Spring Break
Student groups share what they can offer
KSU-NAACP holds Meet and Greet
Regina Garcia Cano
Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: News
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Groups such as Omega Psi Phi, Sigma Gamma Rho, Black United Students and Kent African Student Association showed the audience different opportunities to get involved on campus.
"We want to promote community building, health awareness and voter registration," KSU-NAACP President Whitney Smith said after the meeting.
She said NAACP's goal is to educate students.
"We want to broaden our horizons to make sure that our community is still educated," Smith said. "The point behind everything we do is education … so nobody is left behind."
To an audience of about 20 people, officers from Kent Interhall Council described their plans for this academic year, which also stressed education and diversity. Some of the programs included Hate in the Box, Kent's Next Top Model and the Festival of Diversity.
Smith said NAACP plans to promote the group's events to attract a broader audience.
"For a better turnout, we want to get more students involved, having different kids pass out fliers, text messaging, Facebook, MySpace, any way that they can get the word out," Smith said.
Faculty from the Department of Pan-African Studies, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the College of Business also attended the meeting.
In agreement with NAACP's commitment to education and diversity, George Stevens, dean of the College of Business Administration and graduate school of management, said students have no excuses not to graduate from college.
"I really don't care where you started in terms of whether you had money," Stevens said. "I don't really care if you grew up in the inner-city. I don't care if you only have one parent. I don't really care because those are excuses. You have a great opportunity to really make a difference in this world.
"If you're black and you want to be somebody, you will face some challenges. If you're female and you want to be somebody, you're going to face those challenges, but that should not stop you."
The message inspired members of the audience.
"(The speech) supported me a lot more and encouraged me," sophomore architecture major Za-Non Miller said. "I've been through the problems they were talking about, but I am determined to finish my degree and be an architect when I graduate."
Contact minority affairs reporter Regina Garcia Cano at rgarcia1@kent.edu.
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