VCU news

By Gary Robertson

The best-selling author of a book chosen for Virginia Commonwealth University’s summer reading program told the VCU Class of 2014 that her life was changed by a chance remark that a professor made during her first college class.

Rebecca Skloot, who wrote “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” said other college instructors encouraged her to follow her passion for writing, even though she entered college intent on becoming a veterinarian.

Her point, Skloot said at VCU’s New Student Convocation on Tuesday, was that college can start students on journeys they never imagined and change their lives, just as it changed hers.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., told the entering class that while people say that going to college is a rite of passage, there’s more to it than that.

“Make this rite of passage right for you,” he said.

Rao is in his second year as VCU’s president, and he drew a laugh from the overflow crowd of 3,650 freshmen in the Landmark Theater when he told them he was only a year ahead of them.

“I am in my sophomore year at VCU,” he said.

Rao noted that VCU draws students from every part of Virginia and from 110 different countries.

“VCU’s diversity is your extraordinary opportunity,” he said. “You cannot turn a corner on this campus without finding an opportunity to learn.”

He also urged students to “tackle the faculty – intellectually,” and to get involved in everything about VCU.

“The coursework is to get your minds in shape. We also want your arms working and your heart invested,” Rao said.

In her remarks, Skloot said she was a terrible high school student but that college fired her ambition, beginning with that chance remark made during her first class.

She was studying biology, and her professor was talking about how one small mistake in the division of cells can cause them to grow out of control – leading to cancer or other diseases.

Then she said he wrote a name on the blackboard, “Henrietta Lacks.”

The professor told the class that cells from Lacks became the workhorse of modern scientific research because of their amazing ability to survive and multiply under harsh laboratory conditions.

Skloot said that from that moment forward answering questions about who Henrietta Lacks was and why her cells were so important became an important focus of both her personal and professional life.

Her quest ultimately led to questions about medical ethics, racism and healthcare.

Other convocation speakers offered the freshmen advice drawn from their experiences.

Interim Provost Beverly J. Warren, Ed. D., Ph.D., advised the entering class that no matter how many parties they attended or how many people they “friended” on Facebook, their studies should come first.

Adele McClure, president of VCU’s Student Government Association on the Monroe Park Campus, rallied the new students to “grab life by the horns,” an allusion to VCU’s mascot Rodney Ram.

VCU's Spirit Walk, a pep rally in Monroe Park, preceded the New Student Convocation, and a Block Party in the park followed it.