It was a “Joshua” kind of day at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s 69th spring honors convocation – with a Wicomico County twist for good measure.
Senior Joshua Todd of Fruitland received the Daniel J. Pinkett Award as the university’s top math student, while Joshua Goslee of Salisbury was named the top student in the Department of Criminal Justice.
Goslee, a pole vaulter in the UMES track team, wants to go to law school, so guest speaker Krystin J. Richardson’s personal story resonated with him.
Richardson is an associate district court judge in Baltimore County, and a 2003 UMES honors graduate. In brief remarks to those gathered at the Ella Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts, she talked about how perseverance and her faith were the touchstones that enabled her to get into and conquer law school.
“I could really identify with her,” Goslee said. “I was inspired by what she said.”
Richardson had stellar undergraduate credentials – an honors student (in English), a student organizations’ fixture and Miss UMES as a senior – but struggled to earn a score on the standardized exam to gain law school admission. Seven schools initially turned her down, she said.
After a third time taking the test, she secured a seat in the University of Maryland law school, which proved challenging. She credits pep talks from a favorite UMES professor who stayed in touch as well as a law school professor, whose class she initially failed, as the motivation to stick with her goal of becoming a lawyer.
Richardson reminded listeners of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s public display of perseverance during withering questioning at recent confirmation hearings as a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. The UMES alumna said she found inspiration in Brown Jackson’s life story and the grace she displayed on Capitol Hill.
“I sat in awe as I watched Judge Jackson during those hearings,” Richardson said.
“I share my struggles with you,” she said added, “to provide perspective on your journey.”
Unlike some of his fellow honorees, Goslee was advised he was under consideration for criminal justice program’s departmental honor so he was able to invite his parents and grandmother to share the moment.
Goslee’s take-away from Richardson’s speech? “You have to just keep pushing, even through the bad times,” he said.
Senior Zoe Gobourne of Silver Spring went home with two academic honors; the top student in the human ecology department and the School of Agricultural and Natural Science’s Award of Excellence.
Judge Krystin Richardson, Carmen Ramos and Christian Ferguson
“I wasn’t expecting it,” said Gobourne, a dean’s list student who also worked 25-30 hours a week as a UMES student. “I’m really grateful. I’ve worked really hard, and it feels good to be honored.”
Senior Christian Ferguson of Lanham was another double-winner at the honors convocation, which he first attended when he was a freshman – and before the pandemic disrupted the past two in-person ceremonies. The English major was named his department’s top student and the Award of Excellence winner for the School of Education, Social Sciences and the Arts.
“I remember thinking at that first convocation it would be nice to be called up on that stage,” Ferguson said. “But, to be honest, this is a total surprise. It’s great to have such an honor.”
Junior Rajan Bethea, an art major from Willingboro, N.J., said being named that department’s top student was “a total surprise. I’m shaking, but I’m good. I’m overjoyed.”
Joshua Todd also didn’t know he was in line to receive the Pinkett award, created in 1987 by Pinkett’s children to honor his service as a cornerstone math instructor at Princess Anne Academy, then Princess Anne College, during the first half of the 20th century.
Todd invited his mother Cassandra to attend the convocation because he did know he was going to be recognized for making the dean’s list. Math department chair Dr. Tiara Cornelius, a UMES alumna, encouraged Todd to attend but didn’t say why.
When Cornelius read a bio of the honoree about to be named, Cassandra Todd knew it was her son about to be recognized.
“This is Joshua,” she said. “They’re talking about him – my son. I’m so proud.”
Mrs. Todd is also proud her son has a job waiting at the Surface Combat Systems Center in Virginia located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. He’ll be a civilian employee working on simulations to test U.S. Navy ships.
