|
In the early part of his journalism career, Andre Williams - then a teenager - got to his assignments the best way he could. Bus, subway, even hitchhiking. A lot of nice people ended up giving me rides, said Williams, now a sports reporter at The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. They just wanted to help me.
In turn, Williams, who has just released a book of poetry, does his part to help young people. He was the graduation speaker at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md. on June 2. He said returning to his alma mater is the highest honor I've ever had, beating out courtside seats at NBA finals and covering championship boxing matches.
I try to encourage (students) to go into the profession and do what's best for them," said Williams, who regularly speaks to students attending schools near his newspaper.
Williams' message to the graduating seniors was to push ahead no matter the obstacle. Here is an excerpt of his remarks:
************
Good morning Montgomery Blair Class of 2005 and proud parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends of these soon-to-be-graduates, and good morning to the Montgomery Blair administration, teachers, coaches, hall monitors. Good morning to everybody.
[QUESTION TO AUDIENCE: To make sure I'm in the right place, I'd like a show of hands of anybody who does not want to graduate this morning?]
Unfortunately, and with great sadness, one of your classmates is not here this morning to walk across this stage this morning. Andrew Helgeson, winner of the Terry Hicks all-around student award, which I also won 20 years ago, died on May 25. It really saddens me. In memory of Andrew Id like to ask for a moment of silence.
Twenty years ago, I sat in Cole Field House with my jubilant classmates, no longer as the Student Council President, no longer as the Voice of the Blazers, and I wondered if I'd ever be up here on this podium as the keynote speaker of a Montgomery Blair graduating class. Since high school I've toured the country with University of Maryland athletic teams, been at courtside of the NBA Finals, at the Stanley Cup, ringside of world championship boxing matches, great tennis, track and field and baseball events, celebrity parties galore, but speaking before you this morning, Class of 2005 is the highest honor I've ever had. I will forever appreciate this moment.
[HUMOR: Flashback to my final days at Blair.] Its nice to know that Principal Gainous holds no ill-feelings from the final time I addressed a Blair audience, which was the final day for seniors in 1985. I had missed nearly all of that week, all the pranks and stuff like that because I had the chicken pox and I was praying that I did not miss the prom and graduation. When I returned to school I gave what was my final my morning announcement Good morning Blair, I'm the voice of the Blazers Aaaaanndddreeeee Williams, then after giving announcements I said, And the party tonight is at . I gave two locations. Mr. Gainous and other administrators got so mad and told me not to do that again, but that was my last announcement, anyway. Well, its nice to see that Mr. Gainous has let bygones be bygones. Otherwise, I would not be standing up here in front of you this morning.
Montgomery Blair, Class of 2005, the message I want to deliver to you this morning is to not be discouraged by letdowns and to always aggressively try to achieve your goals. Its just about perseverance, which you all should know something about because you've already persevered because you are sitting in the audience waiting, getting ready to walk up on this stage and get your diploma.
The second stage of your life begins as soon as you walk through those doors, high school graduates of Montgomery Blair. I wish all of you will be heading off to college, but that's not realistic. Just know that its never too late to go to school, whether its in the fall, one, two, five years, even 10 or 20 years down the road. The idea is to educate to elevate, but do it at your own pace and please, set some goals, persevere in whatever you decide to do.
You know when you talk about perseverance its like this, follow me of for a second. In one hand you have people who will be rooting, cheering you on and in the other hand youll have people who will be rooting against you. What you have to do is knock the people not in your corner down by just showing them that they cannot break you because you will persevere.
Im going to share a few experiences with you. When I was on the varsity basketball team my sophomore year at Blair I always seemed to have a tug-of-war with my father, who did not like sports. I remember one day before a big game, my father told me that I had to come home and stack the wood. Stack the wood? I told him, if I miss practice to stack the wood I wont play in the game tomorrow, but he did not care. In fact, he cared little about my sports. Till this day, my father has never seen me play any sports and now he never will because hes suffered three strokes and is confined to a wheelchair. But you know, my father could not destroy me in high school. He didn't want me to play basketball, so I turned to SGA and became SGA vice president as a junior, president as a senior. I won writing awards and became the most popular student in Blair. I just persevered as you have and will have to continue to do because once you walk out those doors nobody is going to be holding your hands. You will have to be the driver of your own destiny. Remember the two hands, one rooting for you, the other rooting against you.
I remember also when I worked at The Washington Post and my father, the same man who wanted me to stack the wood, would keep taking the car away from me, but it did not matter because I stopped at nothing to complete my assignments, even hitchhike. I would not advise anybody to do that and I did not purposely do it, but sometimes I caught buses way out to Prince Georges County from Montgomery County and the buses stopped about one to three miles from my destination. I remember going up to Sandy Springs (Md.) and going to events at Sherwood. The buses would get me there, but I had to walk like three miles back to Georgia Avenue to catch a bus. I did it. I always did it because I was determined to persevere, make my deadlines and make it safely back home. I've never told this story before, and I tell it to you this morning because I am in your corner and want each you to succeed.
I had some wild experiences in Binghamton (N.Y.) and at my current job in Allentown (Pa.). In Binghamton, I remember them bringing me up there to cover minor league baseball, which I considered a challenge because I had covered a lot of football and basketball in the D.C. area. Once they lured me in they put me on wrestling. I covered very little basketball, and my sports editor was always so critical. I was the only black media person in Binghamton. I survived. I learned a lot, but nothing beats Allentown. I was walking into my former sports editor's, Paul Reinhards office to ask him a question and I heard him say, Well, he writes too black. Since I'm the only black sports reporter there he was obviously talking about me. I looked at my skin and I just said, Yes I'm black and proud of it. Am I to be ashamed? Well, this same editor had me covering swimming. Swimming? I'm 6-3, over 200 pounds. Could you imagine me in a speedo? No, but once he stepped down to become just a writer, and another sports editor was hired, I was moved from swimming to covering the Philadelphia 76ers and college basketball and major professional boxing. When I see my former sports editor I just smile because I've persevered. I'm covering what I want to and I even now have a book out, Unleashed, spoken word poetry and I have plans for many more books.
Class of 2005, I don't want to talk too much longer because I know you all want to get up as soon as you can to get your diplomas. Just remember that you can do anything that you set your mind to, that people may try to hold you back, but that you have the power to beat them. Just persevere. From the bottom of my heart I really do wish each of you the best.
|
|
