SU Honors College inducts 99 new members

Ninety-nine students were inducted into the Southern University Honors College at the 10th annual Honors College Pinning Ceremony held in the Cotillion Ballroom on Thursday October 18,2001.
Over 200 hundred guests, many travelling from locations around the state and as far as California, Texas, and Florida, were in attendance.
“I feel that this event is very much worth coming from Palmetto I’m quite honored to have a son entering the Southern University Honors College”, said Rosa Thomas mother of William Thomas one of the freshman inductees.
The Honorable John F.K. Belton, chairman of the Southern University Board of Supervisors delivered the “Honors Charge.”
“Parents should be proud of the sacrifices they made to get their children to this stage,” said Belton.
Belton, a 1990 graduate of the Southern University Law Center, also discussed the choices we make in our daily lives that bring us forth or push us back. He ended his speech with his five keys to success.
The program began with honor guardsman of the Navy ROTC leading the procession of student into the Cotillion Ballroom Room. The Reverend Jesse B. Bilberry, Pastor of Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church of Baton Rouge and a member of the Southern University Board of Supervisors gave the invocation.
Guest vocalist Diane Pullen, mother of National Black Achiever, Honors College Scholarship recipient, and Timbuktu Academy award recipient Anthony Pullen, stirred the souls of the crowd with her soulful rendition of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
” I don’t know about everyone else, but she brought tears to my eyes”, sighed Dean Wade as she stood to give Pullen a standing ovation.
Toni Bowie, president of the Honors Student Association presided over the Induction Ceremony. Each student was pinned by upperclassmen after formally introducing themselves to the university community.
The “Class Response” was given by members of the Honors College in the form of a short drama, Fifty Stars and Thirteen Stripes. Katia Desrouleaux, narrated the drama.
Other participating freshman were Miesha Beverly, Baton Rouge,; Mariol Charles, Opelousas,; Chalonda Jasper, Hammond,; Arthur Monroe Jr., Baton Rouge; and Carmen Rossum, Greenwood. Upperclassmen Alaysia Delaney, Donaldsonville, and Douglas Touissant, Glynn, provided music for the presentation.
“The program was inspirational, it inspired me to go on and be the best that I can be,” said Melissa Edwards, a sophomore nursing major from Baton Rouge.