Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505230044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The applause lasted 33 seconds.
Then, graduates rushed to waiting arms. Out came enormous platters of food, and a festival began. A boy chased a puppy - a gift for his graduating sister - as tomorrow's job seekers chased toasts with champagne.
The keynote speaker, alumna Mary "M.L." Flynn, advised graduates to be patient. She worked for $2 an hour in her first job at a public television station before rising to become a producer at NBC "Nightly News," coordinating international news coverage.
"You shouldn't be afraid to start at the bottom," Flynn said. "We all have had to."
Flynn shared memories of watching sickly Rwandan refugees trudge over a bridge leading to Tanzania one morning. As the refugees passed a waterfall haloed by a rainbow, bodies of the dead spilled down the cascade.
And then there was the day two weeks ago when Flynn fulfilled a dream by spending time with members of the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow. "It's the closest I will ever come to being a ballerina," she said.
The graduates enter a job market in which economic uncertainties make companies somewhat less willing to hire today than, say, one year ago, said Tina Rolen, assistant director of the career development center.
Of last year's graduating class, 68 percent are working, 30 percent are pursuing graduate degrees, and 2 percent are still looking for jobs, the college said.
To be sure, a Hollins degree carries some weight. Hollins, one of three women's colleges in the state, is considered academically selective - and the rules have been tightened because of growing numbers of applications and limited space and resources, said Stuart Trinkle, admissions director.
Student leader Becca Bell praised graduates for the challenges they tackled.
"Maybe you shared your poetry with a class of complete strangers, maybe you made it through the ropes course, maybe you took a dance class when someone told you - way back when - big girls can't dance," she said. "Maybe you overcame an eating disorder. Maybe you got rid of your jerk. Maybe you stood up against racism or marched for something you believed in."
As the graduates move on - leaving behind memories of trekking up Tinker Mountain, marking time by the gong of a chapel bell and saying simply, "Hi, Maggie," when college President Jane Margaret O'Brien went by - some anticipated finding work in fields such as banking and finance, advertising, education and social work.
Few stories were alike, however. Margaret Edens Hairston was to return to her job this morning as a teacher at Drewry Mason Middle School in Martinsville, enriched by a master's degree in humanities. Courtney Grace Johnson, who received a communications degree, was thinking about joining her father in his poultry business in Columbia, S.C.
Sarah Beth Conkling, recipient of an English degree and the college's highest award for good character, planned to study creative writing at Hollins, which is noted for its undergraduate and graduate writing programs. Someday, she said, she would like to write books and become a university professor and later an Episcopal priest.
"I found my voice," she said.
Kat Huffman of Roanoke, a single mom and full-time bartender and waitress, hoped her bachelor of arts degree in psychology would lead to a counseling career.
"It's been a hard battle, but I got it," Huffman said. She clutched her forest green diploma holder, her jaw tight with excitement. "It's mine, and nobody can have it."
by CNB