A Great Experience ARCHIVES
tiennett College
Ten Students Return from Co-Op
by “Kool-Aid” Bartley
One of the major features of
Bennett College throughout the
years has been its commitment to
treating students as individuals
while attempting to individualize
instruction to the fullest extent
that its resources would permit.
One of the main features to en
rich the experiences of Bennett
Belles is the Cooperative Educa
tion Program. This option is ad
ministered by Mrs. Mae Nash, Di
rector Of the Career Service Cen
ter. The cooperative education
may be in the form of a work
study program, an internship, or
field study for one or two semes
ters. Under special arrangement,
students on co-op may also en
gage in independent study on their
own time for extra credits.
Last semester ten students
were on co-op. Although students
had many different experiences,
one thing was clear, that the co
op experience was indeed a
learning one and enabled them to
meet the challenges of technologi
cal and social change.
Karen Ferguson, a sophomore,
chemistry major from Charleston,
South Carolina, resided in San
Diego, California and had what
she described to be “the best ex
perience I have ever had.” Karen
worked at the Naval Material
Command. Her duties included
testing fuel for ships and Naval
vehicles. Karen found herself in
an all-white, male environment.
She was the youngest and the
only black female. Karen com
mented, “You have to learn how
to work in an all-male and white
environment, but most of all you
have to learn to work with people
in general.”
Althuogh Karen worked eight
hours a day she found time to
enjoy herself socially, which was
also a part of the learning ex
perience. “I had the opportunity
to visit Mexico, which is a neigh
bor to California. It was interest
After she makes it up the hill
.. she still has these steps to go!
Photos by Joyce Bass
New NAACP Chapter lo Be Organized
by Lennet Hill
Would you like to be a mem
ber of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple (NAACP)? If you would, the
opportunity to join is coming up
soon.
Vanessa “Kool-Aid” Bartley is
the temporary president; Rose
Hudson is the temporary secre
tary; and Barbara Hamm is the
temporary treasurer.
In the near future there is go
ing to be a membership drive. Stu
dents will be asked to pay a mem
bership fee of $2; faculty and staff
will be asked to pay a member
ship fee of $4. At least 25 mem
bers are needed to start an NAACP
chapter. After 25 members have
joined, permanent officers for the
year will be elected. “Kool-Aid”
said, “I hope everyone on campus
will become a member.”
The NAACP is a service organi
zation. The members of the
NAACP would participate in civil
rights actions, community ad
vancement, citizenship training,
and leadership development.
“Kool-Aid” said, “I hope the
NAACP chapter here will be or
ganized by Feb. 12, so that we
may send our officers to the
Youth Division Training session
in Charlotte.”
She added that she would also
like for the officers to attend the
National Convention usually held
in the spring.
Rose Hudson, the temporary
secretary, has been affiliated with
the NAACP for about 6 years. She
lias served as the president of the
local branch in South Carolina
and many other offices. She has
also attended 3 national confer
ences.
Rose said, “While being affili
ated with the NAACP I have
learned a lot about politics and
civil rights.” She would like for
every student to become a mem
ber so that we may have an ac
tive chapter at Bennett.
Rose is already a member of the
NAACP and she is going to have
her membership changed to Ben
nett’s chapter once it is estab
lished.
ing to observe two different cul
tures. So many things were dif
ferent, even the trees!” She also
took time out of her busy sched
ule to join the San Diego Modern
Dance Company in which she was
the only black. Karen described
both her work and social life as
“a rewarding, motivating chal
lenge.”
Marilyn Hicks, a junior I.S.P.
major with a concentration in
biology from Columbus, Georgia,
made Vicksburg, Mississippi her
home for a semester. Marilyn
worked with the United States
Fish & Wildlife Services. Some of
her duties and responsibilities in
cluded assisting in review, com
pilation and reorganization of the
field office biological information
library and assisting in field in
vestigations to determine current
fish population and yields and the
effects upon these of proposed
projects which are designed for
flood control.
Marilyn said, “My field is a
male field. There were only two
women in the office that I worked
in and those two women were sec
retaries. This did not present
itself as a real problem since I
dare to be different.” When asked
if she would recommend co-op
for other students, Marilyn said,
“I would because it gives them a
chance to determine whether or
not the field they are interested
in is open or closed.” When asked
what she learned other than her
job experience she said, “I gained
self-respect and most of all I gain
ed independence.” She went on to
add with a smile, “I wish some-
■one would teach me how to man
age money. That was indeed a
challenge.”
