Ben Carson Delivers Commencement Speech For High School Bearing His Name
DETROIT (CBS DETROIT) - Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson delivered Tuesday's commencement address for the Detroit school which bears his name.
"You all need not in any way feel deprived - having been in this great city, which is in the process of becoming great once again, and all of you are going to be part of that - that's great," said Carson.
Jasmyn Porter was among the recent graduates of the Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine in Detroit.
"Very exciting, I didn't think I was going to make it, but I made it - I'm here - I'm about to graduate - walk across the stage," Porter told WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas.
Porter told WWJ that she had to realize she was in control of her path to graduation.
"Cuz I was bad and I wanted to fight, I just told myself to get myself together or I'm not going to graduate, that was my choice. Now I'm walking across the stage," she said.
Sporting 7 inch heels Porter made her way across the stage to receive her diploma.
Dr. Ben Carson gave the commencement address:
"Forty-six years ago I was in your seat graduating from Southwestern High School in Detroit," he told students,"and I was thinking about what life was going to be like and I can tell that it's been pretty amazing - it goes by very fast - I've had a chance to travel around the world, 57 different countries, but with all of that, I'm proud to say that Detroit is my hometown."
Students within the inaugural class of 2015 became eligible for more than $3.6 million in scholarship awards.
The Detroit native made international headlines in March when he told an interviewer that being gay was a choice, because, as he said, men go into prison straight and come out gay.
