Law grad now ready to take on new duties

Most of the 163 students graduating from the Charleston School of Law on Saturday only had to worry about whether their caps and gowns were in place.

But Maria Fitzharris of Mount Pleasant had something else on her mind.

Her belly bulge visible through her ceremonial gown, Fitzharris wasn't due to give birth until early next month. But as the graduation ceremony began, so did her contractions.

She decided to wait it out. She fanned herself with her program and took frequent sips from a bottle of cool water as the two-hour ceremony continued. A team of emergency medical responders stood close by, just in case.

Immediately after Fitzharris was handed her diploma, she stepped outside The Citadel's McAlister Field House for some fresh air, thankful to have concluded one big life chapter before writing a new one.

"You go through three years of this, and you definitely want to be able to walk across that stage," she said. "It's, like, the defining moment."

ABC News national legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg urged the students to make every day and every case defining.

In her address, Greenburg referred to the civil rights movement and spoke about such noted public figures as Winston Churchill and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"Use the things you've learned here about right and wrong, honor and faith, compassion and caring for others," Greenburg said. "Use your energy and your idealism to make wherever you go from here a better place than when you got there. Don't be silent."

The Class of 2008 included graduates from 46 colleges and universities. The class collectively donated 14,296 hours of community service during the past three years.

Reach Tenisha Waldo at twaldo@postandcourier.com or 937-5744.