Renetta Tull, Opening Remarks:

Good afternoon and thank you for coming today to celebrate the life of UMBC Graduate Student Jessica Soto Perez. She was admired, she was loved. Our president Dr. Hrabowski and our Provost, Dr. Arthur Johnson could not be here today, but please know that Dr. Hrabowski spent time with the campus community shortly after the news of Jessica’s passing and Dr. Johnson was involved with the campus emergency response team.

Jessica’s family sent word that they are grateful for everything that UMBC has done. I received an email from her mother this morning that said, "We are so sorry because this friday we will not go to a Ceremony to Honor the Life of Jessica. All family are in Puerto Rico; we celebrate nine days with prayers in our house it will finish the next Saturday. In the first days of august we will go to UMBC . Thank you very much for your attention in memory of Jessica."

There were many people who wanted to give tribute to Jessica. This afternoon, you will hear short 2-3 minute versions of some of those tributes. When Jessica’s mother was here several days ago, she briefly discussed her belief in God and Jesus. For that reason, we felt that it was appropriate to have a representative from our campus ministries to offer a prayer or moment of silence today. We thank Rev. Robert Waddail, the available Christian representative of UMBC’s campus ministries, for serving today. Following Rev. Waddail, the speakers will each give 2-3 minute tributes in the order that you see in your program, beginning with Dr. Charles Fey who will speak on behalf of the university.