• . j ■ JfL ’ * '* » 1 'i* , s> V .>:jp .. L*f.»r« i«*V oi'jjJ* " - • . «
Persistence Drives Ford Back To Classroom
,*jk oy unui Htf , , -a ^
Special T* Hie Post
Greensboro - Annie Ford walks
gingerly into the classroom, drops
her bulging bog on the floor and
reaches for her notepad and pen. She
listens attentively as the professor
breezes through his lecture.
That’s not unusual for a graduate
student, but Ford Is not your typical
graduate student. She is a 53-year
old grandmother pursuing a
master’s degree in adult education
at North Carolina A&T
Five months ago, she sobbed
uncontrollably as she stepped to the
platform to receive a bachelor of
science degree from Winston-Salem
State Ford’s pursuit of an advanced
degree is also atypical considering
most academicians her age are
either seeking‘‘tenure or trying to
find a publisher for a book.
“I’ve always wanted to be a
teacher," Ford says softly, but with
conviction. "I’m only pursuing a
dream.”
The dream began at an early age.
Ford remembers growing up in
Winston-Salem and riding a cold bus
some 25 miles to a church, which had
^ basement that served as the
classroom. She said her first grade
teacher made an indellable mark
hnd influenced her life.
• “1 sat^ in the classroom and
patched The Way she conducted
terself," Ford remembers. “She
ad total control of all the students,
jand I said when I grow up that’s the
kind of person I'd like to be.”
i “Annie Ford is an inspiration to
the thousands of people who believe
education has passed them by after
reaching maturity,” says Dr. B.W.
Harris, area coordinator of Adult
Education in the Department of
Educational Leadership and Policy
at A&T. “Annie Ford is to be
admired for her persistence through
tremendous odds. She represents a
trend of matured people who are
actively engaged in educational
pursuits.”
r ora grew up in depressed times.
Money was scarce. Food was
scarce,, and she was unable to
complete formal education. As she
grew up, she fell in love and
married.
Her first child soon arrived. The
family blossomed and eventually
totaled five boys and three girls.
Ford and her husband separated and
she was forced to raise the children
on her own, supporting them on a
meager salary generated- as a
Annie Ford (center) engages in a discussion with
Karen Allen and Dr. B.W. Harris, professor in Adult
Education at North Carolina A&T.
*»
manager for a chain of convenient
stores.
But the dream of becoming a
teacher never went away. “I knew I
couldn’t pursue an education with a
lot of children running around the
house,” says Ford. “I felt I had an
obligation to see that they get the
best education available to them,”
Ford feels a degree of accomplish
ments as all her children have
completed high school. Three of
them have claimed degrees from
technical institutions, one has
become a word processor and
another graduated from Penn State.
With her children having
completed their educational
pursuits, Ford thought it was time
that she pursue her educational
goals. So in 1980 she enrolled in
Forsyth Tech.
“I felt very proud when I got the
degree from Forsyth Tech,” Ford
says. “But I was talking with
someone and I was told the degree I
had was nothing more than an
advanced high school diploma.”
With that disclosure providing the
impetus, Ford enrolled at Winston
Salem State in 1982. This past
summer, she walked on the platform
at the Winston-Salem Memorial
Coliseum to receive a degree in
applied science with a concentration
in psychology and sociology.
Ford recalls the long hours she
spent studying while attending
Winston-Salem State.
“It wasn’t easy getting back into
the habit of studying," Ford recants.
“College is no snap. The whole
technique of studying has changed
since I attended elementary school.
In fact, I spent many hours in the
library reading books on how to
study.”
She also had to overcome the
stares and puzzled look from her
classmates because of her age.
“I was apprehensive at first,” she
remembers. “I really didn’t know
how the students were going to
accept me. A lot of them looked at
me as if to say, ‘What is this old lady
doing in this class?”’
Ford maintains employment at a
Winston-Salem department store
while matriculating part-time at
A&T in the graduate school. She
commutes from Winston-Salem to
Greensboro twice a week.
