Commission on Colleges Head Urges Continuing Studies Graduates to be Role Models for School Children
May 15, 2006
Belle S. Wheelan, former Virginia secretary of education, told School of Continuing Studies graduates at the University of Richmond this morning they are role models for “every student in elementary and middle schools.”
Wheelan, president of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), encouraged the 168 members of the class of 2006 to give back to younger students.
“In Virginia,” she said, “we lose 30 percent of students between their freshman and senior years in high schools. They never even get to college and yet have to compete in the world.”
“So I’m giving you one last homework assignment,” Wheelan said: “Make time to go back into our schools to help children understand the value of education.”
Wheelan told the graduates they have credibility and will be in positions to offer school children jobs someday.
Before “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” Wheelan said, H. Jackson Brown Jr. wrote “Life’s Little Instruction Book.” She left the graduates with four of those instructions:
“Be as kind to the janitor as you are to the chairman of the board,” she said. “No one is anymore important than anybody else.” “Say thank you,” she advised: “to colleagues, to people who open doors for you. They won’t be expecting it.”
“Keep asking questions,” she said, for that is the “way you learn,” and let others know it’s “OK to ask questions.”
Finally, she said: “Remember the plan of your life was determined by a higher being.”
Student speaker James E. Morgan said the work of his classmates, most of them adults balancing the pursuit of a degree with family and job obligations, redefined the words “responsibility, integrity and determination.”
“You are the daring who defied convention by becoming lifelong learners,” Morgan said. “You are the brave who cast away comforts for a commitment to change.” Morgan, a third grade teacher at Linwood Holton Elementary, received a bachelor of liberal arts degree and a certification in elementary education from the school’s Teacher Licensure Program.
Also speaking were Debra W. Hanson, an adjunct professor of art history and humanities, who received the distinguished faculty award; and Andrew J. Gibb, who received the distinguished alumni award. Gibb is an ’83 graduate and founding partner of Commonwealth Commercial Partners.
The T.C. Williams School of Law will award 152 J.D. degrees at 2 p.m. today. At the university’s main commencement tomorrow at 2 p.m., 720 degrees will be awarded. Both events are in the Robins Center.