After Ifa Bayeza, an acclaimed playwright and novelist who has penned plays about Emmett Till and other works about the Black experience, graduated cum laude from Harvard University, her father took her on a ride to the Dutch country of Pennsylvania as a graduation present.
By nightfall they got to the training camp of professional boxer Muhammad Ali.
Bayeza doesn’t recall much of her meeting with one of the greatest heavyweights of all time other than one question he asked her — “Are you one in a million?”
Ifa Bayeza, an acclaimed playwright an novelist, the guest speaker for Mississippi Valley State University’s 70th Commencement Ceremony, held Saturday morning at Rice-Totten Stadium, offers tidbits of life advice to MVSU graduates. (By Gerard Edic)
Caught off guard, Bayeza, the guest speaker for Mississippi Valley State University’s 70th commencement ceremony, recalled to the crowd of MVSU graduates seated at Rice-Totten Stadium that she was not able to answer.
Ali kept asking her the question, but Bayeza sidestepped it, she said.
“It took me 40 years to figure out that the answer was yes, yes, yes. So with the great man’s permission, I’m going to ask you the same question I so grandly failed to answer,” Bayeza said Saturday morning. “Are you one in a million?”
The graduates did not hesitate as they erupted into a joyous cheer.
Pleased, Bayeza dispensed to the graduates tidbits of life advice.
“Seek out your mentors and people who get you. Stay in touch with those you love, and practice loving. Like anything else, it gets better with practice. Dream big, and as Denzel Washington once told me, ‘Fail big, too.’ At the end of every day, count five things for which you were grateful,” she said. “Practice as a mantra that there is never anything in life worth taking your life. Never think of yourself as a servant but always serve your people. Always have a sense of humor. Stay true to your heritage and to your vision. See yourself as a future. I see you. I have to put on my sunglasses because the shine is so bright. May each of you, in your own unique way, move this nation toward its promise and show the world, once again, how democracy is done.”
Jaylin Smith, a Greenwood native, was feeling joyous Saturday morning after receiving two bachelor’s degrees, one in mass communications and another in speech communications.
“I feel proud of my accomplishments, of my struggles. I’m proud to have a support team to motivate me all the way,” said the 22-year-old, who is also a co-valedictorian of the Class of 2022 with a 3.97 GPA.
“We graduated during the pandemic, and we came out victorious,” she said.
While the pandemic presented various challenges, Smith said that being a student of a historically Black university has taught her and others how to persevere.
A writer and spoken word poet, Smith said she is looking at various graduate school programs to pursue a master’s degree in journalism.
She’d like to become a motivational speaker, she said.
Brenda Jordan, 54, of Greenville was excited to receive her master’s degree in business administration.
“I’m feeling awesome,” she said.
Brenda Jones, right, who received her master’s degree in business administration, celebrates her graduation with her mother, Ruby Mosby. (By Gerard Edic)
Jordan has worked at MVSU for three years and is currently an administrative assistant in the university’s social sciences department. Now with her business degree, she said she hopes to teach business at her alma mater.
Jordan’s mother, Ruby Mosby, was standing beside her. “I’m so happy that she graduated. She’s been going to school for years,” Mosby said with a laugh.
Like others, Antwoine Williams Jr. felt good Saturday.
Antwoine Williams Jr., second to right, celebrates his graduation from MVSU with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications with his family. From left are Antwoine Williams Sr., Amir Williams, Aaliyah Williams, Antwoine Williams Jr. and Lakita Williams. (By Gerard Edic)
“My quote for today: ‘It doesn’t matter how you start; it’s how you finished,’ and I finished pretty strong,” the 23-year-old Greenwood native said.
Williams received his bachelor’s degree in mass communications with an emphasis in broadcasting and intends to return to MVSU to get his master’s degree in sports administration.
Currently a driver for UPS, Williams hopes to eventually work in television.
He also runs his own clothing line, Modeste, as well as a group that provides entertainment at MVSU, Stay Woke University.
He described MVSU as having a very familial atmosphere, describing the university as “a second family.”
Like Williams, Jakayla Edwards of Glen Allan, who received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, intends to return to MVSU to get her master’s degree in that same subject.
Jakayla Edwards, standing in front, shows off her diploma with her friends. She received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. At back, from left, are Reginald Harris, Dominique Cheeks, Zakiya Kirkwood, Joi Green, Jarius Harris and Jeremy Robinson.
Then she intends to apply to law school.
“I feel like I can conquer the world,” the 22-year-old said.
“Because you can!” one of her friends responded back.
Jarius Clayton, 23, of Porterville received his bachelor’s degree in the teaching concentration of health, physical education and recreation.
He will return to MVSU to get his master’s degree in sports administration and hopes to work as a PE teacher and football coach. From 2019 to 2021, he played wide receiver on MVSU’s football team.
Keonte Daniels, left, and Jarius Clayton, celebrate their graduation. Both received a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and recreation. (By Gerard Edic)
There’s “nothing like a HBCU experience at MVSU,” he said.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
