September 17, 1985
Ink News
Page 6
Hinton James gets
Black area director
photo by Ralph Ward
by Sherri Belfield
Staff Writer
Hinton James has it’s first Black
Area Director since academic year
1973-74, Vernon Wall.
Wall attended undergraduate
school at North Carolina State
University and received his
bachelor’s degree in Political Science
in 1981. In 1983 he received his
master’s in Education with a concen
tration in Student Personnel from In
diana University.
There have been Black A.D.S. in
other dorms, but this is the first time
in a long time that Hinton James has
had one, said Collin E. Ruston,
Associate Director for contracts and
assignments.
Wall, hardly a newcomer to
overseeing the lives of college
students, was director of housing in
the summer of 1982 at the University
of California at Berkeley. For three
years, he was the residence coor
dinator at Moore Hall, a dorm of 500
men, at the University of North
Carolina at Charlotte.
Wall said he has chosen the field
of College Student Personnel
because, ‘1 worked as a Resident
Assistant at State where I also worked
with orientation.”
“I began to think about doing this
sort of thing as a career in my junior
year of college,” he said.
Wall described his job as A.D. as
a “building manager and
resource/fi-iend to every resident in
Hinton James. ‘1 handle everything
fi'om room changes to student con
cerns.”
As A.D., Wall said he has two
primary goals. “Number one, I want
to build on things the dormitory
government has begun in terms of
presenting Hinton James as a positive
image. I have been very impressed
with the government, and I think tha:
they are doing and will continue to do
a good job.”
“My second goal is to make sure
the Resident Assistants have a good
experience. I feel that the R.A.’s jobs
are very important because they are
hardworking students who enjoy their
jobs and have an impact on a lot of
ipeople.”
A graduate of NCSU, Wall said,
‘It’s fun being a Tar Heel. I’m not
swept up in the Tar Heel mania yet,
but wait until football season starts.
After going to Indiana, I’m glad to be
back home in the ACC.”
Wall is very involved with the
Greek system although he is not in a
fraternity himself.
He is on the Professional
Development Committee for the
Association of Fraternity Advisors, a
national committee. Wall was a
fraternity advisor at UNCC. I started
continued on page f
The Big Buddy Program, a Campus Y success
by Denise Moultrie
Staff Writer
A number of students have discovered the rewards of being a Campus Y Big Bud
dy.
Steve Marshall, Big Buddy Co-chair, said the purpose of the program was to sup
ply role models for children referred by school counselors. “A lot of the children
come from broken homes or are not accepted in their peer groups.”
Marshall, said his little buddy, like others in the group, was not exposed to a
Black male figure as a role model. “Having a Black role model would be better for my
buddy. He doesn’t see a difference in races, but he will begin to see them and he’ll
start to think ‘it must be nice to be white’.”
The reason there are not many Black big buddies, Marshall said, may be lack of
publicity about the program. “But there definitely is a need for more Black male bud
dies.”
Allene Smith, a senior Economics and International Studies major from Wilm
ington, also a Co-chair, said there have been more Black students at the meetings.
“And the ones already in the program really love it.”
Last year there were 200 big buddies, but this year because of the response, there
will be 225, Marshall said.
When people get involved with the program, they begin to appreciate what they
have because they see where the children they are helping have come from, he said.
»yhiinie Mitchener, a junior from Smithfield, N.C., and a Big Buddy Group
Leader, said she found diat her involvement with the program puts her in touch with
another way of life. “It’s rewarding in a lot of different ways.”
Most students here do not experience one-parent homes and not having a nrte
model,” she said.
Mitchener said the children involved in the program have special needs and re
quire special attention.
The little buddies are children in grades kindergarten through sixth and are refer
red to the Campus Y by their guidance counselors. “Each school is allowed a certain
number of buddy referrals according to population and counselors decide what kids
need buddies,” Marshall said.
Mitchener said the program is fim. “You must be careful not to become too emo
tionally involved, though,” she warned. “You have to keep tabs on yourself.”
“Some of the children expect you to be Santa all year round,” she said. “Of
course you take them out and expose them tc things they don’t get at home, but from
the begimiing, they must understand that you can’t give them everything.”
Fred Jones, a junior from Franklin, N.C., said learning when to say ‘no’ is the
most difficult part of being a tniddy. “There are some times when you never know if
what you’re doing is right. Sometimes, I don’t know how many times I should say no,
you can’t... or yes, you can.”
Work and play with his buddy gave Jones an opportunity to evaluate his life as
compared to his little buddie’s. It has struck me to see how it has been to my advantage
to have a good family life. His family is good, as far as it goes, but he doesn’t have a
father figure,” Jones said.
“Watching him makes me grateful for what I’ve had, but I’m hopefully giving
him someone to look up to,” the said.
“There are still a lot of differences, but we’re just learning about each other,” he
said.
Dedication to the program is important at all times. “You really have to be com
mitted, Mitchener said. “Around exam time, students get bogged down and don’t
have the time to spend with their buddies.”
All big buddies are required to see their littie buddies at least once a week for two
hours, Marshall said. Ther are 18 group leaders how oversee the big buddies to make
sure there are no problems, he said.
“At times, problems can arise between the little buddie’s parents and the big bud
dy, or the big and little buddy might have problems, Marshall said. “Therefore, the
group leaders help to solve these problems.”
The big buddies are free to see their little buddies as often as they wish, provided
they do see them at least once a week. Through the year, there are several events for
all the big and little buddies in the program.
“We have a Halloween party, a Christmas party, a Valentines Day patty, an
Easter Egg hunt, and this year, for the first time, we’re going to have a field day,”
Marshall said.
He said he considers the program a success. “It’s real popular with both the
gfi^tents and the kids, and I think the quality of the program is improving.”
Marshall saisd he has seen several positive changes in his little buddy since he met
him.
photo by Ralph Wiird