Community
WSSU Nursing School Receives $1 Million Gift
By MARK R. MOSS
Chronicle Suff Writer
In whit school officials said
may be the largest donation ever
given to a state-supported nursing
program, Winston-Salem State Uni
versity announced Tuesday a Sl
million endowment from a donor
who asked that he remain anony
mous.
A beaming Cleon F. Thomp
son, the school's chancellor, made
the "historical announcement'' in
front of the F.L. Atkins Nursing
Building and before a sizable gath
ering of students, school officials
and media. He described the gift as
the largest "ever given to this
school."
The moment he announced the
$1 million endowed gift, the crowd
burst into applause.
"I'm . sure the students
applauded because a major portion
will be used for student scholar
ships," Thompson said, smiling at
them.
The faculty applauded, he
added, because the contribution will
also be used for "academic support.
Thompson said that the donor's
decision to make the contribution
was influenced by his wife's hospi
talization and the nurses who
"assisted her so well." Besides their
other important responsibilities,
nurses make you feel good,'' the
donor told Thompson.
Thompson said that the donor
was "particularly proud" of the "zest
and zeal" by which the community
supported the school s nursing pro
gram.
The nursing program has.
indeed, come a long way. In 1990
the president of the University of
North Carolina system. C.D. Span
gler Jr., threatened to close the nurs
ing program to all but registered
nurses seeking a bachelor's degree.
Under Spangler s proposed program,
licensed registered nurses would not
have had to take the nursing board
exam.
The school's nursing board
passing rates had been so low for so
long that they had become an
embarrassment to the university sys
tem. But restricting the program
would have denied high school
graduates and others ? like para
medics and licensed* practical
nurses ? the opportunity to-pursue
a degree in nursing - the same stu
dents the school has been attracting
since it began in 1953.
In 1992, 96 percent of the class
passed the nursing board exam.
Thanks to the efforts of con
cerned alumni and a new director,
Dr. Sylvia Flack, Spangler gave the
nursing program a second chance.
Flack told the crowd that she
never doubted what "we could do
with the nursing program."
"Oh yes," she exclaimed, "this
is a proud day for us! With this gift
we will be able to produce a state
of-the-art program second to none,"
she added.
Thompson refused to disclose
much about the nursing school's
benefactor. When pressed, the chan
cellor said the man was a white
North Carolinian. Thompson said
the donor wishes to remain anony
mous because he doesn't want to be
"bombarded" with other solicita
tions.
Jessie Draft, a 1982 graduate of
the nursing school, cornered a
reporter and told the story about
how she and other alumni were "out
there beating the streets'' to save the
nursing program three years ago.
She said she passed out fliers and
wrote letters in an effort to persuade
Spangler to give the school a second
chance.
"I'm so ecstatic," she said.
She then introduced her daugh
ter, Sabrina Dobson, who is a
WSSU sophomore and a student in
the nursing program.
Creating Hea
Healthy families are not only
committed to promoting/the happi
ness and welfare of individual fam
ily members, but they are also com
mitted to the family as a group.
They perceive their family to be
worthy and unique and are proud to
be a part of it. Just as it is beneficial
for an individual to have high self
esteem, it is also valuable for a fam
ily to feel good about itself as a
group. Centra] to what gives a fam
ily a sense of prjftp, worthiness ^
uniqueness is its family traditions.
A family tradition is any activ
ity or event that occurs with the
same regularity and holds a special
meaning for a family. It can be as
simple as a parent' s nightly reading
of a bedtime story or as elaborate as
a yearly family trip to grandma's
house, a reunion, birthday parties,
anniversary celebrations, the Labor
Day cookout or holiday dinners.
The existence of family legends
and traditions can make a family
feel special and unique. They can
serve as unifying themes around
which family members can unite
and celebrate. Family traditions can
help to make a family more cohe
sive. Because the shared meanings
of these occasions and activities are
usually understood and enjoyed by~~
the family alone, they can create
feelings of warmth, closeness and
specialness.
In a changing world, traditions
can also provide a stable anchor that
fosters a sense of continuity, con
nectedness and meaning, this can be
particularly important for children
who need stability in their world to
help them understand it.
Traditions, especially those that
have been passed down through the
generations, can provide a family
with a link to its past. This can help
family members understand and
affirm the thread of continuity that~
has contributed to making the indi
vidual and the family the unique
people they are.
An appreciation and reverence
for the past also demonstrates to
elders ? parents, grandparents and
other older kin ? a respect and
value for where they have been and
what they have done. It helps to
CQnfirm the meaning and value of
the lie lived thus far by the older
generation. For example, the life of
grandparents can be given renewed
meaning and significance by a
grandchild's interest in and appreci
ation of past deeds and events.
Traditions should be enjoyable
and bring family members together,
sometimes, however, a tradition out
lives its usefulness or evokes resent
ment, boredom, discomfort or indif
ference. If such is the case, it may
be time to retire the tradition.
Although many traditions are
tied to the past, they need not be old
traditions. They can be developed to
fit with the family's lifestyle and
values. What makes a tradition valu
able is that it is meaningful, enjoy
able and brings the family together.
If these criteria are met and the
activities are repeated, new family
traditions can be created.
As individual family members
grow and families change, the value
lthy Family Ties
Increases Self-Esteem
of traditions and pride in one's fam
ily also change. There is evidence
that a family feels most unique and
proud when children are young, and
changes take place when children
are teen-agers or have recently left
home. Family traditions and identity
can be valuable all through life, but
they may be especially important
when children are young.
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: .
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