BERKELEY, Calif. - Duane De Witt, a 48-year-old army veteran who overcame homelessness and repeated rejection from the University of California, Berkeley, went on to graduate from the prestigious university with top honors and to deliver a keynote speech at commencement ceremonies.

Wearing a borrowed cap and gown, De Witt, who spent nearly an entire semester sleeping in local parks, recently addressed 2,000 fellow UC Berkeley graduates, most of them at least 25 years younger.

"I went from sleeping in the park to speaking on the stage," De Witt told the Los Angeles Times.

De Witt shared the speaker's spotlight with Anne Lamott, who wrote "Traveling Mercies" and "Crooked Little Heart", at UC Berkeley's commencement ceremonies on May 22.

"I said that standing before them was a guy who used to be homeless," he said of his speech. "I told them looks can be deceiving, that the worst thing you can ever do is judge a book by it's cover."

Classmates and instructors said De Witt's sheer will to succeed at Berkeley reasserted the values of the university better than any politician, celebrity or academic speaker could.

A Santa Rosa native, De Witt worked at a succession of part-time positions over two decades, never finding a full-time job with benefits and never earning more than $27,000 a year.

He was rejected by UC Berkeley officials four times until he made a personal plea in the spring of 2000 to the UC system's Board of Regents that he deserved a chance. On May 1, his 45th birthday, De Witt received notice that he would be admitted for the fall semester.

"I still have that letter as a keepsake. It's the best birthday gift that I have ever received," he said.

During his first semester, De Witt slept in area parks and washed up each morning in a university restroom until thieves broke into his 1986 Subaru station wagon in October 2000, stealing not only his meager belongings but all of his textbooks and class notes.

With a $1,500 personal loan from an empathetic university housing official, De Witt bought new books and moved into an apartment.

In his commencement speech, De Witt urged fellow graduates to give something back to Berkeley, in money or time, to make it possible for all disadvantaged Californians to follow in their footsteps.

De Witt, who graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a 3.8 grade point average, has been accepted into UC Berkeley's prestigious graduate program in city and regional planning. He hopes to earn a doctorate degree and perhaps become a scholar on homeless issues at Berkeley.

"Duane is Joe Everyman," said Ken Gonsalves, a university outreach coordinator. "He was determined to get here and once in, he was determined to stay. What he has accomplished is quite remarkable."