ELECTION COVERAGE
Newly elected SGA officials
describe plans prior to
taking office April 1.
» PAGES 4 & 5
GOING OUT WITH A BANG
Three graduating dance majors
choreograph and perform final pieces.
»PAGE 13
THE Pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2012 | VOLUME 38, EDITION 6
www.ElonPendulum.com
AL DRAGO I Staff Photographer
Sophomore Eryn Gorang tutors T.C. Jones after school at Cummings High School in Burlington. Gorang is the coordinator of Leaders in Collaborative Services, a program that works to tutor and mentor students at the high school.
Elon volunteers target local schools’ need for help
Tutors invest timej serve as mentors for struggling Alamance County students
Natalie Allison
Managing Editor
When sophomore Eryn Gorang began
riding the BioBus to tutor at Burlington
Housing Authority her freshman year,
she noticed that no one got off at the
Cummings High School stop.
Gorang asked the director of BHA’s
Leaders in Collaborative Services tutoring
program about the school, located in East
Burlington. With a history of high staff
turnover and low test scores, Cummings
had been on the verge of closing in 2006
for failing to meet progress requirements.
Gorang learned that the school was also
at risk for being removed as a LINCS site
unless a new leader came and turned the
program around.
Though Cummings underwent
curriculum and staff restructuring over
the course of the following years, the
school still faces low student achievement
levels. Such a scenario was exactly how
Gorang wanted to make an impact during
her time at Elon, and was able to through
the Kernodle Center's Elon Volunteers!
program.
Gorang, now a human services
major, started Elon majoring in strategic
communications. After becoming
involved with Elon Volunteers! and
spending her time as a tutor for BHA, she
realized her passion for helping young
people succeed.
“1 think my involvement in the
Kernodle Center solidified to me that I
was in the wrong field," Gorang said. “All
of my extracurriculars focused on human
services. My heart and soul have been
invested in the Kernodle Center and in
Cummings High School.”
As the LINCS coordinator for
Cummings, Gorang oversees almost
30 student volunteers with different
majors and career plans. LINCS, one of
several opportunities for Elon students
to volunteer at local schools through the
Kernodle Center, involves different types
of tutoring methods.
Though after-school tutoring is
available for students, Gorang said much
of the tutoring occurs in the classroom
because many students have to ride the
bus home from school or have other
obligations in the afternoons.
“Some kids work jobs to help out the
family,” Gorang said. “A lot of parents
have two, three jobs and students have
to be home to babysit other kids. There’s
a high dropout rate for Latinos because
family is so important in the culture, they
have to stay home and help the kids."
Graduate!, a program designed to
focus on 30 Latino students at-risk for
dropping out of school, is another facet
of LINCS that Gorang oversees. Founded
by the North Carolina Society of Hispanic
Professionals, the program offers
participants academic tutoring as well as
See VOLUNTEER I PAGE 8
Housing selection process met with student complaint
Hannah DelaCourt
Senior Reporter
With upperclassmen taking advantage
of the opportunity to live in The Station
at Mill Point, a new on-campus housing
option available only to juniors and
seniors, many students now find
themselves with no place to live next year.
Juniors and seniors who wanted to live
on campus completed phase one of the
housing selection last week. According
to Niki Turley, assistant dean of students,
roughly 60 juniors and seniors were put
on the waitlist, although Turley said this
is consistent with years past.
The regular cap for the number of
juniors and seniors living on campus has
been met, and The Station filled up after
the first time slot in phase one for juniors.
Juniors who signed up after the first time
slot found there was no longer any on-
campus housing available for them.
“My three roommates and I were
trying for The Station at Mill Point and the
Oaks was our second choice,” Hart said.
“I thought we would have a good chance
at getting into either, however when I
registered, it said that all housing was
filled up, so we ended up with no where to
live on campus.”
Hart said she and her roommates were
put on the waitlist, but does not feel that
there will be any openings in either The
Station at Mill Point or the Oaks and are
worried they are running out of time to
find someplace to live off campus.
“Now, we are looking at places off
campus for four people, and we are
most likely going to live at Provence
apartments,” Hart said. “I wish that
Residence Life would have respected our
desire to stay on campus, because I don't
think it is fair that we are being forced
off of the university housing, while many
rising seniors are able to get back on
campus to live in Mill Point after living off
campus last year.”
MarQuita Barker, associate director of
Residence Life operations and information
management, said almost the same
number of juniors as seniors are living in
The Station at Mill Point next year.
“Mill Point did fill up quickly,” Barker
said. “It's new and it's entirely for (rising)
juniors and (rising) seniors so there is no
competition from (rising) sophomores.”
Turley said in the past. Residence
Life has been able to provide housing
for everyone on the waitlist, but that it
takes time to complete this process. In
the meantime. Residence Life is trying to
connect with the students and provide
information and support.
Current sophomores hoping to get into
The Station at Mill Point were frustrated
by the large number of rising seniors
choosing to live on-campus next year.
Sophomore Julie Hart was surprised at
how quickly The Station filled up.
See HOUSING I PAGE 3
D EXC