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Vol. XI No. 4
WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA
May, 1978
Pamela Blackstock
The New Miss W.S.S.U.
On April 13, 1978, the student
body of Winston-Salem State
University held its annual
election for Miss WSSU. On
Friday April 14, Miss Pamela
Blackstock was elected to reign
as Miss WSSU.
Pamela hails from Madison,
N.C. She is 20 years old, and is
bom under the astrological sign
of Sagittarius. She is a rising
Senior and her major is Early
ChUdhood Education. Her hob
bies are Tennis, Bowling, Music
and Reading all types of
literature.
At present, she is a member of
the Phi Delta Kappa Sorority,
which is a Sorority open to all
education majors. She is a
member of the National Honor
Society, she was chosen Who’s
Who Among Students in
American Universities and
Colleges and she was also a
nominee for the National Dean’s
List 1977-78. She is also a member
of the Marching Rams. Up until
her election as Miss WSSU, Miss
Blackstock reigned as Miss
Junior.
In the future. Miss Blackstock
hopes to help alleviate some of
the problems of the young black
minds by starting on the kin
dergarten level.
As Miss WSSU, Pamela’s
duties will be to reside at the
Official School Representatives,
attend all football and basketball
games, attend banquets as a
guest speaker and attend Alumni
Unity Day which is held annually.
She will also be active in the
community, as well as on cam
pus. When invited she will attend
other University homecomings.
She will also put together the
1978-79 Coronation Ball. Finally,
Miss Blackstock will sponsor
some projects of her choice.
I am sure Miss Blackstock has
a full and exciting year ahead of
her, and will do a wonderful job
reigning as Miss Winston-Salem
State University. So from the
University Family,
congratulations and May God
bless you.
Reporter; Shara Burt
86th Commencement Speaker
W.S.S. U. Graduates
1st Male Nurse
Dr. Charles H. Smith, associate
director of fellowship programs,
Rockefeller Foundation, will
deliver the commencement
address at Winston-Salem State
University’s 86th Annual Com
mencement Exercises.
Dr. Smith, a former assistant
to the U.S. Commissioner of
Education, has served in a
consulting capacity with federal
government agencies including
the White House during the
Johnson administration. He has
also been a consultant to
numerous corporations including
Xerox, Education Systems
Division; Westinghouse,
Technical Training Division; and
Litton Industries, Education
Systems Division.
Recognized as a leader in the
field of higher education, Dr.
Smith was selected Educator of
the Year by the National Alliance
of Black Educators in 1975.
An addition to this year’s
commencement program is the
conferring of special honors.
Mrs. Fannie Williams, chairman
of the University Convocations
Committee, explains, “The
University will recognize those
individuals who have made
significant contributions to the
institution’s growth and
development and who have
provided distinguished leader
ship in higher education.”
Dr. Francis L. Atkins,
president from 1934-1961 of what
was then Winston-Salem
Teachers College, and Dr.
Kenneth R. Williams, who retired
as chancellor last year, will
receive emeriti status.
Commencement exercises will
beheld on Sunday, May 14 at 3:00
p.m. in The Winston-Salem
Memorial Coliseum. The public is
invited to attend the ceremonies.
To date there are approximately
400 degree candidates.
During the Crimean War,
Florence Nightingale stunned
many people when she left her
home in England to care for the
wounded at the front. Nursing
after all, was men’s work.
A little more than a century
later, virtually all nurses are
women, and nursing is con
sidered by many to be woman’s
work.
But Sunday, Gilbert Hill will
become one of the exceptions.
That’s the day he will graduate
from the Winston-Salem State
University School of Nursing. He
will be the school’s first male
graduate.
“It all started out as a dream,”
Hill said in a recent interview,
flashing a quick smile. “But I
struggled through.”
Sitting on a coach in the lounge
at his dormitory. Hill looks more
like a football player than a
soother of fevered brows. But his
voice and manner are gentle, and
he responds with a smile and a
wave when students walk by and
greet him by his nickname,
“Nurse.”
Hill said his interest in nursing
started at home in New Bern
where he was the oldest of 10
children. His cousin, who is a
nurse and friends encouraged
him to t^ke up nursing.
“I felt l>ashful at first,” Hill
said. His women classmates,
however, put him at ease, he
said.
“They think it’s a fantastic
thing,” he said. “I broke thr^h
a barrier, I hope will soon open
doors for other men to enter
nursing.
'it’s just like a woman who
becomes a construction worker
or something: like women’s
liberation, only vice versa.”
Working with patients has
caused very few problems,” he
said. Few patients rejected him
because he was a man, and he
“didn’t have a bit of a problem”
when he worked in obstetrics
during training, the one area
where he thought he might have
trouble.
There were doubts in his mind
that he would make it only once,
and that was last week. “I took an
exam Wednesday, and we got our
grades Thursday. Wednesday
night 1 just paced the floor," Hill
said.
Hill worked during the summer
and part time during the school
year as a patient care aide at
Baptist Hospital. In addition to
his studies, he was vice president
of his dormitory, a dormitory
counselor and president of the
Student Nurses Association -
District 5.
Hill will start his first job soon
in Baltimore. MD. He will be a
nurse in the intensive-care unit at
Provident Hospital and will be
one of the hospital’s five male
nurses.
“I like intensive care. You find
a lot of things you normally
wouldn’t see on a regular floor,”
he said. “There’s more
responsibility.”
Read Inside
Poetry Corner P« 2
The Disco Scene P. 2
Fareweil From Editors P. 2
Student Reaction To Joann Little P. 3
Dr. Joseph Patterson Memorial P. 3
O'Kelly Library P. 3
Organizational News P. 4
Communications Conference P. 5
Bubbling Brown Sugar Review P. 6
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