DAY,
from page 1
kept climbing in faith. Slaved,
ambitious and gifted...his legacy is
far too great to celebrate once a
year."
The keynote address for
Founder's Day was given by the
Honorable Lyons Gray, a six-term
member of the North Carolina
House of Representatives. The
theme to Gray's address was lega
cy. "I want to speak especially to
class of 2006, because what I'm
about to say, your brothers and sis
ters in this room already know. I
want to speak about legacy and
more importantly what we leam
from legacy," said Gray.
"The brightest days lay straight
ahead for WSSU. If the students
take away anything from here
today, let it be a sense of the past,
and an appreciation of the risks
and sacrifices so many took so that
you could be here today."
Gray described the atmosphere
of the latter 19th century, the peri
od during which Dr. Atkins was
forming Slater's Academy. A white
racist revolution had broken out
in Winston Salem, leaving Atkins
to carry a lot of weight on his
shoulders as he prepared to take
on admirable endeavors. Gray said
that as Atkins did the right,
unpopular thing rather than the
easy thing, his courage was dis
played.
As Gray wrapped up his
address, he left the students of
WSSU with a "profound chal
lenge" that Dr. Atkins probably
took on himself.
"These three questions are meant
to entice. You should ask yourself
'who am I?', 'why am I here?' and
'where am 1 going?'. If you can
answer these three questions truth
fully, you can live with any deci
sion you make."
It is because of Simon Green
Atkins' dream that WSSU students
are capable of playing the roles
that they do all over the world,
according to Student Government
Association president, Kristie
Swink.
"I think the importance of
Founder's Day is simply that
Simon Green Atkins had a vision.
Today we're that living vision and
we continue to be as WSSU
grows."
Dr. Melvin N. Johnson, Vice-
Chancellor, reiterated the impor
tance of this university holiday.
"By far 1 think WSSU has so
many great reconnections to the
past allowing us to celebrate vision
and forethought of a man like
Simon Green Atkins," he said.
Correction
In the September 2002 issue of
The Nexus Argus, we mistakenly
identified Emmanuel Akah as
Emmanual Sakah. We apologize
for the inaccuracy.
Stcv0 Waddy^s travels to Ghana
made a lasting impression on him
By Constance Hyman
ARGUS REPORTER
Steve Waddy, a senior history
major from Columbia, Md.,
studied abroad during the
spring semester of 2002 in
Ghana, with the help of Dr.
Olasope Oyelaran and the
International Student Exchange
Program based in Washington,
D.C.
Waddy chose Ghana because
of the great historical reference
and the fact that many African-
Americans have Ghanaian
ancestry. Also, Ghana was the
place of death of W.E.B. Dubois,
an American writer.
To some, the mere thought of
traveling outside of their home
town to come to college was
frightening enough; just imagine
all of the emotional, physical,
and spiritual preparation that it
would take to travel across the
Atlantic ocean to a totally differ
ent continent.
Waddy said, "Emotionally I
was ready to seek a new sur
rounding, and I had no time to
be skeptical."
However, the physical prepa
ration was a different story. He
said that he had to get four shots
and take pills to protect himself
from malaria the entire time he
was in Ghana and weeks after
he arrived back in America.
Educationally, he did research
at the University of Ghana in
Legone, where he studied dur
ing that semester.
Waddy said he wished that he
would have talked to both some
one who had studied abroad
before and someone from Africa
to get a good background and
foundation for his travels.
Waddy, along with the about
60 other students, lived in tradi
tional dormitories and partici
pated in traditional studies.
It is common in America for
race to be a barrier amongst its
people but in Ghana, Waddy
said, language was the barrier.
"If you were fluent in the lan
guage of Twi, a lot of barriers
were broken."
Waddy is still studying the
language. One thing that sticks
out in his mind about the culture
in Ghana was the European
influence. Because Europe had a
great deal of control, a lot of the
products the people used and
places they shopped and even
banked with had European
influence.
American culture is also popu
lar in Ghana, Waddy said. The
students listened to popular
music from America, they would
download BET on their comput
ers and watch "bootlegged"
movies.
He also visited some remark
able places during his stay in
Ghana. He visited the slave cas
tles in Elmina. He remembers
the keen scent of slaves and the
sight of blood on the walls and
Photo courtesy of Steve Waddy
While in Ghana, Steve Waddy
saw a beautiful waterfall and this
lake.
the students feeling a sense of
sorrow and pain. He also visited
the slave fort called
Grossfriedrichsburg. The stu
dents spent a weekend in Hohoe
at the VVli waterfall, which he
described as the most beautiful
and remarkable site.
"Being in Ghana brought back
a sense of reality," said Waddy.
"I had to change my conde
scending views about people in
reference to my perception of the
North versus the South in
American culture."
He said that Ghana also taught
him to appreciate and take
advantage of all of the opportu
nities he has in America because
after talking to the people of
Ghana he realized how much
better off people are when they
appreciate what they have.
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«eooi
^ The News Araus
Keith Caesar
Editor-in-Chief
Nicole Ferguson
Managing Editor
Ciaresa Simmons
News Editor
iUlaria Singleton
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j SafarlJefferies
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Anthony t. Nelson, Tanisha
Biakeney, Ck>nstance Hyman,
Zadc James, Janell J. Lewis
> and George Croom
. > Photography
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' Reshlka Ranseur
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