DECEMBER, 1963
THE BENNETT BANNER
Page Three
B. C. BEAT
People! Christmas is rapidly ap
proaching . . . how wonderful! Be
fore we begin to talk about the
ever so welcomed holiday, let’s
take a look at some past events.
The Annual Thanksgiving Ball
was held on Friday^ following
Thanksgiving. Those who attended
seemed to have had a wonderful
time — they liked the music and
the general atmosphere. Of course
our annual guests — the More
house Men — were here. The More
house Glee Club was presented in
concert preceding the Ball. The
concert was well done as usual and
the audience enjoyed it as the
group gave each song everything
that they had.
The visit of Dr. and Mrs. Ken
neth I. Brown was indeed a rich
one. They were a golden asset to
our campus for a month because
they had that imique aspect ol
sincerity in all of their contacts.
The whole school family became
attached to them. We all thrilled
at Dr. Brown's gift of oratory and
his knack of always finding ap
propriate words. We hated to see
him and Mrs. Brown leave.
One particular speech of Dr.
Brown’s will linger in my thoughts.
This is the one on “hope” present
ed on the occasion of the memorial
service held in memory of our late
President John F. Kennedy. Dr.
Brown reminded us that nothing is
certain for anyone.
I need not say much about the
tragic death of Mr. Kennedy. Our
students mourned him deeply as
did the world. We lost a great
friend and leader. He was youth
ful and his ideas and methods
were new and energetic. The Ken
nedy family not only revolution
ized the image of the '“First Fam
ily” but they epitomized the ideal
American family.
Quite a few visitors were on our
campus for the Thanksgiving
weekend. Some of these were Mrs.
Margaret Erchart of the Class of
1961. Misses Mary Lane, Sonja
Green, Bonita Davis, and Carol
Martin. Guests from Howard Uni
versity were Miss Anne Amos, a
former Bennett girl and Miss
Maxine Griffin, guest of Miss
Phyllis Strong. Mrs. Allean Cut
ler and her daughter, Blanche,
visited Claraleata Cutler. Miss Pat
Mixon had a guest from Yale.
Congratulations to Marcia John
son on her recent engagement.
Vicki Douglas, please accept my
humble apologies for omitting
your name among those who went
“over” the Delta line this summer.
Now a look toward Christmas.
Our vacation begins on Dec. 20.
Christmas is such a beautiful and
exciting time of the year. I be
lieve that those who don’t have
snow during the holidays are be
ing cheated. It’s a lovely sight to
behold the lights falling and re
flecting on the snow at night. One
cannot help but feel good inside
from experiencing such an event.
In all of our celebrating let’s not
forget the real connotation of this
holiday.
In our college community Christ
mas began early with the presenta
tion of the “Living Madonnas” and
the Annual Choir Concert. See you
next year!! Have a Happy, Won
derful and Merry Christmas!!
NEWS IN BRIEF
An article toy Charles I. Brown,
assistant professor of education at
Bennett College and Thomas G.
Edwards of the Social Science de
partment at Coahomo Junior Col
lege will be included in a book of
readings tentatively entitled “Prin
ciples and Practices of Teaching In
Secondary Schools.”
This book is being compiled toy
Dr. Florence H. Lee of the Grad
uate School of Education, Rutgers
University and is scheduled for
1964 publication by the Donald Mc
Kay Publishing Company.
On December 4 interested per
sons of Dr. Norniella’s Spanish
classes presented a program in
chapel. The girls sang many famil
iar songs in Spanish as well as
two linfamiliar ones — Los tres
Santos Reyes and Hacia Belen.
Christmas festivities were enjoy
ed by m'Bmbers of Omicron Eta Chi,
their dates and friends at their
annual Christmas Party held on
Friday, December 13 in the Stu
dent Union. Entertainment con
sisted of dancing, cards, and re
freshments.
Benneit Frosh
Resided In Japan
One of the outstanding features
of Bennett College is its diversity
of students, and the diversity of
their experiences. An example of
such is that of freshman Sylena E,
Lester.
Sylena was able to live in Japan
for one year and eleven months
prior to her joining the Bennett
Family. Sylena made this trip to
Japan along with her family aftei
her father who is in the U. S. Air
Force was stationed at Itazuke A$ii
Force Base.
Sylena says that she attendee
school at the American school foi
military, civilian, and missionary
dependents. Though she went to ai.
