Dillard Notable #4: The Other Most Wonderful Time of the Year- Commencement
I love commencement weekend. Each year this is one of the highlights, because it represents the culmination of 4, 5, 6 or more years of work. And I don’t think the students are the happiest people there- I think the parents generally express the greatest joy on that day.
This year we celebrated the 80th anniversary of our theater program, and one of our most distinguished actors, Garrett Morris, who spoke at founder’s day, received an honorary degree. This is one of my favorite pictures as he was genuinely moved by this honor.
We also had a historic event as the 3rd student from the same family earned the title of valedictorian at Dillard. I was able to confer degrees on 2 of the 3 so that has special meaning to me as well. One of the local stations ran a nice feature story on the sisters.
Our commencement speaker was Terrence “J” Jenkins. An up and coming entertainer, he was an active student at North Carolina A&T, and transitioned into the media most famously on the BET show, 106 & Park.
If you have time, you should treat yourself and watch his speech. He was very relatable, engaging, and thoughtful. Definitely a great way to end the academic year.
