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The Bdles
VOLUME XLV, NUMBER 6
900 HILLSBOROUGH STREET
ST. MARY’S COLLEGE, RALEIGH. N.C.
of
St Mary’s
Collese^
MAY 1984
St. Mary's First Lady Encourages
Getting invoived by Beth Morris
GRADUATION SPEAKER
by Susan Stephenson
First Lady Grace Rice un
derstands that the key to happi
ness is what you make of your
iife. “You can wart around for it
(iife) to happen, but you’re only
given so much - then you’re on
your own. There’s too much
offered - especiaily here at St.
Mary’s - not to get invoived."
As the President’s wife,
Mrs. Rice has been exposed to
ali aspects of St. Mary’s. She
has heard the views of the stu
dents, the facuity, and the
administration, as weii as the
parents. And having attended
James Madison before it went
co-ed, she knows what it’s like
to be in an all-girls school. “I
think it’s important to get to
know women as your friends -
not as competitors.”
most is to be in an atmosphere
where they know that others
really care about them. It en
courages them to show their
reai seives. And more impor-
tantiy, to know what that real
self is iike. People wear many
masks - especially as young
adults. It’s so important to find
out who the real you is.”
What does Mrs. Rice con
sider most important in college
today? “What people - young
people in particular - need the
When Mrs. Rice was in col
lege and planning her future,
“Things were not iike today at
ail, we were programming dif
ferently.” She had three
choices: She could be a nurse
iike her mother, a teacher, or a
secretary. “I had aiways en
joyed iearning and I knew I
wanted to work with young
people, so I majored in history
and became a teacher.” She
married young and taught in a
small elementary school in Vir
ginia until Mr. Rice was offered
the presidency at St. Mary’s.
In contrast to university
students, St. Mary’s girls, she
feels, have a great advantage.
“Because they must, transfer
after two years, they’re in the
same position as most seniors.
They are forced to take a realis
tic look at their iives - at what
direction they want them to go -
and ask themseives questions
that other sophomores don’t.
They have to think about differ
ent concerns. The faculty is
open to them and is helpfui and
concerned in a way that is
unique. They often must give
answers the girls don’t want to
hear, but really need to hear.”
One other thing she aiso
feeis is important is for peopie
to schedule and budget their
time. “So many things are left
undone because we’re too busy
to do them. Well, you have to
make time for what you think is
important. Life is just too full of
good things to let it pass you
by.
LONG DISTANCE FREELOADING
J>y Bizabeth Love
There’s a new fad spread
ing through our country’s col
leges and universities. It’s an
expensive one, but the parti
cipants rarely see the bill. It is
also illegal and ultimately
damaging to the economy. This
fad is using telephone credit
card numbers for unlimited long
distance phone calls. Students
use a set of numbers for a
month or two, until the num
bers are disconnected, and then
wait impatiently for next
month’s list to come in. Usable
credit card numbers have be
come respected barter in the
college underworld.
As with most illegal ven
tures, the exact means of pro
curing the numbers is known
only to a small percentage of
the system’s abusers. Those
who know how to get numbers
supply them for the rest of the
students. The regularity with
which credit card numbers are
circulated speaks clearly to the
fact that there are many consis
tent leaks available to these
suppliers.
This has become a game
very similar to shoplifting in its
effect on the economy. The
phone companies are left with a
multimillion dollar tab to pick
up each year when no one will
claim the calls made so
casually by many students who
'■educe their monthly bills by
Teaching out to touch’ some
*ong distance friends. Unlike
shoplifting, the person who
steals from the phone com
panies is not left with a tangible
[■eminder of guilt, or with the
'mnx)rality and illegality of
actions. This, however, does
not excuse anyone from the
judgement that is due them.
A case in New York last
month where a woman received
a phone bill of over $140,000.00
has triggered a tightening up in^
the phone companies’ security
systems. The damage being
done will no longer be dis
missed as an acceptable loss.
College students will be among
those most suspect for abuse of
the credit card numbers. For
those caught and convicted of
misuse of a credit card number,
the punishment is up to a
$1,000 fine and a year in jail.
Payment in full for the calls
made is, of course, due. What
may have started for so many as
a game can end up as a painful
lesson in honesty and responsi
bility.
This year’s graduation
speaker is a very interesting
man. Although he is over
seventy, he faithfully jogs six
miles a day. He also has a
pilot’s license and will fly him
self to Raleigh for the speech.
He also enjoys scuba diving. He
recently retired from his posi
tion as President and Chief
Executive Officer of a multimil
lion dollar corporation which he
helped build. He has been on
the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees
since 1961. This is longer than
any other board member has
served. He is Mr. William Walter
Dukes, Jr., of Orangeburg,
South Carolina.
Mr. Dukes is married to the
former Margaret Crevenston.
His two daughters, the late
Peggy Dickenson and Susan
Woodard attended St. Mary’s.
He also has a son, W W.
Dukes, III.
