Today, in this moment, we celebrate our academic accomplishments. We have been given gifts and are equipped to resuscitate the young and older members of our society who carry fragments of yesterday’s dreams, promises, and aspirations. Today, we have been challenged to use our gifts as the roadmap that leads to discover new ways of reaching and teaching a world where ever-changing conditions of life exist on all levels. Today, we have reached the culmination of our defining moment and we cannot turn back.

. . . Over time, our commitment must remain as strong and certainly stronger than when we first began this journey because we are wiser. Therefore, let us continue to accept the challenges that lie before us, for we are the custodians of our todays and the tomorrows.

Natalie Alford ’03 (Ed.D.), elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, former senior vice president of the Urban League of Rochester and former Chief Executive Officer of the Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley (Warner School ceremony)