UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 34, Page 1
June 8, 1995
Student from Lincoln is UD's 100,000th grad

     At first I didn't believe it. I thought it was a joke or someone
calling from a radio station," Laura Jefferson said of the telephone
call telling her that, at the University's Spring Commencement
ceremonies, she was to be the 100,000 graduate of the school.
     "When the second call came, the caller said he was President
[David P.] Roselle and he was inviting me and my family to lunch at
his home after graduation. I had interviewed the president for The
Review and thought I recognized his voice, but I still wasn't sure."
     Jefferson, 21, said being the 100,000th UD graduate is quite an
honor, and added, "When people congratulate me I get a little
embarrassed. I haven't done anything to earn this honor. I was just
born with the last name, Jefferson!"
     A graduate of Milford High School, Jefferson was active in
Students Against Drunk Driving and in school musicals.
     She came to Delaware because "basically, I'd grown up hearing
about it. It was always the big place to be."
     At the UD, she majored in English with a journalism concentration
and she minored in Spanish. Her long-range goal is to work as a
journalist or an interpreter.
     On campus, Jefferson wrote for the student newspaper,The Review,
serving as its assistant news editor, city editor and student affairs
editor. She also wrote for and was executive editor of the paper's
magazine, B-1.
     She plans to move to Jacksonville, Fla., where many of her
relatives live. "I'm hoping for a little more sun and a little less
rain," she said.
                                                          -Beth Thomas