Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505220064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then she told the 4,345 students, ``Good morning, rainbows.'' She said that the students, like rainbows, offer hope to the nation. To be rainbows, they must have passion, compassion, humor and style, Angelou said.
``Our country is desperately in need of rainbows,'' Angelou told her Richmond audience.
``You are the best we have. As I look out over you, I see a beautiful tapestry of faces - white, brown, black, pink - this beautiful tapestry is wonderful. You are literally and figuratively rainbows.''
In Fairfax, Gov. George Allen said the 4,705 graduates of George Mason University were among the first students to benefit from a new cap on state college tuition that limits increases to the rate of inflation.
``A higher education priced beyond reach is not real opportunity for middle-income families,'' Allen said. ``That's why I promised the people of Virginia that as their governor, I would put a lid on the skyrocketing cost of a college education. We have kept that promise.''
For the first time in George Mason history, a student also addressed the gathering. Mary Spruill, an international studies major from Roanoke, was selected after winning an essay contest.
The Northside High School graduate used her essay, "George Mason University: Gateway to a Lifelong Learning Path," as the theme for her speech.
A student - valedictorian Timothy D. Miller - delivered the keynote address at Virginia Military Institute's graduation in Lexington. He discussed the all-male school's code of honor.
``Honor is not a set of rules by which you live, but the virtue which governs your actions. Honor lies not in the technicalities of an issue, but in the intent behind it,'' Miller told his 181 fellow graduates.
``Honor is a gift that a man gives to himself; a gift that no other man can give nor ever take away,'' he said. ``Let us take this gift with us and covet it always.''
Richard Janeway, former medical school dean at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, advised the 102 Eastern Virginia Medical School graduates not to be distracted by the buzz over health care reform from their most important mission - caring for their patients.
``If we as physicians put the patient first, so too, over the long term, will our society,'' he said in the Norfolk ceremony. ``Cost, access and the quality of care are factors that require address, and indeed, some redress. What must not be lost from the equation is the quality of caring.''
Staff writer Lisa Applegate contributed information to this story.
by CNB