Senior Leadership Scholars are recognized at the annual spring banquet, along with (from left) Nay Howell ’75, President Jim Annarelli and Vice President for Inclusive Excellence Beverly Warren. Photos by Jenna Siddeeq ’27
As Nay Howell ’75, J.D., took the mic to sing Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All,” it became clear that attendees of the Eckerd College Leadership Scholars recognition banquet on April 22 were in for much more than a standard keynote address.
Howell regaled attending students, staff and faculty with the story of her time at Eckerd and life beyond, focusing on three C’s—“from casual to connected to community.” It was a fitting capstone on the experience of graduating seniors in the Leadership Scholars program, who have spent the past four years expanding their skills as campus leaders in a cohort experience. In addition to Howell’s remarks, those gathered heard from graduating seniors about their time in the program and enjoyed live music from the Eckerd Jazz Band.
“This evening is not a graduation celebration—it’s important we are clear about that,” said Beverly Warren, Ed.D., Eckerd’s vice president for inclusive excellence. “It’s about celebrating the powerful truth that leadership does not grow in isolation. It’s nurtured in community.”
“Participants are not only academically talented but also serve as catalysts for unity and understanding by promoting civil discourse and fostering much-needed dialogue across differences,” Eckerd President Jim Annarelli, Ph.D., said in his remarks.
Nay Howell ’75
“Friends, I do not have to tell you how important that is in today’s world.”
Howell came to Eckerd in 1971 as one of what was then a record-breaking 26 Black students in her class. She was no stranger to blazing trails, having integrated Lowe’s Grove Elementary School in Durham with her sisters as children. She earned a degree in African American studies from Eckerd and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Law four years later. Those experiences set the foundation for a career as a legal advocate, family housing counselor, and university professor.
Howell recalled, as a first-year student, the feeling of loneliness after being dropped off hundreds of miles from home but also the connection that came under palm trees, in labs and over meals.
“Inclusion is an atmosphere where people from different and disparate backgrounds are made to feel welcome,” Howell said. “Eckerd did that for me.”
Her Eckerd experience was not without conflict, she said, or free of hurtful words—but with others, she leaned into her values and created change. She participated in hosting Spring Balls, sang in the gospel choir and even founded the Eckerd cheerleading team.
“When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the beloved community, he envisioned a world where everyone was cared for,” she said. “Here, we created our own version of the beloved community.”
Whatever their identity, she told students, their presence at Eckerd—and that evening—was meaningful.
“The more you honor each other’s differences, the more you will find your similarities,” she said.
Emma Rodriguez ’25 speaks at the spring Leadership Scholars banquet.
Emma Rodriguez, a senior international relations and global affairs student from Hillsborough, New Jersey, reflected on that concept when she recalled entering Eckerd with the intention of entering a pre-med track. She quickly found that biology and chemistry were not her passion.
But upon attending an on-campus event in 2022 about the war in Ukraine, she saw a way to honor her passion for service. Three years later, Emma is joining the Peace Corps after graduation in a Youth in Development position in the Dominican Republic.
Serving as a Leadership Scholar and inclusive excellence ambassador has reminded Emma “what community truly means,” she said. “It is a practice, it is real, it is imperfect and it is courageous.”
Nay Howell’s visit was made possible by the Al Robbert ’66 and Birgit Robbert ’69 Endowed Fund for Alumni, which was established in 2021 by the Robberts, an alumni couple who realized the potential benefit to current students of interacting with graduates.
