THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130032
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY THOMAS W. HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
After students' years of classes, hours spent sweating out exams and the probing questions of instructors, Norfolk State University returned the favor Sunday by conferring 1,400 degrees.
Friends and family members packed Scope to the rafters to watch the three-hour proceedings, highlighted by the commencement address of Daphne Maxwell Reid, a television actress and designer who encouraged the students to choose their path in life carefully .
``Life, you will find, has many teachers, guides, counselors and role models,'' she said. ``It is important that you carefully choose which guidelines to follow, which roads to take and what ideas conform to your path.
``In making these choices, reach back to the early teachings of your life, lessons learned at home, in the community and here at Norfolk State.''
Reid, who is married to television actor and producer Tim Reid, himself a graduate of NSU, encouraged the students never to stop learning because the more knowledge they have, the more options they'll have in life.
``Don't just let life happen,'' she said. ``Take charge of your trip through life and change the world for the better. Live a responsible life of honesty and integrity, and expect that of others.''
Both Reids were given honorary citations for the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. Harrison B. Wilson, president of Norfolk State, later said Daphne Reid's remarks were ``right on target.''
When Reid spoke of the many paths one faces in life, it must have been a familiar idea to Charlene Batchelor of Detroit.
A single mother of three, Batchelor spent years working to earn her master's degree from Marygrove College in Detroit and was scheduled to receive her degree there Sunday. But it so happened that her 23-year-old son, Delmar, an electrical engineering student at NSU, was graduating the same day.
It was a simple choice to make. She packed up her gown, headed to Virginia, and sat in the audience to watch her son accept his diploma.
``I'm so very proud of him, and on Mother's Day it's a double blessing to be here and watch him graduate,'' said Batchelor, who is retired from the Wayne County prosecutor's office in Detroit, where she worked in a victim-witness program.
Among the many graduates with ambitious plans for the future was Kaysha Lankford, a 22-year-old Windsor native who graduated top in her class at the Dozoretz National Institute for Minorities in Applied Sciences. She wants to be a pharmacist.
She may have summed up the feelings of many new graduates when she said, ``I'm excited, relieved and sad in a way to leave Norfolk State. But I'm excited to get on with my life.'' ILLUSTRATION: VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
Andrea Council of Chesapeake gets help from friends with her
mortarboard and hood Sunday at Norfolk State University.
VICKI CRONIS
The Virginian-Pilot
Family and friends peer over the railing at the packed Scope at the
Norfolk State University graduation procession. NSU conferred 1,400
degrees Sunday.
by CNB