 "Photo: David Fitts/Echo staff photographer")
The 62nd Annual N.C. Central University Honors Convocation for Academic Achievement honored NCCU's brightest and most outstanding students on Friday, April 8. More than one hundred awards and scholarships were presented to NCCU students during the ceremony.
Among awards and scholarships were the Charles A. Ray Award for Excellence in Mass Communications, the Alfonso A. Elder Award for Excellence in Mathematical Sciences, the NASA Center Scholarship in Physics and the Harold Bruce Pierce Scholarship. Students making the dean's list also were recognized.
Featured speaker was four-time Emmy Award-winning news correspondent Vicki Mabrey.
The Howard University alumna is a correspondent for ABC's "Nightline." Prior to her career at ABC, she worked as a reporter for CBS's "60 Minutes II."
Mabrey said her passion for reporting began when she saw a friend anchoring on television and she decided that was what she wanted to do. "It's the story I get to tell," said Mabrey.
In her speech, Mabrey stressed the importance of getting an education and speaking properly. "We need proper English to be taken seriously," said Mabrey. She also stated that students should not feel that they are being "less black" for furthering their education.
According to Mabrey, "Smart is the new black." She encouraged students to get out and see the world. She said has traveled to 46 American states and 50 countries. In 1997, she travelled with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to six African nations.
She said everyone should think about the opportunities available now that were not available to past generations. Her advice to aspiring reporters and journalists was to get as many internships as possible, as well as to figure out what you like and go after it.
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