由 Office for Student Success, Equity, and Community, the 2023 Black Excellence ceremony celebrated the Black graduates' tremendous accomplishments and invaluable contributions to the Beloit community. 毕业典礼是5月14日，星期日.“继续上升, 正大光明,” senior 杰达丹尼尔’23 urged her classmates at the 十大菠菜台子 Celebration of Black Excellence on May 10. Thirteen soon-to-be graduates streamed into an Eaton Chapel decorated with star-shaped gold and black balloons.

由 Office for Student Success, Equity, and Community, the 2023 Black Excellence ceremony celebrated the Black graduates’ tremendous accomplishments and invaluable contributions to the Beloit community. 毕业典礼是5月14日，星期日.

杰达丹尼尔年轻的, 有天赋的, 和黑色的, 展望未来, 丹尼尔 reminded seniors of what they overcame: exclusion, national Black violence in the summer of 2020 and 2021, 以及COVID-19大流行. They hoped for the best and prepared for the worst, together.

杰达丹尼尔 honored “a village of Black communities at Beloit, 是谁播下了支持的种子, 激进的黑人之爱, and encouragement that carried Black students through moments so dark we couldn’t see the light of the future.” Black students faced challenges being at a predominantly white college, but it was a community that brought them through, 她提醒同学们.

丹尼尔, a triple major who achieved many honors as an undergraduate, said the college’s Black students “chased dreams and grasped accomplishment after accomplishment that we couldn’t even fathom because there was no seat at the table, but we took a chair and demanded our seats because our gifts and talents made room for us.”

“在伯洛伊特做黑人意味着很多事情, but we’ve come across a gold mine filled with an abundance of Black joy and 激进的黑人之爱 that could not be shaken or taken away from us no matter how hard they tried,”她说。.

She urged seniors to rise 正大光明 from the ground, 是他们的祖先努力建造的, with heads and eyes pointed up to the stars and the sky because there is nothing that can not achieve.

“Graduating and entering the next chapter of our lives means unlearning all the experiences that taught us to hate ourselves and question our gifts and talents,杰达·丹尼尔说. “While closing this chapter and leaving and as we look ahead to the future, we can’t help but express gratitude for all of the lessons learned and the people that entered our lives to build community and offer spaces in their hearts and lives to support us through the shared experiences.

高级 阿米尔露营者的23 applauded his classmates for doing the hard work necessary to get a college degree.高级 阿米尔露营者的23 applauded his classmates for doing the hard work necessary to get a college degree.

“I congratulate your bravery for taking a risk, 你为获得学位所付出的努力, 还有你永不放弃的精神, and because of that unending spirit you are here today,露营者说. “Treasure the experiences you have here and learn from them as you push forward to the uncertainty that lies ahead.”

The Black candidates for graduation had invited 艾丽卡•丹尼尔斯 the college’s chief of staff and secretary of the college, 她是第一位担任这一职位的黑人女性, 发表主旨演讲. 丹尼尔s encouraged the soon-to-be graduates with the lyrics of Nina Simone’s 做一个年轻、有天赋的黑人!”There’s a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that’s just begun.”

她告诉高年级学生, as they go through the stages of discovering their Blackness, to strive to make an impact in the struggle for equity and justice, 感谢他们稀有而珍贵的天赋, 保护他们的知识产权. 艾丽卡丹尼尔斯 advised them that they should never compromise who they are for the sake of professionalism, 在一个由白人统治的世界里, 男性, 父权, cis-gendered, 和健全的.

The Black candidates for graduation had invited 艾丽卡•丹尼尔斯 the college's chief of staff and secretary of the college, 她是第一位担任这一职位的黑人女性, 获得主题演讲.A final point 艾丽卡丹尼尔斯 made was to encourage the students to embrace all forms of Blackness, 即使和他们的不一样. “If the unapologetic expression of your Blackness causes others to feel apologetic about their form of Blackness, then we are engaging in the same kind of oppression projected upon us.”

“当你是一个毫无歉意的黑人, you understand your connection to the creator; you understand the magic you possess; and you understand your knowledge of self and how all its brilliance walks before you and leads you every day,艾丽卡·丹尼尔斯说.