Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater State University
"Spring Semester Wrap-up at BSU"
Another high-quality video from BSU's superb video production team was posted last week on YouTube in response to a request from President Clark for a review of spring 2026 highlights.
It's fun , fast and features amazing graphics, and you can see the video by
clicking on the link below:
From The Enterprise: A Profile of Sheryl Royster, '26
Alumna Sheryl Royster, '26, receives congratulations from Mr. Michael Taylor, chairman, BSU's Board of Trustees. At right is President Clark and at left is Dr. Sabrina Gentlewarriar, vice president for Student Success, Equity and Diversity,
Last Thursday, The Enterprise, the region's largest daily newspaper, published on its front page the following article by reporter Jacob Posner:
At 76, great-grandmother Sheryl Royster earned her bachelor's degree last week from Bridgewater State University, a milestone decades in the making.
For Ms. Royster, of Brockton, the most meaningful part of the journey was receiving her Kente cloth stole, the vibrant garment traditionally worn by Black students over the graduation gown.
"And that was the most poignant part about it," she said. "Is it the colors? Is it, they're there because of other Black women? I'm there to show the future of women, period."
Ms. Royster said she followed a winding path to earning her degree in sociology, with a minor in African American studies. It started with her attending Brockton High School in the 1960s, she said.
"When I was in high school, they never encouraged us, never," she said. "And when I say us, I mean children of color."
On top of that, she said Brockton High had so many students that there was a double shift.
"So here I am. I come in at 11:45, sit in the auditorium, by 2 or 3 o'clock I'm hungry again," she said. "Can't bring your own food. No water bottles in those days. Really, half of the Brockton High water bubblers were broke. And you think that's conducive [to] learning? She said she ended up dropping out of high school at 16 when she became pregnant. She then went right into night school to complete her high school education, she said.
She described pursuing higher education in fits and starts over the following decades. She was often interrupted by life circumstances, like not having enough money to complete a degree, or her mother battling cancer.
She recalled one of these forays into education, when Mary Baker, a notable Black educator and advocate in Brockton, asked her to sign up for a Black studies course at Massasoit Community College in 1985, so the college would allow the class to occur.
To finally earn a minor in African American studies at Bridgewater "was overwhelming for me," she said. "It was like it was a gift. Like I had just got a diamond ring. Somebody finally gave me my two-seat Corvette."
She doesn't yet know how she wants to use her newly-earned degree – but she does have a clear vision for this summer.
"I want to go to the beach, ... and I want to sit in the water with my big hat," she said. "And I'm gonna read 'The Invisible Man.'"
“It was a great experience to just see her grow and develop and work towards her degree, While I also was working towards my degree.” said her granddaughter Najah Siddiq.
Najah and her sister Raihanah Siddiq threw their grandmother a graduation party to celebrate her accomplishment.
“Too often we have older people in our family who have accomplished so much and have contributed so much to our lives, but we aren’t able to really thank them before they’re gone,” said Najah. “So it was really good to have that experience of being able to have our family, friends, her loved ones give her her flowers while she’s able to run miles and really enjoy the accomplishment that she set.”
Bridgewater State and its Commitment to AI
As we were preparing this report, The Wall Street Journal reported that AI had
solved a highly complex mathematical solution whose solution had eluded the world's most senior mathematicians for more than 80 years (the Erdos problem).
The Journal noted that only a short number of years ago, AI couldn't do simple math . . . now it's progressed so rapidly that AI was "performing at gold-medal levels at the International Mathematical Olympiad."
So when an article below appeared about the AI work being done at BSU by Dr. Tori Cameron, '12, (authored by Ms. Heather Harris, G '26, of BSU's Office of Enrollment, Marketing and Communications), we wanted to share it with you.
The link to the article is below:
Paris in the Spring
Just days after Commencement 2026 events were concluded, a group of BSU alumni began a trip to France and the photo above, posted last week on Facebook, captures the image of 50+ BSU alumni on the bus that headed them to the airport for trip across the ocean to begin a tour of France.
Leading the tour were President Clark (if you look closely, you can see the president and his wife Carrie, '85, G '92, sitting toward the rear on the right hand side) and Ms. Ellen Cuttle Oliver, '82, G '89 (sitting with her husband David on the immediate right near the front of the bus).
Below is a photo of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the background:
Memory Lane: The Bridgewater State
Women's Tennis Team of 1895
Every spring we post this photograph of the Bridgewater State Normal School Women's Tennis Team of 1895 (see the initials "BSN" inscribed on their hats) because it's such a window to the past.
The photo was first published in the 1976 book, Bridgewater State College, 1840 to 1976.
In the 131 years that have passed since these ladies assembled for the picture, we marvel at how much our university has changed since our founding as a Normal School in 1840 - year by year, decade by decade, for almost two full centuries.
At the time the photograph was taken, in that year the first moving picture ever seen by the public opened in Paris.
In November of that year, George Selden was granted the first patent for the manufacture of an automobile.
Coca Cola, first invented in 1888 at an Atlanta, Georgia, soda fountain, announced in the summer of 1895 that it had begun distributing the drink to every state in the nation at a price of five cents a bottle (at the time, there were 44 states in the U.S.).
More locally, the Bridgewater State Normal School enrolled some 400 students in 1895 and the original Tillinghast Hall (lost in the fire of 1924) opened as a residence hall.
Albert Gardner Boyden, class of 1849, was in his 35th year as principal in 1895 (he would retire in 1906 and be succeeded by his son, Arthur Clark Boyden, class of 1871).
"Mr. A.G.," as he was known by the students - certainly including the women above - remained on the faculty after his retirement as principal until his passing in 1915.
"Mr. Arthur" became in 1932 the first president of the university.
Oh, the memories!