Proud parents, prestigious alumni, faculty, and friends gathered to recognize outstanding undergraduate students during the annual Founders’ Day and Honors Convocation. The esteemed event took place Wednesday, March 30, from 10 a.m. to noon at the William J. Nicks building.This year’s convocation was hosted by the College of Arts and Sciences and was themed “Empowering minds as we honor our traditions of excellence”.
The honors convocation recognized over 1000 students for their academic excellence during the 2004 school year. In order to be selected for participation in the program students had to have made the university honor roll by maintaing a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
“It was truly an honor to be able to participate in the honors convocation, the ceremony was beautiful, and it felt good to be recognized for my achievement,” said junior Erica Myles.
The speaker for this year’s convocation was Prairie View A&M University alumnus Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, who is currently serving his first term for the state of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cleaver delighted the crowd as he spoke about his many experiences as a student at Prairie View. He also offered honor students words of encouragement, telling them how important it is to believe in themselves, and their capabilities. Cleaver motivated the crowd by speaking to them about what he termed Cleaver’s Law: “The amount of enthusiasm at the beginning of a task is disproportionate to the amount of enthusiasm at the conclusion of a task”. He urged students not to become victims of this theory and to continue to reach for higher achievements in life.
“Right now you have the opportunity to take your achievements even higher. If you believe you are somebody you will be something,” said Cleaver.
Students who participated in the honors convocation were recognized according to their G.P.A. and academic organizations.
“The honors convocation was very nice, it was good to be recognized by the entire university for my hard work. The experience will motivate me to work even harder in the future,” said sophomore Beveier Sanders.