DAILY CLIPS COVER - East Carolina University

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Journey ends for ECU graduate By Mary Schulken ECU Director of Public Affairs Saturday, May 7, 2011 When Tremayne Smith arrived at East Carolina University in 2006, he brought with him a challenge. No one on either side of his immediate family had a college degree. None of the men in his family even attended college. Now, that's history. Smith, 23, president of ECU's Student Government Association, drum major in its marching band and homecoming king in 2009, received two bachelor's degrees in commencement exercises Friday. He majored in music education and stayed an extra year to get a second degree in political science. Reaching that milestone is significant to him. “I wanted to take away any excuses and doubts for subsequent generations,” Smith said. “The bar has really been raised for my younger cousins. This is very significant because they can't say it can't be done.” A family project Approximately 10 members of his family traveled from Salisbury to Greenville to share the moment, including his mother, Patricia Watkins, his twin brother, Dewayne, his grandmothers, “Grannie” Shirley Smith and “Grannie” Libby Blackwell and his aunts.
Tremayne bought extra copies of his diploma and is having them framed to present to each member of his family. He is making that gesture because completing his college education was a family project, Smith said. His great-great-grandmother was a slave and his mother, his grandmothers and his aunts have stressed education as the path to a life of success. “A lot of them did not have the opportunity to do this, and every step I took, they held their breath,” Smith said. “They have been beside me all the way.” The latest tracking numbers from the U.S. Department of Education show that nationwide, 36 percent of African-American men who enroll in college in NCAA Division 1 schools complete a degree in six years. The low rank of that completion rate helped feed Smith's determination, he said “On a very personal note, being an African-American, and especially a male, there's a lot of ‘I'm a victim' attitude out there and I think that's the wrong point of view,” Smith said. “The attitude should be ‘I am succeeding in spite of' … fill in the blank: numbers, attitudes, whatever.” “I approached college in this way,” he said. Smith said he also has taken advantage of opportunities when they arose. “I was not afraid to go outside of my comfort zone and do things I've never done; join the band, get involved in student government,” he said. ‘Tomorrow's leader' Smith offers three pieces of advice for students struggling, as he has, to reach a milestone. The first, he said, is trust in God. The second: Surround yourself with people you want to be like. The third: “Just know you can do it and get to working and do it,” he said. Smith has been visible as SGA president for ECU's 28,000 students, urging students to involve themselves in diverse aspects of campus life. His next stop is Capitol Hill, where he will work for the office of Sen. Kay Hagan as an intern. He plans to give law school a hard look. Smith's strong core values, his hard work and his undergraduate education have positioned him for success, said Steve Ballard, ECU's chancellor. “ECU prides itself in being the leadership university and training tomorrow's leaders,” said Ballard. “Tremayne Smith is the best example I know of tomorrow's leader.” Meanwhile, Smith is enjoying his family's moment of pride. “They are beside themselves,” he said. “It's been a long journey.”
Page 1 and 2: THE DAILY CLIPS May 9, 2011 News, c
Page 3 and 4: The class of 2011 also has seen man
Page 5: After spending hours in traffic on
Page 9 and 10: able to demonstrate that a faith-ba
Page 11 and 12: Exhibit focuses on art, medicine EC
Page 13 and 14: The effort extended beyond class me
Page 15 and 16: Patricia Solís, director of AAG Ou
Page 17 and 18: On the day of our reception, the do
Page 19 and 20: Since the shooting deaths of two me
Page 21 and 22: The latest tracking numbers from th
Page 23 and 24: “My whole family was very support
Page 25 and 26: pay $5 and Jonkheer will use her eq
Page 27 and 28: The ECU Father/Son Camp is open to
Page 29 and 30: Smith didn't just like the job. He
Page 31 and 32: Former East Carolina football playe
Page 33 and 34: 2011-05-07 16:21:23 Alamance Battle
Page 35 and 36: ! Dalton said that in 1955 efforts
Page 37 and 38: Published Mon, May 09, 2011 04:01 A
Page 39 and 40: Henderson said she'd prefer not to
Page 41 and 42: preserve the earth and fight agains

DAILY CLIPS COVER - East Carolina University

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