Malik Stevens, right, smiles for the camera alongside proud mother Deverelle Alfred, center, and family friend Chuck Riviere.
St. Johnian Malik Stevens graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 18.
Stevens, who graduated from Gifft Hill School in 2009, earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and African American Studies. Stevens’ mother, Deverelle Alfred, and brother, Markus Stevens, along with family friend and supporter Charles Riviere watched proudly as his degree was bestowed in the convocation ceremony.
Riviere, a close friend of the late Bill Morris and a Northern Virginia resident, kept tabs on Stevens during his successful four years at Georgetown.
“Malik and I had lunch when he first arrived at GU nearly four years ago; he was then an apprehensive and anxious young man facing a challenge of daunting dimensions,” said Riviere. “I wished him well and kept up with his progress over the years during periodic visits and conversations and also thanks to a friend and neighbor here in Northern Virginia who teaches at Georgetown.”
“Saturday, on famed and historic Healy Lawn, I saw a man years wiser, exuding confidence, seemingly possessed with a passion to make a difference in the world and so grateful for the opportunity he now has in his hands,” Riviere said.
Stevens, a former student writer for St. John Tradewinds, was the recipient of the Bill Morris Memorial Scholarship, which helped him cover the considerable expenses of a Georgetown University education, Riviere added.
“A few of us on St. John and throughout the U.S. were fortunate to be able to help Malik along the way in the memory of my dearest sailor friend Bill Morris who had taught Malik math way back in the 5th grade at Julius E. Sprauve School,” he said. The ‘Bill Morris Memorial Scholarship Foundation’ raised funds over the last four years and provided some resources to help defray the enormous cost of a Georgetown education.”
“Bill Morris was a very special man, I think of our times together on the great blue yonder every day,” Riviere said. “I know he is pleased by Malik’s accomplishment as we all are. Gifft Hill School’s 2009 Valedictorian should make many on St. John very proud.”
In the words of the commencement speaker Lisa Shannon, “Power is in the passion of your ideals.”
“GU awarded Ms. Shannon an honorary Doctorate degree in Humanities for her work on behalf of oppressed Congolese women during the on going civil war in the Congo,” said Riviere. “‘Ideals’ and ‘passion’ are two descriptive appellations that befit Malik’s character well.”
“With no fear of making a bad prediction, I am confident that we will hear a lot more about and from Malik Alfonso Stevens in the future,” he said. “Many on St. John — including the staff at Tradewinds where Malik authored a widely read column for years, my friend Bill Morris who taught Malik fifth grade Math at Sprauve and Gifft Hill School where he graduated — played a key role in his development, but no one is more deserving of collective accolades than his mother Deverelle, an endearing woman and remarkable mother.”
