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Germanna graduates its biggest class ever
By PAMELA GOULD James Richardson is a second-generation Germanna Community College graduate who said his father's words inspired him to complete his degree despite self-doubt and challenges. "My father always told me, 'James, you have to do the hard thing,'" Richardson said last night before a crowd of about 2,500 at the Fredericksburg Expo and Conference Center. Richardson, a 20-year-old Falmouth resident, was the community college's student speaker at last night's commencement ceremony. He spoke of the determination, sacrifice and belief in self that were needed to meet the requirements for his associate degree. He spoke not only of his own struggles but also those of classmates who worked full time and who had families. "It takes determination to get up in the morning and go to class knowing that after you're done you have to go work for eight hours so you can pay for your house," he said. "It takes determination to study for a test when you've got kids who want and need your attention." He added that teachers can't teach determination. "It's something that you have to work at and want. It is the difference between those who make it and those who don't," Richardson said. While a Germanna student, Richardson spent 15 hours a week tutoring classmates in math, chemistry, music, biology, Spanish and English and still managed to earn a 3.9 grade point average. He was accepted into the honors engineering program at Virginia Tech and will begin there next fall, Germanna spokesman Mike Zitz said. Last night, Germanna held its 39th graduation to award degrees and certificates to its largest graduating class so far--746 people. The community college awarded associate degrees in fields such as business, education, nursing, police science and fire science technology. It also awarded certificates in fields such as accounting, horticulture, phlebotomy and pharmacy technician, and recognized its middle college graduates. Steve B. Jones, who earned an associate degree in business management from Germanna in 1979, served as commencement speaker. After finishing his degree, he became a marketing representative for a Virginia Beach developer of industrial and office parks.
Date published: 5/13/2010
The Germanna students you see between 5 and 7 p.m. are for the most part students who have worked all day and are on their way to class at the only time that fits into their schedule. Most evening students are working adults and are certainly not procrastinators. They are a determined lot!
Germanna, you think you could change your afternoon/evening class schedules to another hour so as to not impact rush hour???? Have you ever tried to navigate US17 up the hill past Germanna between 5-7pm? That and all of the late, procrastinating students make it interesting to say the least.
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