in 2010. Teen court involves real juvenile cases, and teenagers play every role in court except for the judge. In 2011, he received the Public Service Award from Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers. Judge Bridges is known for his courtroom dress code, which requires defendants to pull up their pants and tuck in their shirts. He requires juveniles to wear a shirt and tie to emphasize the importance of respecting the court system and the rule of law. As part of his commitment to serve the community he has visited many schools and churches to talk with youth about the consequences of violence, gang activity and drug use. Bridges was the first judge to preside during a Judicial Attendance Council meeting held in Vance County. The Judicial Attendance Council is made up of individuals from various agencies whose purpose is to assist parents who fail to make their children attend school.