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Germanna Community College graduates see diploma as fulfillment of their dreams Date published: 5/14/2006 By CATHY JETT By CATHY JETT Before he died, Christine Chi Duong's father made her promise to finish nursing classes at Germanna Community College. The former South Vietnamese judge had flown in from his home in Washington state two years ago to help baby-sit so Duong, who is married to an engineer who travels frequently, could attend class full time. "Dad encouraged me. He told me: 'Go for it. I'll help you,'" she said yesterday after receiving her Associate in Applied Science degree from Germanna. "He can't be here, but he would be happy that I fulfilled my time and graduated." Duong, who barely spoke English when she and her family immigrated to the United States in 1993, was one of 51 nursing students and 551 Germanna students eligible to receive associate degrees or certificates of study during graduation ceremonies yesterday at the college's Spotsylvania County campus. Theirs was the largest class of graduates in Germanna's 35-year history, and the last class to have Frank S. Turnage preside at its commencement ceremony. He retires Jan. 1 after serving as the community college's president for 20 years. Keynote speaker William H. Leighty, a Mary Washington College graduate who is Gov. Tim Kaine's chief of staff, thanked Turnage for his almost 40 years of service to Virginia, which drew a standing ovation from the crowd. Leighty then launched into light-hearted comments about the perennial problem facing commencement speakers: trying to come up with a great speech that graduates will remember. "I did what you would do. I Googled 'really great speeches' and got 279,000 hits," he told the graduates, who burst into laughter. Leighty got a similar response from the faculty when he added: "Your professors are probably thinking, 'Wow! This speech is going to be short and full of typos!'" Then he got serious and urged the graduates to set a goal of reading two newspapers a day and one book a month. "Read every trade publication and every industry magazine about your profession that you can get your hands on," he said. "Read. It opens opportunities and inspires creativity. Read, read. It inspires life." He also suggested that they reach out to people they disagree with and make amends.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 5/14/2006
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