Originally published in The News-Star newspaper, June 11, 2006

How does one describe a dream? Celebrate a miracle? Predict the future? Not easily, by anyone's explanation.

Yet, 73 years later, a precedent begun on June 5, 1933, where dreams, miracles and futures merged for the first time in northeastern Louisiana continues: Ouachita Parish Junior College held its first commencement ceremony with 125 graduates. Affordable, local education past high school had become a reality for the residents of this area.

The University of Louisiana at Monroe is the great-granddaughter of OPJC, or "the college" as it was called for so many years. Its students, faculty and later graduates have shared the legacy that began in the autumn of 1931 when the first students crossed the threshold of what would later be named Brown Hall.

Those first students experienced academia within the confines of the three connected buildings: administration, auditorium and gymnasium. They could travel from classes to an assembly to the lunchroom to a basketball game without stepping outside. They exercised brains and brawn within the confines of the complex, and they matured intellectually and morally under the guidance of President C.C. Colvert and his faculty.

At graduation in 1933, former Arkansas Gov. Charles Hillman Brough spoke to the graduates. He recognized that in the midst of the Great Depression, students and families alike had sacrificed to realize a dream that was becoming a reality with that very ceremony.

Brough offered his opinion on the elements of success: "In my opinion they are fivefold - First, faith in one's self; second, faith in one's fellowman; third, faith in one's task or profession; fourth, faith in one's community, commonwealth and country; and fifth, and above all, faith in one's God."

At its most recent commencement ceremony, the University of Louisiana at Monroe bestowed diplomas ranging from the associate to the doctor of philosophy degrees on 672 graduates, hailing from most of the United States and many foreign countries.

The class of 1933 came from throughout northeastern Louisiana: Bastrop, Bosco, Calhoun, Chase, Collinston, Eros, Fairbanks, Gilbert, Monroe, Norwood, Pitkin, Point, Rayville, St. Joseph, Start, Swartz, West Monroe and Wisner.

The courses of study were limited by today's standards; these first graduates majored in teacher training, pre-medicine, engineering, pre-law and arts and sciences. While many of the first graduates went on to four-year and/or professional schools, others returned to their communities and continued their practical education on the strong foundation they had received at OPJC.

These 125 graduates are the forebears of many of the current residents of northeastern Louisiana, some biologically but all spiritually. It matters little whether the institution is called a "college" or a "university"; whether the school colors are blue and white or maroon and gold; whether the mascot is a bird, plane or a Native American.

What does matter is that the spirit of learning and caring is alive and well and that the campus was sanctified by the efforts of students, faculty and administrators who began "seeking the truth" with the dream of a small junior college in 1931.

Dr. Holley Casey, ULM Professor

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