Take a global view, Zanzibar's president tells S.C. State grads heading out into world

CHRISTOPHER HUFF/Times & Democrat

Soon-to-be graduates of S.C. State University wave the flags of the United States and Zanzibar following the commencement speech by the president of Zanzibar.

Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume's message to South Carolina State University graduates is that it's essential to look at the world from an international perspective.

"Of course the world hasn't changed in size," Karume said Friday prior to the spring commencement ceremony. But because of advances in technology and telecommunications, in many ways "the world is a very small place."

Nearly 460 students graduated from S.C. State, South Carolina's only historically black public university. About 6,000 people attended the ceremony at the school's Oliver C. Dawson stadium.

Meghan Coleman, 20, from Summerville was one of the graduates. As she lined up in her cap and gown before the event, she said students were honored to have Karume speak at their graduation.

Coleman, a political science and pre-law major, and an honor graduate, said the evening felt "almost surreal."

The past four years were "a long hard road," she said. But Friday, it all felt worth it. Coleman said she'll soon begin working for the city of Charleston, but she doesn't yet know specifically what her job will be.

Christian Grant, 21, a political science and pre-law major from Charleston who graduated magna cum laude, said she would start law school this fall. She's been accepted at the Charleston School of Law. Grant said the biggest challenge in her college years was learning how to balance fun and schoolwork.

For her, graduation day was bittersweet. She was happy about finishing college, but she said, "I'm going to miss everything. I love being immersed in the college atmosphere."

South Carolina State University officials have said they invited Karume to speak at the event after working with him to develop science textbooks for secondary students in his country. Zanzibar is a semiautonomous island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. The work was done with $5 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development's Textbooks and Learning Materials Program.

School officials in January delivered the first books to officials in Zanzibar.

Karume said Friday that the books were well-received at schools in his country.

He also said that developing the textbooks in collaboration with an American university is something that was never done before.

"In the old days," he said, "we had to buy books from elsewhere." But working with S.C. State, education leaders in Zanzibar were able to develop books that were culturally sensitive to children in his country, he said.

The partnership with S.C. State went very smoothly, he said. "I'm optimistic it will go a long way."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.