Originally from Orange
burg, Mr. Dukes attended the
public schools there. He then
went on to graduate first in his
class from Clemson University
with a B.S. degree in electrical
engineering.
After working two years for
General Electric, Mr. Dukes was
called to active army duty in
1941. He served five years. He
then served 22 .years in the
Army Reserve before retiring as
a colonel.
Mr. Dukes is very active in
civic and church affairs. He is a
former member of the Executive
Council of the Diocese of South
Carolina, and is also a licensed
lay reader for the Episcopal
Church.
In memory of their
daughter, the late Peggy
Crevenston Dukes Dickenson,
Mr. Dukes and his wife set up a
fund for better teaching at St.
Mary’s. Its full name is The
Peggy Crevenston Dukes
Faculty Enrichment Memorial
Fund, but is better known as
the Dukes’ Endowment Fund.
Teachers can use money from
this fund to take classes to
improve their teaching.
Mr. Dukes believes that if
women are to be successful in
business they must be told
realistically what will be ex
pected of them. Women must
not have the attitude that the
world owes them something
because of inequalities of the
past. He also believes that the
business world is tough and
women are still at a disadvan
tage.
We can all look forward to a
very interesting speech.
Spring Fest by Ann Fitzmaurice
Bristlsh Teenager Finds
Life Different In U.S.
by Tay Yeargih
On the weekend of April the
13th many fun and interesting
things were going on at SMC.
On Friday, the Spring Festival
got underway. The activities in
cluded a performance by
Chorale, Mime, and Sea Saints.
The big attraction of the day
was the Court performance and
the different dances which fol
lowed. On Sunday, there was a
Fine Arts Festival. This drew
many of SMC’s neighbors, who
got to enjoy puppet shows by
the students. Paintings were
also admired in the Lang, build
ing and in the Library. The
paintings are still up; so go take
a look.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a
mark of 65 percent or better (out
of 100 percent) was an A on
school work? In the ?-level, or
ordinary-level courses taught in
England, Suzanne Thurlow was
delighted with a 70 percent
® Qvam nr
mark on a geography exarn ^
66 percent mark on a Fooo
Nuttition exam. “Things are
really different over in England
Suzanne, a seventeen-ye^-old
brunette who now attends St.
Mary’s, comments. She w^
Jamaica, an island in
bom in
I III -
the Caribbean, but when she
was six months old Suzanne
and her family moved to Nassau
in the Bahamas. Like many
English school children,
Lzanne went away to boarding
chP was eleven
«-hool when she was eleven
^ars old. She attended Bad
minton School which is in
m nton -
Bristol England. Bristol, a city
S just inside the England
Sstirder. is also the home
of Bristol University, one of the
leading universities in Engiand.
Suzanne, a St. Mary’s
sophomore, finds life in the
United States very different
after iiving abroad. Whiie most
American teenagers iearn to
drive by attending a drivers
education course, English
teens iearn to drive on their
own. Suzanne toid this story
about her own driving lessons:
“1 was visiting a friend who lived
in Waies in a large castle. Her
father owned several tractors,
so one day we began driving
one of the tractors round and
round the castie. We almost ran
into a stone waii, but soon we
felt sure enough to try driving a
real car. Of course the main dif
ference betw^n driving in Eng
land and driving an American is
that everyone drives on the left
hand side of the road.” As
Suzanne spoke she began to
laugh and remembered, “When
my parents first tried to drive in
Raleigh, my mother would turn
a corner and start driving on the
left-hand side of the road
again.”
Driving habits are not the
only customs that are different
between British countries and
the United States. Suzanne
listed a number of differences
between Badminton School and
St. Mary’s. Suzanne, having
boarded at both schools, likes
the freedom offered at St.
Mary’s. “At Badminton we were
not allowed out at night during
the week and could only leave
on weekends with our parents.”
Suzanne remembers being
signed out by a matron who
acted as a ‘housemother’ for
each house. She pointed out
that a room was called a dormi
tory in England and housed two
to eight people. She also com
mented that school work was
much harder in England than
here. Asa junior in high school,
she vras required to do well on
an examination in order to con
tinue her education. “I took my
0-levels last June before I
moved to Raleigh. They were
really difficult. I was taking nine
different courses including Bio
logy, History, Geography, and
Food Nutrition.” Although an A
was 65 percent or better on
thes,r exams, Suzanne re
marked that this grade was dif
ficult to obtain. After 0-levels,
good students go on to A-level,'
or advanced courses, and take
three specialized courses re
lated to their proposed college
majors.
The social life at Bad
minton was very bleak indeed.
Suzanne’s old school managed
to have one dance each of its
three semesters. “Guys or
‘blokes’, as we called them,
were invited from neighboring
schools,” Suzanne said. “If you
were caught outside with a boy,
you were surely in trouble with
the matron. St. Mary’s dances
are alot more fun!” And for
everyone who complains about
St. Mary’s food, Suzanne com-
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