ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605160179
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LU STAFF WRITER
ALUMNA DONNA MITCHELL urged the 367 graduates to take responsibility for their own lives.
Though the fluorescent lights were uninviting, there was nothing but warmth radiating from the the speakers, families and graduates at Virginia Western Community College's 30th commencement ceremony Wednesday night at the Salem Civic Center.
Guest speaker Donna Mitchell, account vice president at PaineWebber Inc. and a Virginia Western alumna, told graduates to appreciate and to use the knowledge they have received.
"You are responsible for how you look, how you act, how you feel, what you do," she said. "My philosophy is that we're all kings and queens in our own right. We simply have to choose to be one."
Mitchell also related many personal experiences to help graduates understand what they would need to succeed in life. With tears creeping into her voice, she recounted the death of her brother 41/2 years ago.
"My phone rang at 2:15 in the morning. It was my father, telling me ... that something had happened to my brother," recalled Mitchell. "As it turned out, my brother, my only sibling, had had a massive heart attack. He died ... at the age of 33. [It's taught me] that nothing in life is guaranteed. But then again, it's that very uncertainty which makes every moment special."
Mitchell also told the students to be adaptable, personable and willing to learn.
The graduating class boasts 367 students, two-thirds of whom are female, and six graduates with perfect grade point averages.
Sixty-six percent of the students are from Roanoke and Roanoke County; 26 percent from Franklin County and Salem; and 8 percent from from Botetourt County.
The ceremony also featured Greta Evans, the community services director at WSLS-TV, who presented a monologue, "You Are Worth Celebrating." She is also a poet, dramatic artist, public speaker and playwright.
"Your very existence is the first thing to celebrate," she said to the sea of black caps and gowns. "[It's time] to take your rightful place in your world."
Mitchell also encouraged the graduates to take on the world and push themselves beyond their "comfort zone." She described how frightened she was to go on a three-month backpacking adventure in Europe with a friend after she graduated from Virginia Tech when she was 23.
"I had never even been on a vacation before without my parents!" she exclaimed. "But it was the experience of a lifetime! We grew up more in those three months than we had in the [previous] 23 years."
Mitchell urged the class of 1996 to do the same.
"If you want to become a stronger person, you have to do the very things that scare you the most," she said. "You never get over fearing something, but after a while you begin to feel that there's nothing you can't do."
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