VOL. 8, NO. 12
North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, N.C.
MONDAY, MAY 3,1993
Graduation scheduled for Saturday
North Carolina Wesleyan College's annual
graduation exercises will be held this Saturday
on the college front lawn.
The day will begin with a complimentary
continental breakfast for graduates and parents
scheduled from 8-10 a.m. in the cafeteria.
Candidates for graduation will assemble to
line up for the procession at 9 a.m. at the SAC.
The North Carolina Wesleyan music depart
ment will present a concert at 9:45 a.m. before
the ceremony, and the procession of graduates
will get under way at 10:30 a.m.
No guest speaker was invited for the cer
emony. Remarks wiU be given by Senior Class
President David 0‘Neill.
On Friday night, at 7 p.m. in the chapel, a
baccalaureate service will be held for graduates.
Graduation will cap a busy week for Wes
leyan students. Classes ended last week and
final exams begin today, continuing through
Thursday.
NEWLY FORMED GOSPEL CHOIR PERFORMS EASTER MESSAGE BEFORE SPRING.
New Gospel Choir enjoys
harmonious start as group
By KIMBERLY CURSEEN
On Oct. 23, the newly formed
Gospel Choir met in the chapel
with 12 members. The Choir has
grown since then, and has become
a student organization.
The Choir, directed by its
founder Chynna Bonner, debuted
in the cafeteria The debut con
cert was entitled ‘Thank you
Lord” in celebration of Thanks
giving.
The choir has attended and per
formed in several Rocky Mount
churches since its founding. The
choir was also featured in this
year’s Contemporary Arts Festi
val. Bonner received the Reli
gious Life Award for efforts in
starting and maintaining the choir.
and the Choir received the Stu
dent Organization of the Year
Award. The Choir now maintains
a membership of 18 people.
Rev. Kirk Oldham, one of the
Choir’s advisors, has great respect
and support for the Choir and the
efforts of Bonner. He said, “When
she presented the idea, I was skep
tical that she (Bonner) could get
the students to do it....she lias done
it, and it is a great addition to the
religious life of this campus. It
gives the students another me
dium to express their faith
through.”
About Bonner Oldham said,
“She is not doing this for herself;
she is doing this to profess her
faith. She has worked very hard
for the Choir. She has made it
Pell grants
face more
cutbacks
clear that this is just not an Afro-
American organization, but that
it is open to all people.”
When she came to college,
Bonner decided that she wanted
to sing Gospel music. She sang
in high school and toured with
the Yale Gospel Choir for a year.
When she learned about Wes-
leyan’s extracurricular activities,
Bonner was surprised to discover
that the school did not have a
Choir. Before entering Wesleyan,
she proposed the idea to Oldham
about forming a Gospel Choir.
Bonner stresses that she wants
the Choir to be a source of spiri
tual upliftment. She says, “We
are singing for God.” She said
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By DEBORAH MITCHELL
Major changes in the federal
Pell Grant program may cost hun
dreds of thousands of students
their grants, forcing them to leave
college or shoulder more debt.
"This is going to affect sm-
dents already in the worst situa
tions," said Laurent Ross, a re
search associate with the Ameri
can Council on Education. "Many
of these students will have to bor
row more money or drop out of
school."
Some of the nation's neediest
students, already hurt by a Pell
Grant cut earlier this year, now
face further reductions as a result
of revisions to federal student fi
nancial aid programs. About 26
percent, or 1.2 million students,
who receive Pell Grant awards
will lose them entirely or have
the grants cut by more than $ 100,
Ross said. The changes may also
affect some Wesleyan students,
many of whom also receive Pell
Grants.
Although last year's changes
in the Higher Education Act af
fect all financial assistance pro
grams, the new laws, which are
in effect for the 1993-94 academic
year, come down hardest on cer
tain groups of undergraduate stu-
drats who receive Pell Grants.
"It's a disaster," Ross said.
"Students who used to get the Pell
Grants are finding the grants re
duced drastically or cut entirely
— and these are the students you
want to get the grants. These are
the poorest of the poor."
The Pell Grant program was
designed to help financially needy
undergraduate students meet the
costs of their education by pro
viding them with direct financial
assistance. The awards are calcu
lated using a formula that deter
mines how much income students
and their families can afford to
contribute to education.
Ross said the problem with the
new laws can be traced to changes
in that needs-analysis formula.
The students most at risk of los
ing their grants or having them
reduced fiall into two categories:
students who are single and inde
pendent (they don't rely on their
parents or other famfly members
for income) and students who are
dependent on their families' in
come and work part-time.
"Those students are hurt by the
new formula," said Lenthon
Clark, director of the Financial
Aid Office at the University of
Arkansas at Fayetteville. "Any
time you have changes in meth-
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