Proud parents watched their children walk across the stage, their faces lit with joy, while the mother of the late Kendall Murray held back her tears.
As graduate after graduate crossed the stage, the realization that her daughter would never experience the same cemented itself as reality. Morgan State University President David Wilson, briefly paused the proceedings. He explained that the next degree would go not to the graduate herself, but the family who represented her: Kendall Murray’s mother and loved ones.
The announcer called the daughter’s name and her mother, Rosalyn “Roz” Murray, stood, approached the stage and accepted the diploma — a bachelors of science degree in interior design.
In the midst of Morgan’s spring undergraduate commencement ceremony, Rosalyn Murray held the diploma on behalf of her late daughter. According to her, the posthumous degree honored her daughter’s academic accomplishments prior to her passing January 2024.
“Kendall was a hardworking student. She didn’t take anything for granted,” said Roz Murray. “She just wanted to succeed in everything she did, she was an overachiever and [Morgan State] today did us a great justice to give us her degree as she deserved it.”
The stadium clamor fell and people hushed during the moment of silence. Graduates and their guests bowed their heads in a show of respect for Kendall Murray. Inconsistent rain fell softly over the stadium and mingled with the quiet tears of Rosalyn Murray and her spouse who occasionally wiped their faces.
The moment passed and Rosalyn Murray’s face flashed with quick emotions as she tried to remain stoic. She gripped her spouse’s hands while they stood. According to Rosalyn, the university honoring Kendall’s effort gave solace to her grieving family.
“I’m so proud of [you] … I am super-duper proud of all [your] work ethics as they are even more greater than mine,” Rosalyn Murray said about her daughter. “I am not just proud of [you], I love [you] and I miss you so much.”
While the Murray family experienced bittersweet emotions during the commencement ceremony, others experienced a long-deferred triumph. For Maxine Wise, it meant completing a journey nearly 50 years in the making and for Tarique Gooden, it was the first time he had taken any stage to graduate.
Morgan State awarded 75-year-old Wise — the oldest graduate from the class of 2024 — with her bachelor’s degree. Wise first began pursuing her bachelor’s degree in 1974 and said she has attended Morgan’s graduation ceremonies for years to congratulate her classmates while she completed her studies and waited for her time.
“I have mixed emotions, I think,” said Wise. “It’s almost like I can’t believe I finally did it because I come every year to celebrate my fellow classmates as they come and go and I [was] still here. But … now it’s actually my turn — like wow, I actually did it!”
Wise plans to continue her education and pursue a masters degree in psychology. She said she’s motivated by her desire to defy those who doubted her abilities. According to Wise, some of her peers went so far as to voice insults, spew slurs about her physical or mental abilities, mock her or claim she had a learning disability.
“If I do have a learning disability like they said, just think — at 75 with a learning disability and [I] still graduate. I think I did quite good,” said Wise. “Don’t ever give up on whatever you want to do, don’t ever quit, don’t ever give up on yourself. Believe in yourself, keep pushing forward, be courageous and conquer everything that’s in front of you to be conquered.”
Many of the ceremony’s undergraduates were the same high school students who graduated during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many ways, this class had to adapt to changes in the education system, taking many of their classes online and while quarantining.
Gooden overcomes these challenges and graduated summa cum laude, with his bachelor of science in actuarial science. He was also awarded the Varsity “M’ Award at the 2024 Morgan State Athletics Banquet for Academic Excellence — an award reserved for the graduating senior with the highest GPA.
“It started off pretty easy with online classes but when we transitioned to face-to-face classes, things started to get challenging … I had classes and competition but I just stuck through it and I ended up with this GPA,” said Gooden. “My motivation is to make my parents happy. I love my parents and I am happy that my parents are happy.”
