Forty-nine graduates of the $$Princeton Campus were honored on Friday evening, May 16, with the presentation of degrees and diplomas at the Princeton Church of God. Approximately 200 friends and family members were on hand to support the graduates.
Prior to presentation of their degrees and diplomas, the graduates received an inspiring message from Dreama Denver, former actress and West Virginia native. The widow of actor Bob Denver (Gilligan’s Island), today Dreama spearheads The Denver Foundation, a charity which she and her husband founded to assist and enrich the lives of special needs individuals in West Virginia. Dreama shared with the graduates the challenges of being caregivers for their special needs son, Colin, and how one can turn such challenges into lifelong rewards. Acknowledging graduates had taken the first of three steps for a rewarding life – education – she challenged them to also adopt an “attitude of gratitude” and to eliminate the negative influence from their lives.
[img]Dreama also expressed appreciation to the campus for its past support of one of her other causes, Always Free Honor Flight. The first “honor flight” program in West Virginia, the service provides free trips to Washington, DC for veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War to visit the monuments erected in their honor.
Graduates receiving special honors included Rebecca Ann Loveall, Achievement Award; Joey Ray Rowe, Leadership Award; Catherine M. Webb, E. M. Coulter Award; Syndia H. Blankenship, Mary P. McGurn Award; Harinder Chavla and Debra L. Shrader, Joseph E. Hurn Award; Eric S. Whitt, M. A. Smythe Award; and Benjamin A. Gibson, who was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Achievement.
A-Dreama Denver, former actress and West Virginia native, gave the commencement speech for the $$Princeton Campus.
B-Graduate Harinder Chavla and her family, some of whom traveled all the way from India for the ceremony.
