Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 8, 1994 TAG: 9405080080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It took five years to have graduation in the Bast Center," he said, referring to the fact that this was the first class to use the new athletic facility for this purpose.
"We are a better college because you made your home here," he told the 306 graduates.
The ceremony featured plenty of home-grown talent. Valedictorian Kristine L. Garren, and the two salutatorians, James T. Jordan and Kathryn P. Weaver, are from the Roanoke Valley. Garren also is the daughter of Kenneth R. Garren, vice president and dean.
She drew a laugh from the crowd when she opened her speech by greeting "President Gring, Dad," and her classmates. "We did not get [to graduation day] by ourselves," she said. The help of their professors, advisers and friends was important.
The commencement speaker was one of the college's most distinguished alumni, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, who graduated in 1968.
"A college lives by the accomplishments of its graduates," said Gring in introducing Boucher, who is the assistant majority whip in the House of Representatives.
In remarks made at a press conference before the ceremony, Boucher compared this year's graduates with his class.
"This generation will be involved with the community. It mirrors the generation I grew up in," he said. "It's a positive trend in young people."
Sally Fishburn Fulton, who recently retired from the college's board of trustees after serving for 13 years, was made an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Francis T. West, former chairman of the State Board for Community Colleges and Patrick Henry Community College of the University of Virginia, received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
by CNB