SIX. OUR SPECIAL HONOR AND NEW TITLE FOR WEST PALM BEACH NATIVE, OUR ANGELA ROZIER SPOKE WITH A MAN WHOSE JOURNEY BEGAN IN PLEASANT CITY AND HAS NOW LED HIM TO BECOME THE PRESIDENT OF HAMPTON UNIVERSE CITY. DARRYL WILLIAMS GREW UP HERE IN PLEASANT CITY IN WEST PALM BEACH. HE CREDITS HIS TIGHT KNIT COMMUNITY, HIS FAMILY AND HIS FAITH FOR HIS SUCCESS. NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS GROWING UP IN PLEASANT CITY AND GROWING UP IN THE GROWING UP IN A SEGREGATED NEIGHBORHOOD, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INCONCEIVABLE THAT SINCE I LEFT WEST PALM BEACH AND THEN GRADUATED FROM HAMPTON UNIVERSITY, THAT I WOULD COME BACK AS AS THE PRESIDENT. WHEN RETIRED LIEUTENANT GENERAL DARYL WILLIAMS TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP IN WEST PALM BEACH, THE EIGHTH OF NINE CHILDREN BEING WITH PRIDE REPRESENTING HIS COMMUNITY. ALTHOUGH WE GREW UP WITH VERY, VERY MODEST MEANS AND IN PLEASANT CITY, WHAT A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY WE HAD. WILLIAMS GRADUATED FROM THE FORMER TWIN LAKES HIGH SCHOOL IN 1979, GRADUATED FROM HAMPTON UNIVERSITY IN 1983, AND SERVED FOR MORE THAN 37 YEARS IN THE U.S. MILITARY. HE’S NOW THE 13TH PRESIDENT OF HAMPTON UNIVERSITY, ONE OF THE MOST NOTED HBCU OR HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE COUNTRY. HE WILL BE INAUGURATED APRIL 1ST AND TO MARK THE OCCASION, PALM BEACH COUNTY COMMISSIONER MIKE BERNARD SAYS THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS HAVE DECLARED THE DATE AS DARYL WILLIAMS DAY. THE KIDS CAN WHO ARE FROM PLEASANT CITY, WHO ARE WEST IN WEST PALM BEACH, THEY GET THE CHANCE TO KNOW THAT, HEY, EVEN IF YOU’RE FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, IF YOU WORK HARD AND ALSO YOU SERVE YOUR COUNTRY, THEN YOU KNOW ARE PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU. BEING RECOGNIZED BY MY HOMETOWN WHERE IT ALL BEGAN AND WHERE WITHOUT THE VALUES YOU TAUGHT ME, NONE OF THIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE IN WEST PALM BEACH. ANGELA ROZIER WPBF 25 NEWS. WELL, CONGRATULATIONS. I’M SUPER PROUD BECAUSE HE WENT TO TWIN LAKES, WHICH IS WHERE I WENT TO SCHOOL. SO WE’RE ALL JUST SO PROUD OF HIM. HOW EXCITING TO GRADUATE. AN