"Don't settle."
Will Harley told Williamsport Area High School graduates who are black Americans they dare not.
Ninety-three earned diplomas from the high school on the hill this year.
Harley, a 2000 graduate, is employed at Northwestern Human Services, 257 Academy St., as a therapeutic staff supporter.
On Sunday night at The Center, 600 Campbell St., after songstress Kim Adair performed several jazz and blues selections on electronic keyboard, he offered words of encouragement but also warning to those who have reached the first of many milestones on their educational journey through life.
"Although it was hard to get this high school diploma, don't settle," Harley said. "Continue on with your goals."
Keith Haynes, 19, a 2009 graduate, said he came to the event in order to give fellow graduates support.
He started to attend Pennsylvania State University at the Altoona campus and wants to use his entrepreneurial skills in a career somehow.
His goal, he said when asked: "I'd like to own my own business."
Dr. Kathleen R. Kelley, superintendent of the city's school district, drew comparisons of many of the struggles facing black students to her humble beginnings.
Kelley, who contracted polio that resulted in a deformed leg that required rehabilitation through junior high school, said she became the subject of ridicule by some of her peers.
She told the graduates she realized she had to use her brain power. "No, I can't be in your skin today, but I was in the skin of a teenager or young adult," Kelley said, telling the graduates each was unique and one of a kind.
"Take one day at a time," Kelley said. "Have courage of your convictions and don't put limits on yourself."
She also encouraged the graduates to live a life of passion and not one of regrets.
Shiloh Baptist Church co-pastor Willy Anderson told the graduates, "Don't allow your peers to dictate to you how you feel." He then recited a poem about the importance of being true to the man or woman looking back at himself or herself in the mirror.
Kirk Felix, principal of Stevens Elementary School and president of The Center board of directors, challenged students to always have an "attitude of gratitude."
Gerald Smith, a retired Federal Bureau of Prisons employee and the president of the Lycoming Tri-County NAACP, urged the graduates to try to always "do what is right," which sets in motion - through God's intervention - progress. He got a little personal, telling them how his mother died in his arms of a massive stroke, but shared how it made him strong to persevere.
Center Executive Director Melody Russell reminded the graduates of the sacrifice made by their ancestors who were "trailblazers" who were hanged and killed for just trying to get a high school or college education.
Russell, a self-confessed senior "dropout," said she is writing a book titled "G.E.D. to PhD."
In her 1967 graduation class of 300 students, only seven were black, said Dorothy Anderson, co-pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, 433 Walnut St.
The recognition banquet brainchild, Nayo Brown, formerly in charge of suspensions at the high school, spoke about how if the graduates put up with her for four years they deserved a little recognition and certificates of academic achievement that were handed out.
"It is always hard for African Americans as a whole," said Eric Haymon, 29, who works as a service coordinator with Roads to Freedom, formerly The Center for Independent Living.
"If the dedication is there, it is a doable situation ... Anything is possible," he said. "They just have to be taught that and believe it."
