Clayton to grads: Continue learning

(Dec. 15, 2002)   —   Retiring U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton told graduates of East Carolina University at the fall commencement on Dec. 14 to continue to learn and to serve well.

“You must commit yourself to a lifelong service of learning and serving others,” Clayton said. “You must be engaged in learning for the rest of your life.”

Clayton, a Democrat who represents the 1st District in North Carolina, made history in November 1992 when she became the first woman and the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress from the State of North Carolina. She did not seek re-election this year.

“I can identify with a change from one stage of life to another,” she told the graduates. “I know the anxiety of that moment.”

More than 2,300 graduate and undergraduate students who completed their studies in the summer or during the fall semester were eligible to receive degrees at the ceremony in Minges Coliseum on the ECU campus.

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