Only months earlier, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had visited the campus. Upperclassmen related that King “spoke of his dream of racial equality and equal opportunity for future generations,” Butterfield said. “You were part of his vision. This institution was his vision. The election of black officials was his vision. And the epitome of that vision was the election of President Barack Obama.” He closed his address by noting that a tennis racket or golf club in his hands had a much lower value than in the hands of a Venus Williams or a Tiger Woods. Our value as people and citizens, he concluded, is based on “in whose hands we are,” referring to God. Fall Commencement was the last major event in NCCU’s centennial year. Dr. James E. Shepard, the school’s founder, welcomed the first students to campus on July 5, 1910. Initially named the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua, the institution went on to become the nation’s first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans. As he has done at past commencements, Chancellor Charlie Nelms recounted the stories of graduates who overcame obstacles to obtain their college educations. One of them, Carlton Koonce, dropped out of school and was in trouble with the law by age 18, Nelms said. With help, Koonce completed an associate’s degree, started a family and gained admittance to NCCU in 2008. He immediately began writing for the student newspaper, the Campus Echo. He became editor the next year.
Under Koonce’s leadership, the Echo revised its online edition and won nine Excellence in Journalism awards, including one for best overall HBCU student newspaper, Nelms said. Koonce graduated summa cum laude in mass communications with a concentration in journalism. Nelms said Caroline Njogu (pronounced joe-GOO) volunteered with homeless children at the end of the school day in her home city of Nairobi, Kenya. She came to the United States 10 years ago. In 2010, she was selected as one of 200 students nationwide to receive the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Working with African Advocates Against AIDS, a nonprofit organization in Raleigh, Njogu created a lay health advisor program to provide diabetes and hypertension education to African refugees in the RaleighDurham area. She did so while carrying a full course load and working part-time in the School of Education. Njogu graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Public Administration degree. Gary Bradley Hodges faced a job demotion in the current tough economy, but he had watched as his father, mother and sister lost jobs and successfully started over financially. Hodges completed his associate’s degree at Durham Technical Community College, Nelms said, and enrolled in NCCU’s School of Business. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in business management and administration.
Gary Hodges, mentioned in chancellor’s speech. Bachelor of Business Administration, summa cum laude.
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Spring 2011