American school she had manj
Japanese friends, some of her age
and others older.
“My closest friends” she said
“were those that I taught Englisl,
conversation to at Minomi Hospit
al.” Most of the students that she
taught were in their first or secona
year of nurses training and somt
of them came to classes excep;
when they had emergencies or
medical conventions.
When asked about teen life and
differences between Japanese and
American teenagers, Sylena said
that the greatest difference is that
the Japanese teenagers stay closer
to home and their families are
closer. They do not go against the
wishes of their parents until twen
ty-one years of age. There is no
“night dating.” Most dating is done
in the evening.
Sylena said “that by knowing the
Japanese, I had the privilege of
going to many places of amuse
ment, and a few of their most in
teresting cities such as Nagaski,
Kyoto, Asaka, Tokyo, and Kokaka-
mo. Most of all, I enjoyed eating
with tJiem in their homes and
restuarants where the food was
most tasty and different.”
Sylena’s parents and sisters, (four
younger ones) are still in Japan.
She came back to attend Bennett,
because she had already been ac
cepted here and she was advised
oy her parents to return to the
United States, where she is now
living with her grandparents in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
mijses Lilia Alphonse and Sara Birmingham are shown as they ap
peared on a Talent Show Nov. 16 sponsored by the International Rela
tions Club. The young ladies sang “Para ti”.
BENNETT COLLEGE
FACULTY PROFILE
Dr. Elizabeth Laizner was born
in Vienna, Austria. She is the
daughter of a lawyer in the Civil
Service and her mother is a Ro
man Catholic although she comes
of a Jewish family. Her father died
when she was in her early teens.
Dr. Laizner had been active with
Anti-Nazi students groups. Cath
olic Students’ organizations, etc.
since she was sixtee years old.
She attended school in Vienna
^nd studied for her doctorate de
gree at the University of Vienna.
3ihe received her doctorate in clas-
-ical archeology and history. She
had also taken an earlier degree
in five languages — Greek, Latin, i
French, German, and English. After
finishing the required courses. Dr.
Laizner went to England to pre
pare for her sissertation and short
ly after — she returned to Austria,
her country was invaded by the
Nazis.
After the invasion of Austria her
brother was obliged to flee the
country for political reasons. Al
though the writing of the disserta
tion and the preparation for the
doctorate exam usually takes sev
eral years, she was obliged to com
plete her studies in one year. Some
times she worked all through the
night in order to graduate. Con
sequently, she received her doc
torate degree at the unusually early
age of twenty-three in the spring
of 1939. She left her country short
ly after her graduation.
For a few months, Dr. Laizner
lived in French Switzerland and
then went to France. In France
she joined others who were work
ing against the Nazis and was also
a private tutor of German for uni
versity students. After a brief stay
in Portugal, after the faU ol
France, she came to America.
In New York City Dr. Laizner
was a jack-of-all trades and held
all kinds of positions from a nurse
maid to a tutor. While in New York
she became a citizen of the United
States of America.
In 1961 she came to Bennett as
an instructor whose field of con
centration is French and German.
Since the fall of 1962, Dr. Laizner
has actively participated in the
I program at the local chapter of the
I Congress of Racial Equality. She
has been jailed four times.
Having fought discrimination all
her life, it was only natural for
her to join C.O.R.E. She loves
America — her adopted home just
as an adopted child usually loves
its adopted parents.
' In her few years at Bennett she
has been very happy and has en
joyed her teaching experience
1 here.
SOCIETY INDUCTS TEN
A scene at the Annual White Breakfast held on Thanksgiving morning. The Morehouse College Glee
Club rendered two selections.
Ten young ladies have been in
ducted into one of the campus’
leading honor societies, Alpha Kap
pa Mu. The selection for member-
hip in Alpha Kappa Mu is based
on academic achievement. A stu
dent majoring in any field of in
terest may be eligible for member
ship in Alpha Kappa Mu, provided
that she has the required scholastic
average. Membership may be at
tained as early as the junior year.
This semester, four juniors and
six seniors qualified for member
ship. They are Misses Lilia Al
phonse, Brenda Greene, Bertha
Stokely, Catherine Bounds, Patricia
Corry, Marie Nwanze, Wilma Giles,
Joyce Dunn, Emma Brown, and
, Julianah Ajani.