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Virginia Wesleyan Celebrates First Founders Day
Trustee Emeritus George Birdsong H'16 shares College history; honorary degree and Alumni Awards recipients are recognized
News Release | September 8, 2016
“It has been 55 years since Virginia Wesleyan was chartered in 1961. Fifty-one years since the first shovel was turned in a cornfield on a hot, sunny day on July 16, 1965. Fifty years since the first class entered in 1966, and 46 years since the first class graduated in 1970.”
Trustee Emeritus George Birdsong H’16 shared these pivotal pieces of Virginia Wesleyan history Sept. 8 as part of his keynote address during the College’s inaugural Founders Day Convocation. Held in the Convocation Center inside the Jane P. Batten Student Center, the newly established tradition gave students, faculty, staff and special guests an opportunity to honor the College's founding and recognize important individuals in VWC history.
Mr. Birdsong traces his own connection with the College back to the July 1965 groundbreaking for Bray Village (Village I). He and his wife, Sue—both only 26 years old at the time—were in attendance along with Sue’s father, Major T. Benton, then Mayor of Suffolk, and George’s Uncle, Harvard R. Birdsong, a charter member of the College’s Board of Trustees.
“My family’s Virginia Wesleyan roots were planted at the groundbreaking in that cornfield 51 years ago,” recalled an emotional George Birdsong. “Our cornfield…has not been very successful at producing corn. Instead, it has produced a very fine college.”
George Birdsong joined the Virginia Wesleyan College Board of Trustees in 1989 and served as Board Chair from 2007-2010 before becoming Trustee Emeritus in 2015. He is CEO and General Counsel for the Birdsong Corporation, the largest peanut sheller in the U.S., based in Suffolk, Virginia. Among the Birdsongs’ contributions to the College have been support for construction of Birdsong Hall and Birdsong Field and creation of an endowment that annually funds the Office of Community Service. Most recently, the Birdsong family and the Birdsong Corporation were recognized with the naming of Virginia Wesleyan's Birdsong School of Social Science.
The idea for a Founders Day at the College originated last year when VWC President Scott D. Miller appointed a committee of faculty, staff and alumni to form an annual tradition to commemorate the College’s past. Dr. Miller addressed guests during Thursday’s Convocation.
“Today we celebrate the efforts of all who, over the last half century, have strived to make our College what it is today,” he said. “Now it is our turn to add tradition, to shape our success, and to be entrusted with the legacy of our founders. It is our responsibility to educate coming generations of students who will take their place in a world quite different from that of 1961. It is a world of unprecedented challenges and opportunities, new dangers but also new excitement. I am confident that this institution will rise to those challenges, embrace those opportunities, and make exceptional contributions to all who look to us for leadership.”
During the event, the College presented honorary doctoral degrees to Gary D. Bonnewell ’79, the first VWC graduate to serve as Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Dr. Stephen S. Mansfield, College Archivist and former Dean of the College.
The College also celebrated its 2016 Alumni Award recipients, Lindsey E. Reynolds ’98 (Distinguished Alumna Award), Chief Operating Officer at the Democratic National Committee; Amy Mallett Rickard ’98 (Alumni Service Award), Manager of Client Services for Southern Company Gas; and Rodney D. Young Jr. ’07 (Graduate of the Last Decade Award), a Corporal for the Norfolk Police Department. Alumni Council President Mavis McKenley '11 introduced the award recipients.
“There are many distinguished alumni of Virginia Wesleyan College, in many professions and many locations throughout the world” said McKenley, addressing the students in attendance. “Our hope…is that you, too, will pursue your lives and careers in a spirit of service, leadership, achievements and contributions of many kinds. Sharing a unique bond with all Virginia Wesleyan students…we stand with you as you join this wonderful tradition of honoring our heritage and celebrating your future.”
Chartered in 1961, Virginia Wesleyan College first opened its doors to students on September 14, 1966. Since the College's first graduating class of approximately 75 pioneering students in 1970, the Virginia Wesleyan community has grown to include some 1,400 students and 9,000 alumni.
Watch the Founders Day Convocation in its entirety: https://boxcast.tv/view/founders-day-convocation-434109