Page 6
The Pendulum
Thursday, October 18, 1984
People
Re-entering school at 50 brings mixed blessings
By Maureen Sweeney
Features Editor
In the age of the “emerging
woman,” Gregg Pappendick is
truly one to be admired.
At 50, Pappendick is com
pleting her final semesters of
undergraduate study and has
plans to enter graduate school
within next year.
When she first entered col
lege at Wake Forest University,
few women studied to become
doctors; most professional
women were teachers or
nurses or secretaries. Pappen
dick began work on a history
degree, not quite sure of what
she would do with it.
Pappendick was not the first
woman in her family faced with
the problem of choosing a
career from those traditionally
available to women. Her hus
band George used to comment,
“She is one of a long line of
Gregg women.”
Her grandmother went to
medical school at a time when
women were surely not encour
aged to become practicing
physicians. Pappendick’s
mothet- earned a law degree at
Wake Forest and became one
of four women accepted into
the North Carolina bar asso
ciation; she was the first
woman in Chatham County to
become a lawyer.
When Pappendick speaks of
her own life and goals, she
often refers to her mother to
whom she was very close. She
recalled that, “My mother
taught school because women
didn’t have a career and a fami
ly; it just wasn’t accepted. She
used to tell me, she didn’t want
to sit in the drugstore, drink
Cokes and swap recipes.”
Pappendick is well on her
way to becoming what her
mother and grandmother have
always encouraged her to be; a
seeker of wisdom.
When asked why she has re
turned to college, Pappendick
replies, “I have found out that
there are no answers, and the
purpose of education is to
learn to ask better questions.”
Pappendick has faced many
hard times in the past year. Her
husband was killed in January
in a freak accident—only five
months after the death of her
mother.
Pappendick is one of the few
people who knows what total
freedom is, and it’s scary.
“With freedom comes the sense
that your hiding places have
been taken away. There’s no
one to blame for your foul-
ups,” she said.
She has chosen to approach
crises in a positive light—as an
opportunity for growth—both
of these crises have given her
freedom and the chance at a
different if not new start.
If one student at Elon had to
be singled out for her enthu
siasm, Pappendick would have
a good chance at being that
one. Many Elon students recog
nized her; “She’s an older
woman with gray hair,” one stu
dent said.
“She’s always sitting outside
of the grill talking about what
truth is at the top of her lungs,”
another student said.
With the latter image in
mind, most people can recog
nize her.
She started part-time here
four years ago and will gradu
ate in May. Pappendick said, “I
love it with the kids; they help
keep me young. I was scared to
death when I walked into my
first class, but the professor
made me feel comfortable and
they’ve all made me feel spe
cial.”
Gregg Pappendick is a spe
cial person; anyone who has
ever met her can tell you that.
She is a woman to be admired,
it takes a lot of courage to re
turn to school and embark on a
new career when the competi
tion is half your age.
Huffstetler to seek doctorate
Mellon nominee to study religion ^as historian
By Vicky Jiggetts
Student Affairs Editor
Joel Huffstetler has been
nominated for the prestigious
Mellon Fellowship in Humani
ties. The scholarship is given to
the college senior who has
achieved academic success
and plans to begin graduate
work for a teaching career in
the humanities.
Huffstetler is a histo^ and
religion major, minoring in
political science. “If I receive
this scholarship, I would like to
attend Princeton University.
My second choices are Duke
and Emory,” said Huffstetler.
If he does not win the scho
larship, he still plans to attend
graduate school to pursue a
master’s doctorate in New
Testament and Christian ori
gins.
The nomineees for the award
will compete in regional com
petition, then from there, the
national winners are chosen.
After receiving the award, the
recipient must “perform with
distinction in graduate school
in order to keep the scho
larship,” said Huffstetler.
If he attends Princeton Uni
versity, Huffstetler would like
to study under Dr. Frederick
Borsch, author of The Son of
Man in Myth and History and
The Christian And Agnostic
Son of Man.
Huffstetler said, “I think that
I’ll be more inclined toward re
search than teaching. I com
municate better in written
form than oral, but I’m working
on my verbal communication.
I’ll approve religion from the
point of view of an historian.”
Huffstetler said that he has
been lucky when it comes to
opportunities. “I’ve gotten a
few breaks along the way, and
I’ve been surrounded by some
wonderful people. I could not
have done it without the help of
others,” he said.
Huffstetler has been on the
dean’s list, a member of Alpha
Chi, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi Alpha
Theta and Theta Alpha Kappa.
He has received an scho
larship, the Rev. I.W. Johnson
Scholarship, the Watterson-
Troxler Scholarship, and the
Basnight Award (outstanding
Bible student).
He was also a tutor in the
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LRC and an assistant in the So
cial Sciences department. He
served on the student Judicial
Committee, was clerk of court,
and a member of the Baptist
Student Union. Huffstetler is
currently a resident assistant,
a member of East Area Coun
cil, the Liberal Arts Forum, the
Young Republicans, and is
president of Pi Gamma Mu.
Dr. Robert Blake, professor
of English, said that the candi
dates for the scholarship have
to take the Graduate Record
Exam and submit those results
to the regional chairman. “It’s
a highly competitive national
scholarship,” said Blake. “Only
the very top students here are
ever nominated by the commit
tee. The regional committee
will interview the finalists be
fore they make the selection.
No Mellon Fellow will be
selected without this inter
view.”
In the past, Elon College has
had at least one nominee for
the Rhodes Scholar. However,
there is not Rhodes nominee
this year, Blake said, because
there were not any students
who excelled in both
academics and athletics. Blake
said, “The Rhodes is a highly
competitive scholarship. The
application itself is very long
and extensive.” He said that
his committee nominate stu
dents who have a good chance
of winning the scholarship.
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