1
A Student’s
Experience at
ECSU
page 2
Student Recalls
the Chancellor’s
Speech
page 4
Vote! Vote! Vote!
Your future’s at
stake!
page 6
The Goodie
Bag:
i The home of the puzzles,
inspirations, poems, and |
comics,
page 10
Vol. 67, No. 2
Circulation 2,200
Elizabeth City, NC
October 22,2002
CTiayiT-v
Elizabeth City State University’s award-
I
Gary Cohen presented the better grades seminar on September 30.
Photo by Rich Harvey
SEMINAR HELPS STUDENTS
ACHIEVE BETTER GRADES
Antonio Barrow
Editor
tony8248118@vahoo.com
A seminar was held on September
30, 2002 at 7:00pm in the Fine Arts
Auditorium.
The theme was “Better Grades In
Less Time,” which helped the students
learn how to read faster and understand
what they have read.
Gary Cohen presented the semi
nar. He was asked to come because
he had a “proven track record for help
ing students achieve success in school,”
said Dr. Jean Holt,
Cohen began the seminar by
giving the students a reading package.
Everyone had to read as much of the
introduction as possible in one minute.
Aften/vards, he told the students how to
calculate how many words they can
read per minute. To calculate the total
words per minute, count the number of
lines and multiply it by 10.
Then, he had a prize-giveaway
session. He tossed three, big, different-
colored balloons and played a game,
hitting or tossing the balloon around the
auditorium. Whoever held the balloon
when the music stopped told Cohen
how many words per minute they read.
He played this game until eight people
were called.
As the seminar continued, he listed
some facts about memory. People tend
to remember more information through
visuals by 40% and taking notes by
30%. A good diet can help students to
have a better focus on our work. Cohen
said that when students study, they usu
ally forget about 50% of what they have
read. In three hours, they forget at least
80%.
To help students to gain better
concentration, he encouraged the stu
dents to eat a light meal. When stu
dents eat heavy meals, our brain is
being deprived of the proper oxygen
that people need. This is why people
tend to get tired and sleepy after a large
meal. Also, if the students are studying
and need a snack, Cohen suggested
fruit.
After this session, he took a basket
of fruit and tossed the fruit, one-by-one,
to the enthused audience. He had red
apples, green apples, golden apples,
and oranges.
After the fruit toss, he told students
about the stages of reading: silent lip
reading, mental reading, and finger-
guided reading.
As a test of motivating people to
read, he had a little girl from the audi
ence to make a mark on a piece
of paper that was taped to the wall.
After the girl made the mark, Cohen
taped five dollars on the wall and taped
another five dollars over the first. The
girl’s aim was to mark the higher five
dollars so that she could get ten dollars.
Cohen asked the audiences for sugges
tions. The girl listened to the advice for
the audience. She stood away from the
way, ran towards the wall and jumped
and made a mark on the higher five dol
lars, therefore, winning ten dollars. The
idea was that when motivated, students
could achieve their goal.
He then showed the students the
four-minute reading technique. He gave
reasons why it is better to use our hand
as students read. The reasons were that
the hand acts as a personal trainer and
pushes you to read faster; it forces you
to see more words at a time and keeps
you from repeating the words over to
yourself; prevents rereading; and you
are more alert.
To do this technique, place the
middle three fingers under the line that
you are reading. Read the text for one
minute, taking in what you are reading.
Calculate the words per minute. During
the second and third time, reread the
same text, but do not read for full com
prehension. On the fourth time, read
from where you left off the third time,
using your fingers. After a minute, cal
culate your words per minute and com
pared it with the first time. Your reading
should have increased by two or three
times.
The seminar was very enjoyable
and the presenter had a great sense of
humor which caught the students atten
tion.
ECSU STUDENTS REACT TO
WRONGFUL DEATHS BY SORORITY
DeTra Stith
depot9@hotmail.com
In Los Angeles, California, two
women drowned in the ocean, as
a result of an alleged Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sorority hazing act. Kristin
High, 22, of Los Angeles, and
Kenitha Saafir, 24, of Compton were
supposedly pledging for the Sigma
Chapter of AKA Sorority Incorpo
rated, at the campus of California
State Los Angeles. According to a
preliminary investigation done by the
Los Angeles Police Department, the
deaths “appeared to be accidental”
and unrelated to the young women’s
efforts to join the sorority
High’s family has implied that a
private investigation tells a different
story. This story includes that the
women were blindfolded, and tied by
their hands and their bodies, and
led into the rip tide conditions of the
ocean. The rip tides were 6 to 8
feet, at the Dockweiler State Beach
in Playa del Rey
The parents and fiance of
High have filed a $100 million wrong
ful death lawsuit against the AKA
sorority corporation, CSLA’s regional
chapter, and individuals from the
sorority who were present that night.
The campus sorority has denied the
claims, and furthermore, it has been
said that the Sigma Chapter on
the campus, that the women were
supposedly pledging, had not been
active since 1989.
The family of High wants to
send a message to sororities and
fraternities around the country that
pledging and hazing must come
to an end. They do not want
these women’s deaths to be in
vain because they had their futures
ahead of them, and they died need
lessly at the beach.
On Elizabeth City State Univer
sity’s campus, where sororities and
fraternities are active, students, who
are Greek affiliated and students
who are not, are concerned about
the acts that led up to these deaths.
“There are more important
things to acheive other than a two-
colored, 3-lettered jacket. Once
they receive the ‘achievement’the
prospective candidates will realize
Greek Life is not all it’s cracked up to
be. Besides, there are more within a
sorority or fraternity than there are in
the world, and they are supposed to
be ‘brothers and sisters,’” an anony
mous student said.
“If there was no chapter on the
campus at the time, I am not under
standing why these women would
even consider going out to the beach
in the first place,” said Takia Winrow,
a junior member of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority Incorporated.
One student who wanted to
remain anonymous felt that they took
the pledging part out of proportion.
“Even though you are supposed
to go through some things, this was
something that should not have been
done, but those women should have
had common sense enough to know,
that being blindfolded in the ocean was
quite enough,” said anonymous stu
dent.
There were also comments about
the situation where students felt that
risks were taken, on the part of the
women who died.
“1 felt that it was an unfortunate
event, however the thirst of being
accepted by a prestigious group is a
risk that, the particular individual is will
ing to take. Fate is a two-way street
that always provides avenues of depar
ture, and no matter what happens, you
are always in control,” said Damiyon
Sledge, a junior member of Alpha Phi
Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated.
“Personally, I think that there had
to be some involvement or why else
would a great risk have been taken, if
there was to be no grand result,” said
Gingah Battiste, a junior.
Feelings about poor judgment
were also expressed in other students’
comments.
“The girls were stupid for walking
into the water blindfolded, and the girls
behind it should be charged for man
slaughter, if not murder,” said Shawn
Capehart, a senior.
“Personally, hazing has been a
problem with Greek letter organizations
since I can remember. The incident that
occurred in California with the “alleged”
sorority only reflects those women who
took it upon themselves to put their
lives in danger. There is no organiza
tion or anything for that matter in this
world that is worth losing your life over.
No one can make you do anything with
out your consent, therefore this incident
only reflects the stupidity of those indi
viduals who chose to lose their life,”
said Kevin Wade, a senior member of
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated.
High’s family realizes that this is
not the first time people have died from
the pledging process. They feel that the
only way for it to stop is for potential
members to refuse the abuse, and to
be knowledgeable of what you are get
ting into and why. Acceptance and pop
ularity are nothing to lose your life over.
Information in this article was taken
from other sources: Los Angeles
Police Department,
http://www.cnn.com.