The Compass
Friday, May 9, 2003 3
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Teacher of the Year
DeTra Stith
Co-Editor
depot9@hotmail.com
Since 1970, Dr. Venus
Deonanan has been teaching at
Elizabeth City State University, and
now after 32 and a half years, she
has been awarded Teacher of the
Year, by her faculty members. She
hasn’t always been in the position
she is now, she had to work her way
up the teaching ladder. She at
tended Utah State University and
Southern Illinois University where
she earned her bachelor’s degree in
Spanish. She then attended South
ern Illinois University for her master’s
degree in Spanish. She received her
doctorate degree from Union Gradu
ate School and did her dissertation
on “Teaching Spanish in the Second
ary School in Trinidad, West Indies.”
Dr. Deonanan started teaching
in Moore Hall, with only cassette
players to work with, but then they
finished the renovations of Johnson
Hall and she moved to that building.
A new state -of the- art foreign lan
guage lab was built and it was then
easier to teach Spanish.
“In my high school years when I
was growing up in my country
Trinidad, West Indies, it was then that
mM
Photo from Dept, of LLC
I developed a love for the language
of Spanish.”
Dr. Deonanan was required to
take 4 years of Spanish and French,
in high school, and that inspired her
to want to teach Spanish. She now
teaches Spanish I and II, Intermedi
ate Spanish I and II, and Survey of
Spanish Literature I and II. In Sur
vey of Spanish Literature she
stresses that the course covers vari
ous time periods, various writers, and
works that they have produced.
“I enjoy teaching here, and the
interaction with the faculty,” said Dr.
Deonanan.
Dr. Deonanan says that she is
dedicated to teaching her students,
and when she is away from her stu
dents, she can’t wait to get back to
them.
“I wasn’t surprised when I found
out because I thought that I deserved
it for the good work I’ve done,” said
Deonanan.
The luncheon where she will be
honored and awarded $7,500, along
with the other award recipients from
the other 15 constituents, will be held
on May 9. Her family will accompany
her, which will include her husband
Dr. Carlton Deonanan, her sons Karl,
and Joel, her daughter Carleena, her
daughter-in-law Tiffany, and her
granddaughter Abigail.
There are times when
Deonanan says she feels extra spe
cial-like when she sees one of her
former students in the community.
“People come up to me all the
time, and ask me if I remember
them,” said Deonanan.
She also said that sometimes it
may seem like a student is not lis
tening to what she may offer them in
a course at the time, but later when
she may run into them somewhere,
they seem to have benefited from
what she offered. She says she
never gives up on her students, be
cause she sees that in the end they
appreciate her.
COMPASS
STAFF
WANTED
If you are inter
ested in writing, en
joy woricing witii
peopie, have some
computer skills, want
to be artistic or if you
are good at organiz
ing, you would be
perfect for the Com
pass Staff. We are
looking for you!
CONTACT
Detra Stith
Kymber Taylor
or
Susan Correll-
Hankinson
at
335-3711
THE COMPASS MOVES IN A NEW DIRECTION
KerryAnn Cumming
Staff Reporter
Elizabeth City State University’s
student newspaper. The Compass,
was run by are own chief editor, An
tonio Barrow, who has worked with
the paper two years before his reign.
Sadly to say, he will be graduating
this May.
Next year, The Compass w\\\ be
run by an all female staff: DeTra Stith,
Kymber Taylor, and Susan Correll-
Hankinson. Questions are circling
around on campus about whether or
not these three women will be able
to carry on the torch left behind, by
Mr. Barrow. Kymber Taylor said that
she believes they will be able to carry
on the torch, because they can split
the workload between them so it
won’t be as stressful. Antonio Bar
row handled most of the editing and
layout responsibilities personally.
The women said that they be
lieve next year the The Compass will
be totally different from this year. For
example, there will be more inter
views and they want next year’s lay
out to be more readable and attrac
tive to the students. Basically have a
more professional tone. They plan to
run more advertising, providing the
funds for more features and colored
pictures.
