‘Young people, get a destiny,‘ pastor urges Richmond h.s. grads

The Richmond school system staged its annual graduation convocation yesterday, drawing more than 1,000 graduates to the Ashe Center and bleachers full of shouting family members.

It was loud and proud and purposefully sectarian.

The convocation speaker, the Rev. Michael J. James, promised that if anyone missed church Sunday, they would receive the equivalent at a ceremony that was part Old Testament and part new beginnings.

James, a former football player who is pastor of Village of Faith Ministries in Richmond, told graduates -- wearing color-coded robes designating one of the city's eight high schools -- that "unless you have a destination, you will stay right where you are."

Playing off the Book of Jeremiah, in which God speaks of a plan and prosperity, James pressed cheering students to think beyond Richmond and Virginia to a world that awaits them, beyond having a job to running a business, and beyond high school to the future.

"This is the day that it begins. Young people, get a destiny," he intoned, frequently mentioning the rise of President Barack Obama from humble beginnings.

For some students yesterday, that destiny will be measured in barely measurable steps.

Or no steps at all.

"We are very proud of her, but it will be a big change ahead," Tomiko Ferguson said of her daughter Tiana Riddick-Hines, 23. Unable to walk or speak, Tiana, who was injured at birth and has cerebral palsy, is aging out of Amelia Street School and will graduate to a day program for disabled adults in the city.

Armstrong's Ronald Dabney took James' advice about starting a business long before he even heard it.

He works now as a carpenter's helper and plans on getting a degree in carpentry so he can start his own business.

The last to leave the Ashe Center was first on many fronts.

Huguenot's Marshe Minor saw her freshman class go from 445 students to 302 by her senior year, but she excelled despite growing up in a rough South Side apartment complex environment that wilted to stronger influences.

"I come from a line of very strong, independent women," she said nodding to her beaming mother, Stephanie Minor, a 1989 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. "We share a special relationship; there are no secrets."

"My destiny has been fulfilled through my daughter," said Stephanie.

Minor finished first in her class all four years of high school, played high school athletics and worked a job at a retirement home. She repeated in her remarks to the crowd yesterday a slogan that she has used to live by: "Learn everything; remember something; regret nothing."

"We couldn't believe she wasn't getting any scholarships," Marshe's mother said. Then a box of materials arrived this spring. Marshe won one of 1,000 Gates Scholarships, given to aspiring college students around the world.

She will receive a fully paid college education, tuition and expenses. She leaves for Spelman College in Atlanta later this summer.

"I want to go into pre-med," she said. "I want to be a pediatrician."

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or .