Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A festive day for grads on the green
LOWER OXFORD » Lincoln University Valedictorian Prisca Obidike came a long way from Nigeria to get her college degree, but her hard work earned her not only an education, but a summa cum laude designation, a grade point average of 3.96 and graduate school PhD offers from five universities.
In her speech, she saluted her parents, who had come half way around the world to see her graduate, and she told her classmates that Lincoln had taught her selfconfidence and courage.
She said she was grateful for the internship she had experienced at Harvard Medical School, and she gave her classmates some
advice: “Be bold in the face of demands for perfection. Be brave and leave your mark.”
The ceremony on the green at Lincoln was its 159th commencement. Thousands of parents, relatives and friends attended the event, which on Saturday was planned for the gym the next day due to ominous weather predictions. Happily, when Sunday arrived, the threat of rain had abated and the seats were brought out to house the audience and graduates.
Theresa Braswell, ‘84, brought greetings from the board of trustees. Looking back, she said she could not have imagined that exactly 34 years later she would be standing on the dais addressing the commencement audience.
“There is nothing you can reach when you decide what you want,” she said, adding, “Don’t follow others’ paths. Define you won path.”
Dr. Brenda Allen, presiding at her first Lincoln commencement, praised the class members and pointed out the achievements of several of the graduating seniors, including Obidike, a mother-daughter graduating pair and a member of the class who signed up for the U.S. Army.
She also praised the world famous chorus and the Lincoln University Symphonic Band, that this year is mostly freshmen and sophomores.
The commencement speaker and recipient of a doctorate of humane letters was Congresswoman Alma S. Adams from North Carolina’s 12th District. She was elected in 2014 and became the 100th woman elected to the 113th Congress.
She told the graduates to be proud of having attended a historically black college-university. “Lincoln builds ladders of opportunity,” she said.
As they go through life and achieve success she told them that their responsibility is to lead. “Always remember Lincoln got you where you got to be ... If you think you are too small to make a difference, spend a night with a mosquito,” she said.
Referring to her position in Congress she paraphrased a quote from poet Lincoln graduate Langston Hughes, saying Congress is no “crystal staircase.”
Along with Adams, New Jersey Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Hughes and Professor Emeritus James Donaldson received honorary doctorates.