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(— ) Honorary Doctorate - Richard A. Schrader, Sr. The son of sugarcane workers, Mr. Richard Augustus Schrader, Sr. was born on St. Croix. His formative years were filled with hard work and the comfort of family. Raised in Estate Fredensborg in the 1930’s and 40’s, he assisted his parents in the field, helping his mother carry water and his father plow the soil. Mr. Schrader attended St. Ann’s and St. Mary Catholic Schools. Determined to serve in the military, he left school and volunteered for the army during the Korean War. He was the first Black soldier to serve with Company “G” 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division in Germany. He did two military tours and received his GED in Germany. Mr. Schrader was honorably discharged in 1957. After a brief employment with the U.S. Post Office at Morgan Station in Manhattan, he entered the New York City Department of Corrections training academy at Riker’s Island and was assigned to the Hart Island’s prison facility in the Bronx. While serving as a correctional officer, he attended Brooklyn College part-time. Upon moving back to St. Croix, he was appointed Assistant Prison Warden at the Richmond Penitentiary in 1965. Attending school at night, he received an Associate’s Degree in Political Science and Administration in 1969 from the College of the Virgin Islands. He returned to New York and earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal ~ Justice in 1971. He then returned to St. Croix to continue Richard A. Schrader, Sr. serving as Assistant Prison Warden at Richmond Penitentiary. h A While working at the Golden Grove Correctional Facility as Acting Warden and Warden, he received a Master’s of Arts in Education from the College of the Virgin Islands in 1981. In 1983, he spent a month in Denmark on a George C. Marshall Scholarship grant studying the Danish prison system. After serving for over twenty years in the field of law enforcement, he retired in 1985. Leaving the prison system behind, Mr. Schrader picked up a pen. Inspired by a weekend on Blue Mountain as a national guardsman, Mr. Schrader was able to take in the entire island from that vantage point and decided to capture it for eternity with his seminal poem, St. Croix by Night. Since writing his first book Home Sweet Home in 1986, St. Croix, her people and culture, became his muse. Over the past thirty years, and in twenty-eight books, Mr. Schrader has vividly rendered Virgin Islands traditions and folklore. Some of his works include: Notes of a Crucian Son; Maufe, Quelbe and T’ing; If The Gobi Could Talk; Kallaloo; Fungi; Under the Taman Tree; Walking through Kasha and Roses; and Teach a Man to Fish. His literary works like /n A Heartbeat: Stories of the Virgin Islands Army National Guard and Celebration: Salute to the Living and the Dead document the glorious past of Virgin Islanders and personal reminisces of the men and women of the Virgin Islands Army National Guard. These also include the play 7878: Queen Mary and Dem, the “old time” tales of Adelo and Margo of Fredensborg, My Neighbor Lucia, and Frank Charles of Frederiksted and the timeless photos of Thelma Barry Clarke, Haraldo Alphonso Barker, and Anita Rock. Mr. Schrader’s stories flood our memories, reminding us again and again of the pure strength and God given grace of Virgin Islanders. In recognition of his literary contributions to the history and traditions of St. Croix, Mr. Schrader has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Virgin Islands Humanities Council 1994 “Humanist of the Year” award. He also penned the 2003 Inaugural Poem, The Madras that Bind All Ahwe. Mr. Schrader is a member of the American Legion, Bromley Berkeley Post 133, and a lector at St. Ann’s Catholic Church. He is married to the former Claudette Davis. They have four children. These days, this father, husband, grandfather, army veteran, poet, and author continues to enrich us all with the culture, history, and people of his home, sweet home, St. Croix. Ne y, Fifty-Second Annual Commencement ke oSTY OF 7 aN We wes wy, AIK Bla Cin J. NSS S 1962 ST. THOMAS ST. CROIX Thursday, the Twelfth of May Friday, the Thirteenth of May Two Thousand and Sixteen Two Thousand and Sixteen Half after One O’clock in the Afternoon Half after One O’clock in the Afternoon Sports and Fitness Center Campus Grounds St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands yy,