 "Photo: Willie Pace")
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Saturday's commencement marked the last major event of N.C. Central University's centennial year (see: Campus Echo Centennial Edition). It also marked the largest December graduation class on record. Graduates and their families packed McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium, forcing others to overflow locations across campus. In all, 605 Eagles graduated -- 375 undergraduate and 230 graduate and professional degrees were awarded. That was up from 467 degrees awarded in December 2009.
U.S. Representative and N.C. Central graduate G.K. Butterfield gave the commencement speech. Butterfield, who was recently reelected to a fourth term in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District, earned undergraduate and law degrees from NCCU.
Butterfield recalled that when he arrived at NCCU in 1965 there was just one campus police officer, an individual who also sold city newspapers across campus for ten cents.
He recalled that Martin Luther King had spoke at NCCU just before he arrived. "You were part of his vision. This institution was part of his vision. The election of black elected officials was his vision."
But Butterfield didn't just wax nostalgic. He insisted that students need to be aware of the challenges facing the world and the U.S. "You must understand that there are 6 billion people in the world. One half of them live on less than $2 per day," he said. "In this country, 36 million people live in poverty. One out of five children live in poverty. You cannot ignore humanity, and as you leave this place, you cannot ignore the world."
Students said they were impressed with Butterfield's commencement speech. "Butterfield related to us. He made it about us," said Jamaka Gooding, a political science graduate who plans to earn a master's degree in legal studies.
"A lot of things Butterfield said stood out to me … especially when he said to leave the things you do in God's hands," said Anthony Johnson, a theatre graduate who plans to pursue a master's degree in technical theatre.
Chancellor Charlie Nelms told the stories of three graduates who have overcome trials and tribulations to make it to this point, including former 2009-2010 Campus Echo editor-in-chief Carlton Koonce, Caroline Njogu, a recipient of an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, and Gary Bradley Hodges, a summa cum laude graduate in business management and administration.
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