Fall Convocation speakers challenge new students to embrace SC State's legacy
The occasion was Fall Convocation, which serves as the traditional launch of the academic year and reaffirms SC State’s commitment to excellence, service and scholarship for the university’s newest students.
“You stepped onto this campus where history has been made, and the residue of legacy still remains,” Bishop Simeon Moultrie said as the event’s keynote speaker. “Generations before you came to Orangeburg with big question and even bigger courage.
“They learned to turn pressure into purpose. They learned to turn challenges into predictions. They learned to turn opportunities into service, and that same legacy now has your name on it,” he said.
Moultrie, founder and lead pastor of The Brook in Columbia, earned his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s in rehabilitation counseling from SC State. He urged students to take seriously the sense of purpose that an HBCU education provides.
“You’re not only here to earn college credits; you are here to get clarity -- clarity about who you are, what you believe, where you belong, and what you overcome,” Moultrie said.
The measure of a Bulldog
Moultrie pressed the young audience to prepare for both the academic and personal demands ahead. He told first-year students to expect long nights of studying and deadlines for assignments.
“Yes, there will be times ahead where it will be challenging but you have to continue to hold on,” he said. “Yes, you will have to study, but as a Bulldog we don’t run away from our position. We stand in face of it.”
He reminded the class that finding mentors and friends is part of the journey.
“Find your tribe, find your friends, find your study departments, find your mentors, find your professors that will not only challenge you, but will achieve you more,” Moultrie said.
A pin and a presidential challenge
Fall Convocation was capped by a challenge for first-year students from the university’s president.
“The path of becoming a university scholar requires discipline, determination, and vision,” SC State President Conyers said in welcoming the Class of 2009. “I challenge you to perform at your highest level in every classroom, lab, and learning space you enter. I challenge you to build a strong foundation that will sustain you, not only through graduation, but throughout your career and your life.”
He emphasized the importance of legacy at SC State.
“I challenge you to embrace the gift of legacy that sacrifices made by alumni, mentors, family members, and leaders who paid the way for you to be here today,” Conyers said.
Conyers reminded students that SC State has a track record of producing leaders in every field.
“Just as I told every class before you, that you can get there from here, from South Carolina State University, you can get there,” he said. “Whether you’re talking the halls of Congress, military service, professional sports, doctors, lawyers, officials, elected officials -- you can get there from South Carolina State.”
