Letter From the Editor
By; L’Asia Brown
Greetings Broncos!
Welcome back to Fayetteville
State University! I hope each and
every one of you had a productive,
safe, and flui winter break. Normally
when we return from vacations,
we are encouraged by”our parents,
administrators, professors, and
elders to get our minds “back
into the groove” of academic excellence, positive social
involvement, and community philanthropy. However,
as a generation of game-changers, we need to begin
incorporating these fiindamentals into our daily routines.
One practice that many students have given up on is reading.
I am an avid reader and writer. Whether it is Eric Jerome
Dickey, Kimberla Lawson, and Michael Eric Dyson or
Jean Paul Satre , Erica Jong, and Simone de Beavoir, I
am on a continuous mission to investigate the endlessness
of intellect, culture, theory and philosophy found in the
eternal variety of books. Having engaged in multitudes
of conversations with the young and old. I’ve come to a
frightening consensus: young adults are becoming less and
less interested in reading. Though sociologists blame a
sharp increase in pop culture and social media obsessions
for the lack of attentiveness to the most prestigious form of
imaginative creation, a book, I cannot help but to believe
that the blame falls closer to home. It is our responsibility to
ensure we are conditioning our minds even when we do not
have a research paper due.
We are quick to run to the movies, rent DVD’s, and rush
home to see our favorite reality television shows yet many
students cannot name five of their favorite books. There are
English majors who know nothing of Ernest Hemingway
and political science majors who know nothing of Salman
Rushdie. There are communications majors who know
nothing of John Stewart and history majors who know
nothing of Will Durant. We must not let ourselves sink so
deep into the ocean of technology and float so far away from
the land of fraditional expression outlets that we cannot see
the shores of passion, creativity, and imagination. We cannot
let our era slip beneath our feet without having defined it
with literature, as all eras before us.
This semester I challenge you to expand and improve
upon your reading ability. Take a journey through the library
or bookstore, and discover the worlds to be explored in
books. Not only will it increase your appreciation for the
art, but it will dramatically improve your vocabulary. In
return, I promise to deliver a great newspaper to Fayetteville
State University, bi-weekly. The Voice Newspaper will
feature various works by students, alumni, faculty, and staff
of Fayetteville State University who have worked hard to
ensure you are enlightened, entertained, amused and most
importantly, informed. Remember, excellence is a behavior,
not an assignment.
L’Asia B. Brown
Students Honor King with Day of Service
By: Rodney O’Neal
Fayetteville State University led more
than 30 Students into The MLK Challenge,
an annual service event held on Dr. Martin
Luther King Junior Day, January 18th.
Participating students were randomly
assigned to groups and.given a service
project at a local organization that they had to
work together to complete by the end of the
day. By serving their community, students
celebrated the life and teachings of the late
civil rights pioneer.
The students joined hundreds of thousands
of Americans in making the holiday a day
ON, not a day OFF by serving in honor of the
slain civil rights leader’s legacy of helping
others. “By using the King Holiday as a
springboard for service throughout the year,
we can help realize Dr. King’s dream and
renew our communities and country,” said
Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation
for National and Community Service. The
federal agency oversees the nation’s domestic
service initiatives. The group led the
annual Martin Luther King Day of Service
in partnership with the King Center and
nonprofits, community groups, schools, and
businesses across the country.
One group of students completed a
beautification project with The Cumberland
County Coordinating Council on Older
Adults, Inc. They
improved the image
of areas where many
retired seniors live
in Fayetteville.
Students were sent to
CCCCOA and from
there were sent to
help a senior at their
place of residence.
The activities ranged
from helping replace
light bulbs in and
around the house to
helping clear the yard
of leaves and trash.
The second group
did a community
beautification
project in a hard hit
neighborhood with
The Fayetteville
Cumberland County
Ministerial Council.
Students were sent
to Heal The Land
Outreach Ministries
and from there they
were given streets
that needed to be
covered.
The project was one of thousands that
took place nationwide to honor the legacy of
Dr. King. Volunteers built homes, delivered
meals, refiirbished schools and community
centers, beautified parks and neighborhoods,
and engaged in a number of other civic
activities to improve lives and strengthen
communities across the country.
The Center for Community Justice
and Service Learning at Fayetteville State
University fosters community-university-
govemment partnerships to improve the
quality of life and the quality of justice in
neighborhoods hard hit by high levels of
crime, arrest, incarceration and reentry.
Fulfilling the UNC Tomorrow vision of
the engaged university, the Center for
Community Justice and Service Learning
connects FSU faculty, staff and students
with community and government partners to
conduct community-based research, training,
public forums, and service learning. The
Corporation for National and Community
Service is a federal agency that engages more
than five million Americans in service each
year through its core programs. Senior Corps,
AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America,
and leads President Obama’s national call to
service initiative. United We Serve.
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