Before Marilyn went on co-op
she had a chance to attend a six-
week training period sponsored by
the National Wildlife Service for
minority students. This training
program was held in Tennessee.
Vanessa ’ Massenburg and Dale
Jefferson, both juniors, worked at
the Environmental P r o t e c -
tion Agency, Research Triangle
Park in Durham, North Carolina.
Vanessa, a biology major from
Wake Forest, North Carolina, had
several comments to make about
her experiences: “I worked as a
physical chemist in the depart
ment of toxicology on pesticides
and I also worked with different
types of carcinogens. When asked
would she relive this experience,
she said, “Definitely. If I were
given another chance I would
take advantage of it. I found this
to be very beneficial to me and
conducive to my personal and
social well-being. I gained a lot
of experience, but most of all I
learned how to work better with
other people.”
Kathleen Clark, Kaye Brim-
mage, Beverly Randolph and
Katie Gailes set up house in
Framingham, Massachusetts. Each
of these young ladies was affili
ated with the Liberty Mutual In-
(Continued on Page 3)
Friday, January 28, 1977 BENNETT COLLEGE, GREENSBORO, N. G.
VoL XXXVlll, No. 6
Teacher Education Worlcshop Features Murchison
The annual Teacher Education
Banquet-Workshop was held on
the evening of December 1, 1976
at the Golden Eagle Motor Inn
and was attended by over 150
participants — student teachers,
cooperating teachers, and Bennett
College faculty members.
The student teachers in attend
ance included: Kimble B. An
thony, Diane Black, Shyrell D.
Brooks, Barbara G. Brown, Donna
S. Brown, Cathy Burton, Demetria
J. Chavis, Stephanie Y. Cherry,
Linda P. Christopher, Constance
L. Davenport, Donna H. Dennis,
Mary D. Dubrey, Wanda E. Ed
wards, Mary S. Foster, Mary F.
Gamble, Gail D. George.
Patricia Goings, Laura G. Good
man, Gilda Y. Hackett, Mary L.
Hemphill, Gaynell L. Hendricks,
Sherrie A. Hill, Portia J. Hooper,
Sandra L. Johnson, Cynthia A.
Jones, Linda C. Kennedy, Mary J.
Lewis, Brenda D. Lilly, Janet R.
McCoy, Carmen D. Miles, Angela
M. Moore, Angie L. Moultrie,
Gladys A. Odom, Joy Person, Del-
phia A. Saunders, Hester Scott,
Virginia C. Siler, Linda K. Thomp
son, Darius R. Wagstaff, Sheila E.
West, Nicki L. Woods, and Roslyn
F. Thompson.
The keynote speaker was Ruby
Murchison, National Teacher of
the Year. Mrs. Murchison, who
teaches seventh grade language
arts and social studies at Wash
ington Drive Junior High School
in Fayetteville, North Carolina,
graduated Magna Cum Laude
from A & T State University. She
later received her masters degree
from A & T State University, and
has done further study at the Uni
versity of Maryland, East Caro
lina University, and the Univer
sity of Connecticut.
Among her many honors are in
cluded: North Carolina Teacher of
the Year; recognition in the Out
standing Teachers in Exceptional
Education Yearbook, NAACP
Achievement Award, A & T State
University Chancellor’s Citation,
and a USOE grant to study and
travel in West Africa.
In her address, “Education for
the 21st Century,” Mrs. Murchison
predicted that the task of educa
tion is going to become more sig
nificant than ever before, and
warned that there is no time for
relaxed inattention on the part of
educators. Mrs. Murchison also
noted that the young people in the
schools today will live in an en
vironment that is radically differ
ent from the one we know, and
stressed the importance of pre
paring our students for the future
by helping them to discover their
own learning styles.
Following Mrs. Murchison’s ad-
sions moderated by Jimmy Faison
of the Department of Elementary
and Special Education. Faison was
dress, Mary J. Crawford, Bennett
College Music Department, di
rected three of her students, Thel
ma Robinson, Ellen Warren, and
Angel Bloodworth in excerpts
from Mozart’s “The Marriage of
Figaro.” These three students de
livered excellent performances of
their roles.
The evening was concluded by
brainstorming and evaluation ses
sions moderated by Jimmy Faison
of the Department of Elementary
and Special Education. Faison was
(Continued on page 4)
I- .-iT
\
Mrs. Ruby Murchison, 1976 National Teacher of the Year
Photo by Myra Davis
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