“Whatever the paper lacked in
this year we are hoping to strengthen
for next year so that the quality of
the paper will go up not down,” DeTra
Stith said.
Most students here at ECSU be
lieve that the topics will be more con
troversial because it’s coming from
women’s points of view. But when
talking to Stith, Taylor and Correll-
Hankinson they assured me that the
topics that are chosen will pertain to
the students here at ECSU because
The Compass is for the student body,
and they will do everything in there
power to satisfy their readers. They
want The Compass to be represen
tative of the students and what they
want to know, whether it is social,
world or personal issues. The future
editors plan to expand their staff to
include representatives from all ma
jors because every department has
something that they can contribute
to the paper.
When I spoke to the women,
they assured me that their age dif
ference would not cause a conflict
between them.
Susan Correll-Hankinson, a
non-traditional student, said that age
doesn’t matter. She believes that
she’ll put a different twist on it, be
cause she will be bringing more life
experiences into decisions that are
made.
Kymber Taylor, a rising senior
majoring in English and Psychology,
said that they wouldn’t have conflicts
due to the age differences because
they’re diverse. “AH three of us have
different backgrounds and this will
bring in unique experiences for us.”
DeTra Stith, a rising senior ma
joring in English, said that she
doesn’t believe that it will be a con
flict working with them because she
gets along with them and they con
nect. As an example she said that
she’ll start a sentence and Susan
will finish it. “It will be positive for us
to bring different ideas in and better
decisions can be made” She said
In 2003-2004 The Compass will
continue to carry on its tradition of
informing the faculty, students and
staff here at ECSU.
SCHOLARSHIP JOURNEY
continued frorri pg1
“I could depend on Incentive
Scholar students to come to work regu
larly,” said Kathy Turner, the Technical
Services Librarian at G.R. Little Library.
She said that one student per semes
ter would work a minimum of eight
hours a week in her department. “Dur
ing those hours the student would take
care of work that is normally set aside
and caught up on later. It was a tremen
dous help.” Students did work such as
add copies into the computer, process
newly bound periodicals and newly
cataloged books and file shelf list cards.
ECSU students work throughout
the community in various non-profit or
ganizations. Suzette Owens from the
financial aid department said that stu
dents in the Incentive Scholar Program
had worked for the Elizabeth City Boys
and Girls Club and the Elizabeth City/
Pasquotank County Public School Dis
trict.
The ECSU Board of Trustees
has defined goals and guidelines for the
UNC Campus Scholarship for under
graduates. There are some changes
to the eligibility requirements for the new
program. One change is that the en
trance eligibility for freshmen includes
a final cumulative high school grade
point average not less than 2.5. Previ
ously freshman were required to gradu
ate in the top 50 percent of their class.
Information on these changes is avail
able through the Financial Aid Office.
continued from pg1
Professors have made a strong
impact on the lives of many seniors.
One professor had a big impact
on how Kerry Ann Cummings viewed
not only her college career, but also
her life after college.
“Journalism was my favorite
class because of Mr. Branch. When I
got here I was still young-minded and
playful and he pushed me and made
me realize I have to work hard for
what I want and that life is what you
make it and nobody is going to give
you anything. If I get the opportunity
to work in a news station I will know
how to write a lead, put a story to
gether, and edit. Mr. Branch taught
me how to do all of that,” Cummings
said.
The road to success for the
graduating seniors is still being
paved. New friendships and relation
ships will be created. There will be
hardships in the future, but there will
also be rewards. For some, just get
ting into college or getting the oppor
tunity to go to college was a reward
in itself. While this chapter comes to
an end their journey continues. Good
luck.
^ THE COMPASS STAFF ^
I WOULD LIKE TOI
I CONGRATULATE THEI
^ MAY GRADUATES! I