Richard Walls, a native of Springfield and a junior at Savannah State University was chosen recently to represent the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences as a keynote speaker during the Honors Day Convocation held March 24.

He is majoring in mass communications with a concentration in online journalism. He is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society and is a candidate to join the National Society of Leadership and Success. In addition to those activities, he is also a member of the student chapter of the National Association for Black Journalists and serves as a contributing writer to SSU’s official newspaper Tiger’s Roar.

Walls also works as a site coordinator for the Upward Bound program, an after-school program for students in grades 9-12, where he is responsible for providing mentoring and academic reinforcement.

Following the Honor’s Day Convocation, the chairman of the department of Journalism and Mass Communications, Dr. Wanda Lloyd, chose Walls’ speech to be published in the Mass Connection magazine, which the department runs. The school’s newspaper, Tiger’s Roar, also published lines from his speech in its online edition. On April 2, the Savannah State University Department of Journalism and Mass Communications held its first JMC Awards, where Walls was presented with the chair’s award in recognition of him maintaining the highest GPA in the department.
His future plans include becoming a technical writer and pursuing a doctorate.