During his commencement address Saturday morning, President DanaMohler-Faria introduced some special guests seated in the audience. The family of Martin Richard, the young boy killed two years ago in the bombing of the Boston Marathon, was on hand for the ceremony.
Bill and Denise Richard are alumni. They brought their daughter, Jane, with them, and the capacity crowd under the tent gave the family a standing ovation.
Earlier in his address, the president had spoken about the importance of character, and what it means to put the needs of others before one’s self. After introducing the family, the president then shared how Mr. Richard had spent the previous day. That Friday morning, while a jury in Boston was on the verge of sentencing marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Mr. Richard was at BSU with President Mohler-Faria discussing the ways they could help a young man from the Richard's neighborhood with his future education.
“That’s what I mean by character,” the president said.
After the ceremony, the president posed with the Richard family for a photo, below. (Story by John Winters, University News)