When she completes the require
jL4>cal doctor As Family Specialist
..Kansas City, Mo. . Dr. Melvin
Thomas Pinn Jr , of Charlotte, has
been recertified as a diplomats of
the American Board'iof Famflj?’
Practice (ABF*P) a£a result of
passing a recertification examina
tion offered by the ABFP. The
physician thus maintains specialist
status in the modical specialty of
family practice.
ABFP tfiplamate* must continue
to show proof of competence in the
field of comprehensive, continuing
care of the family by being re
certified every six years. Family
practice was the first medical spe
cialty to require diplomates to be
recertified on a continuing basis. -
The written examination is de
signed to prove the candidate’s
continuing competence in the basic
components of family practice -
internal medicine, surgery, ob
stetrics and gynecology, pediatrics,
psychiatry and neurology, and
community medicine. -
To qualify for certification ini
tially a physician must have suc
cessfully completed three years of
residency training, in family prac
tice and passed an intensive cer
tification examination. There are
some 378 residency , training pro
grams in teaching hospitals and
university medical centers across
the United States.
There now have been certified
Dr. Melvin Thomas Plan Jr.
.Family practice specialist
more than 29,000 diplomates in the
specialty. Most are members of the
American Academy of Family Phy
READ THE CHARLOTTE POST
For news about you and the
people you know. Call 376-0496.
sicians, the national association of
family doctors. The Academy was
the first national medical group to
require members to take continuing
study, and was chiefly responsible
for securing specialty status for
family practice.
I can't BEAR
to lot one week go by
without my
Charlotte Post.
To Subscribe
Call 376-0496
_..._
:•< ... " - . . ..
The new fal looks you*! love at a special sale price.
'
Sun. 14pm. ..,.1
ments for a master's degree in adult
education, Ford hopes to work with
the elderly.
"Senior citizens in this country are
getting a raw deal. I want very much
to change how the elderly are
perceived, and I would like to see
more programs created for them
instead of being cut.”
But Ford’s primary concern at the
moment is obtaining a master’s
degree.
“The more education you get, fhe
more you want,” she says. After I
get the master’s. I’m going to shoot
for the doctorate."
• I
- a once in a lifetime
|
experience
i
r
- a one of a kind
newspaper!
Call 376-0496
To Subscribe
223 East Blvd.
375-0592
PRE-INVENTORY
SALE
Discounted
20% - 75%
,< l No Layaways, Refunds or Exchanges
• Mon-Thurs 10-8 Pri & Sat 10-6
“9***mU *pvt. rftt GcMUtm*
*padu***
'%tAdf»Uct& - 'PImvcia tpOiU (fawn*
499
MEN’S FLANNEL
SHIRTS -
Regularly 5.99.
100% cotton plaid
flannel shirts with
2 pockets.
BOYS’ 4-18.4.44
WESTERN
JEANS
Regularly 8.99.
100% cotton denim
jeans. Sizes 29-38.
BOYS’ 4-18.5.99
QUAKER STATE
MOTOR OIL
Regularly 1.03.
Regular 30 or
HD30 motor oil.
Limit 5 quarts.
99*/
2 LITER COCA I
COLA PRODUCTS L
Choose from new I
Coke, Classic
Coke, diet Coke,
Cherry Coke or
Sprite. "
■ ___
,4
Regularly 39* Bar. Dial
deodorant eoap. Limit 6.
Regularly 1.63. 42 ounce
laundry detergent. Limit 2.
• CANDY
*3 OR GUM
J9?a Halloween
IFOR treats.
-|99
Assorted sizes
end designs.
Safe flame
retardant
material.
04AKAM ITBBBT
KMWfcST T»*0« JTBBBT
UH INOBBBNOg»C« H.VD
UH WILKINSON *LVO
m uj wcst t**o€ srlknr
UK SOUTH ivo.
'MO CtNTRAL
40M C N TR YON STRUT
SMS WILKINSON RLVO.
_aUJJ5JTARRJWg^ROA^