As an accomplished shot-putter on the Wake Forest University track and field team, there’s no question that Chanel Dawson is strong.
On a sun-kissed Monday morning at Hearn Plaza, her strength was evident in other, more important ways. She carried on her shoulders the hopes and dreams of a family beaming with pride.
“I didn’t do this just for me,” Dawson said, clutching her diploma. “Being a first-generation (college graduate), an African-American female, it’s been really inspirational for me to be here and have my family be a part of it. Graduating today was a really important part of our lives.”
Her sister, Chaniya Dawson walked around before graduation soaking it all in. She and several family members flew in from Miami, Fla., to see her sister graduate.
“This means a lot. No one in my family did this,” Chaniya Dawson said. “She’s doing this for all of us.”
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Dawson was among 2,200 students to graduate Monday at Hearn Plaza, the first time Wake has returned to its traditional graduation site since 2019 and the first ever with new president Susan Wente. The graduates hail from 47 states and 36 countries outside the United States.
Both Wente and keynote speaker Van Jones, a CNN political contributor, mentioned the upheaval that marked the students’ college careers.
“You have already gone through a pandemic that some say has already killed a million Americans. You have already gone through a racial reckoning that we hadn’t seen maybe since the 1960s. You’ve already gone through a level of political division that we may not have seen since the Civil War. You have also gone through … a fertilizer fire?” Jones said, referring to the Winston Weaver fertilizer fire in January that forced Wake officials to issue a voluntary evacuation from campus.
“Who does that? A fertilizer fire? And so I’m awestruck. My senior class had senioritis and bad cafeteria food. That’s about it,” he said.
Jones talked about the graduates’ resilience and urged them to build bridges during a time of political division.
“Yes, there are some awful people in both parties. There are racists. That’s true. But the problem you have, the biggest problem you have, which you are beginning to suspect, is that there are so many awesome people in both parties. So many awesome people in every racial group. So many awesome people in every faith. So many awesome people who just don’t know what to do, who don’t know how to work together, who haven’t yet learned how to help each other.
“You don’t have an awful-people problem. You have an awesome-people problem. And it is a problem you are in a position to solve. You can find the good in people. You can reason with people. You can look past the 99 things you don’t agree on and find the one thing you do agree on,” Jones said.
After the ceremony, Jones talked with admirers, took pictures and signed autographs, including one for Dawson’s mom.
“She loves Van Jones. She wanted me to get his autograph when I got my diploma,” Dawson said.
Dawson, who graduated with a degree in elementary education, plans to return to the Miami area, teach and, hopefully, work with young athletes. She searched for her family after graduation so that she could drive them back to the airport. She is staying on campus to train for the NCAA East Regional track and field championship.
Dion Banoian — wait, that’s Dr. Dion Banoian — talked about his long and winding journey to Hearn Plaza.
Born in Armenia, he grew up in Glendale, Calif., near Los Angeles, and was accepted to Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Homesick for Los Angeles, Banoian struggled before settling in at the medical school.
“Every single person I met here has been nothing but wonderful,” said Banoian, who will do his residency at Loma Linda, near Los Angeles. “I’m going back home, but this is definitely bittersweet.”
On Monday, he was parked in front of a sign at Hearn Plaza that read Class of 2022, posing for pictures with various members of his family, including his parents, sister, cousin and two grandmothers who Banoian said were happier than anyone.
“My dad, almost from day one, was calling me Dr. Banoian, so he put that in my head,” he said.
With the family photos finished, the Banoian family was off to celebrate at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.