Convocation 2009

Convocation marks the beginning of the new academic year.  New students will be welcomed to the College and graduating seniors will be honored with their tassels for our May Commencement ceremony.

Franco Majok, executive director of Village Help for South Sudan, will deliver the keynote address.

Village Help provides program management and coordinates village mobilization to deliver water, schools, orphanages, teacher and student support, economic opportunity, appropriate technology, and sanitation solutions to under-served communities in South Sudan. Integral to Village Help's mission is involving the local community in all project activities and developing enterprise opportunities by leveraging local resources.

Majok grew up on his family's farm in Wunlang, Southern Sudan. In 1983, civil war forced Majok and his family to flee their home. Although he became separated from his father and brothers, Majok was able to graduate from high school in Khartoum. Eventually the war intensified and Majok left Sudan for Cairo in 1988. There he learned to speak English and became the office manager of a Lutheran church. Ten years later in 1998 Majok, his wife and children, and several relatives immigrated to Lynn, MA. 

In the United States Majok has assisted the area's "Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan," refugees who, like him, fled the country in the 1980s. After becoming and U.S. citizen in 2005, Majok visited his home village of Wunlang for the first time in more than 20 years.

When he saw the local school's classroom—merely a patch of dirt beneath a tree—Majok was inspired to help.  What started as a fund drive to provide the village with school supplies is now an organization that supports the growth and development of several communities in South Sudan.