The 2010 fall semester kicked off on Wednesday with a bang as freshmen gathered together to participate in the ULM tradition of Convocation.

Students showed up by the dozens. Once they had all congregated in front of the Kitty Degree bell tower, the students marched from the bell tower to the coliseum led by The Sound of Today.

With brand new Warhawk t-shirts, the students piled into Fant-Ewing Coliseum to hear guest speaker Stephen Black, a native of Birmingham, Ala., and founder of FocusFirst.

His FocusFirst program primarily con- sists of trained college students who provide vision screenings to younger children throughout the lower income communities in Birmingham. In 2008, he was awarded a Community Health Leaders Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

After taking the podium, Black told the audience he was about to get “overly seri- ous.”

He said college was a time to redefine one’s identity, to become the adult that this time of responsibilty requires. Black encouraged students to view their time spent in college as more than fulfilling their personal interests.

He explained how it is necessary for students to fulfill their ethical obligation to the community and start living a “moral led life.”

He encouraged students to apply them- selves rigorously to the classes before them, to take pride in their university and community. He told students to get involved in student organizations and make this university a home.

His encouragement to get involved with organizations on campus was echoed by SGA President Brook Sebren and head football coach Todd Berry, both of whom urged students to go out, get involved in any, or all, organizations on campus and become part of the “ULM family.”