‘Keep on moving’ (VGCC Commencement)
‘Keep on moving’
By Wes Platt, News Editor
The Daily Dispatch, Henderson, NC
www.HendersonDispatch.com
May 12, 2012
More than 400 students graduated from Vance-Granville Community College on Friday afternoon, joining about 10,000 prior graduates who have passed through the brick archways of the college during the past 43 years.
“It is a moment to behold,” said Dr. Stelfanie Williams, in her first commencement ceremony since becoming the first African-American female president of VGCC.
The ceremony, broadcast on the internet via live streaming cameras, took place at the gazebo at the heart of the main campus south of Henderson. It was standing room only, with friends and relatives of students packed in folding chairs, on low walls and along a hill next to the gazebo.
Before flipping their tassels, students heard remarks from their Student Government Association president, Katina D. Harris, and a longtime Henderson resident who went on to become a professor at North Carolina A&T State University, Dr. Kimberly Ray McNeil.
Harris, a Warrenton resident and mother of five who technically started as a student at VGCC when she was taken to day care on campus by her mother, came back to the school in 2005 after she lost her job due to company downsizing. She first graduated in 2007 with a degree in Business Administration/E-commerce, but returned to finish a few courses so that she could transfer and complete a four-year degree.
Along the way, she fell in love with the subject of psychology and that’s what she’ll study after she transfers to North Carolina Central University in Durham.
“Some of you soared through your classes, but some of you are surprised you made it here today,” Harris said during her address to the Class of 2012. “But you made it. It wasn’t easy, but you didn’t give up.”
She commended her classmates for enduring despite all the obstacles that may have faced them.
“Being here proves you are a winner and you can achieve your dreams,” she said. “Go ahead and celebrate today. We still have work to do tomorrow.”
McNeil offered a repeated refrain for students about to graduate: “Keep on moving.”
She cautioned against becoming complacent and urged them to keep pushing themselves, to keep improving and to keep learning.
“The beauty of life is that learning is constant, if you allow it to be,” she said.
Beyond graduation, she said, it’s not just about earning money or getting ahead. It’s about leaving behind a legacy of good deeds and community involvement.
“How will you make a difference?” she asked.
Reprinted with permission of The Daily Dispatch.
