Eckerd grads march ahead

[Times photo: James Borchuck] Ronald Andre Janusz is dressed mighty casually under his cap and gown as he gets his diploma at Eckerd College on Sunday.

By LISA GREENE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 21, 2001

ST. PETERSBURG -- For Erica Mantz, graduating from Eckerd College on Sunday morning was a whirl of emotions, exciting but scary.

And so 10 years from now, Mantz may not remember that her commencement speaker, scientist George Woodwell, told her classmates to "raise hell" to help the environment.

But she surely will remember this: Mantz walked across the stage to receive her diploma with a toy manatee standing atop her graduation cap.

Mantz and several friends, all marine science students, decorated their caps with virtual aquariums of tinsel, turtles and plastic fish.

Most of the more than 300 graduates left theirs unadorned, but others decked theirs with flowers, messages -- like "Thanks Mom and Dad" -- and photos.

Also, 230 students in the college's Program for Experienced Learners (PEL), for students 25 and older, received diplomas Saturday evening.

Sunday morning, students marched across the stage and smiled and waved and blew kisses as their parents crowded the aisles snapping pictures and lined up afterward to bestow hugs and flowers.

"It feels wonderful," Mantz said. "But it's also that, 'Okay, got to leave Mom and Dad's wing and fly into oblivion and see what I can do' feeling."

Mantz doesn't know what she will do now. But even Djuan Fox, who already has lined up a job at a mental health center, confessed to the same mixed feelings:

"Awesome, but kind of scared."

Chesley Crile's emotions were less ambiguous as she stood wearing a cap after the ceremony: pride.

But then, the hat she was wearing belonged to her son, Wesley.

"He's the first child to graduate," she said. "We're all expecting great things from him . . . he's applying to the Peace Corps."

Four student awards were announced during the ceremony: the Philip Lee Honor Award, Tanja Hadzic; the Ronald Wilson Memorial Award, Alice Joyce Carlson; the James H. Robinson Award, Fox; the Miller Award, Angela Therese Maitner. The Robert A. Staub Distinguished Teacher Award went to James R. Goetsch.

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