DSU Holds 2013 Dec. Commencement; More Than 200 Graduates
Delaware State University held its 123rd Commencement – and its second annual December ceremony – handing diplomas to over 200 graduates on Saturday, Dec. 14, in the Memorial Hall Gymnasium.
For images of the Commencement, click on the below photo slideshow, followed by more information about the ceremony.
DSU alumnus Kent Amos, Class of 1970, was the keynote speaker. Mr. Amos is a retired Xerox corporate executive who was the first African-American vice president of the company. He would go on to become a national renowned educator and the founder of the Urban Family Institute and the Dorothy Height Community Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Amos focused a significant part of his address on what DSU meant to him and how it gave him the foundation for the successes he would experience.
“This place taught me to believe in my heritage,” he said. “ … We come from different backgrounds and you have to believe in where you came from. You have to believe in the capacity (of your abilities).”
Mr. Amos said told the graduates that now that DSU has prepared them, it is their responsibility to move forward.
“I see a sea of roses and daffodils nurtured and flowered by the raindrops of Delaware State University’s … pantheon of heroes who came before us,” Mr. Amos said. “You are young men and women who now have a certificate of entry into the world beyond the institution.”
DSU President Harry L. Williams presented the Presidential Academic Award to Danielle Riser of Felton, Del., who in earning a Bachelor of Science degree (Summa Cum Laude) in Early Childhood Education maintained a 4.0 grade point average.
The music for the event was provided by the DSU Concert Band and the DSU Concert Choir.