Article September 9, 1996 Issue

Young keynote speaker urges his former classmates to go for solutions

by Kim Shippey

The commencement speaker at Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas, Virginia, had a special bond with the graduating seniors this year—he had known many of them when he was a senior and they were freshmen. With enthusiasm, Charles J. Colgan lll called upon his former colleagues not to dwell on their problems but to embrace their opportunities.

"At twenty-two, I was probably the youngest keynote speaker the school has ever known," he told us afterward, "and it was a challenge to speak in front of my peers—and hold their attention!"

Charles has a continuing connection with his alma mater in that he is now a member of the Prince William County School Board. "It's an honor to serve on the board," he said, "and also an extraordinary privilege to have been invited to help make decisions affecting my own generation."

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