More than 600 receive diplomas during ASU commencement exercises
ASU graduation
By Gypsy Crow
ALBANY — Albany State University graduates and their loved ones piled into the Albany Civic Center Saturday to celebrate a momentous event in the graduates’ lives. The students waited beneath the arena’s bleachers anxiously for their chance to finally claim the degrees they had worked years for.
“It’s an honor and a blessing to be graduating today,” Victoria Smith said moments before marching with her classmates during morning commencement ceremonies.
Criminal Justice majors Williams Atkins and Chris Huffman talked excitedly about graduation as they awaited the ceremony. Atkins said that he wants to to attend Jackson State University to study Public Policy Administration. Huffman said that he wants to study Education Leadership at Columbia.
“It’s exciting,” Aaliyah Wilson, another Criminal Justice major, said. “I’m a bit nervous, but I’m glad I made it.” She said that she has taken an interest in probation work and sees herself going that route in the near future.
Judge Penny Brown Reynolds spoke at the graduation ceremony. Reynolds was the first African American Chief of Staff and legal counsel to Georgia’s lieutenant governor, and she also received an Emmy award nomination for her show “Family Court with Judge Penny.”
Reynolds spoke passionately to the students about the struggles they have faced and will continue to face, as well as the struggles the people before them endured. She talked about the importance of God in her life, and how influential her beliefs were for her career. She encouraged the students to think about the people they surround themselves with.
Reynolds said that having a degree grants the students influence and that it “gets you a seat in the room.”
“Influence gets you a seat at the table,” she said. “But too many of us want to be the only one at that table, and that’s part of our problem.”
Reynolds ended her speech with a reading of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. When she finished, the students and audience members rose to applaud her. A few students wept, and parents in the arena could be seen holding their hands up high in a show of emotion. The joy radiated throughout the civic center. That was the note Reynolds left the ASU students with before they were finally ready to approach the stage to accept their diplomas.
Morning graduates included students in degree programs from the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Sciences and Technology, and the Darton College of Health Professions.
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