No Surprises Here! La Salle Senior Ricardo Johnson to
Deliver Commencement Speech at
University’s Graduation Exercises

Ricardo Johnson planned a BIG surprise for his mother when she attended his graduation ceremony at La Salle University on May 13. Once there, she’d see that he would be giving the commencement address!

“But several mothers told me that was a bad idea, so I called her,” said Johnson, whose family lives in Baltimore.

Tradition at La Salle has a graduating senior deliver the address. Any senior can apply for the honor. Written speeches are submitted to a selection committee, which then chooses five candidates to read their speeches before the group. Johnson will read his address in front of about 1,000 graduates and several thousand of their families and friends. But speaking in front of crowds is nothing new for Johnson.

As President of La Salle’s Students’ Government Association (SGA), he addressed the incoming class of 2009 and their parents at Opening Convocation in 2005. He spoke before hundreds of students at a candlelight vigil marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and he’s sung before audiences as a member of the school’s gospel choir.

This year Johnson was chairman of SGA’s annual basketball marathon to raise funds for the American Cancer Society and was on the executive board of the African American Student League. He was also President of the College Republicans. Last fall, Johnson received The Warren S. Smith, M.D., Scholarship, given to African American students. (The scholarship is named for one of the University’s first African American graduates.)

The theme of Johnson’s speech is, “After we graduate, how will people know we went to La Salle? I think it’s important that after you spend four years here you remember what was special here, and how we can bring La Salle into our everyday lives?”

“At La Salle I became more than just a good student. I became a good person,” said Johnson. “The school really instilled values in me, and La Salle and being Lasallian are a big part of my character. I think it’s good for us to remember what was special here, and how we can bring La Salle into our everyday lives.”

In his speech he will say, “The rest of the world will know we are Lasallians by the way we live our lives.   The little quirks of La Salle will always be a part of our hearts, but what will be even more important is the integrity that La Salle has instilled in us. In our time here, we learned that the right choice is not always the easy one. We’ve learned that the path to doing what is right is hard.  They will know that we’ve come from La Salle by the choices we make.”

Johnson began working on his speech several months ago, and revised it a few times. Before submitting it to the commencement speech committee, he showed it to two people, Leo Schwartz, who graduated from La Salle two years ago, and Maureen Doyle, an administrative assistant in the Office of the Dean of Students. Schwartz, he said, is a good and trusted friend, and Doyle is a stickler for grammar. “I know the committee was going to read my speech first, so I wanted it right. She (Doyle) knows where to put the commas,” he said.

Johnson will be introduced to the commencement crowd by Dean of Students Dr. Joseph Cicala. In his introduction, Cicala will read, “His membership in our community has been characterized by honesty, integrity, civility, and citizenship, and he is one of the people who makes me most proud to say that, in association, we are La Salle.  He has been a fine student, a good leader, and a valued associate.”

Following graduation, Johnson plans to attend law school, and he has narrowed his choices to three: Villanova University, the University of Maryland, and Vanderbilt University.

La Salle’s commencement exercise will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 13. In addition to Johnson’s remarks, the University will present an honorary degree to Thomas Curley, a 1970 graduate of La Salle who is the President of The Associated Press.