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Clark Atlanta University Panther
October 19, 1990
Student Wins Battle To Start Physics Club
By PIERCE W. HUFF
Sports Editor
Four years ago Quinton
Watson, entering the second
semester of his freshman year
at Clark, had a problem. Being
an upcoming physics major,
there was no outlet for him to
learn more about physics in his
spare time and have a little fun
in the process.
“When I first got here there
was no way for a person to
express himself in science,
especially physics,” Watson
said. “There was no science fair
or scientific contests. I wanted
to learn the practical side of
physics and build machines
based on the laws of physics
besides just working word
problems.”
Having graduated from
Atlanta’s Henry W. Grady
High School, Watson longed to
be a part of extracurricular
scientific outlets. In his
freshman year at Grady, he
won an egg-dropping contest
sponsored by the Geometry
Club. In his junior and senior
years he won the Geometry
Club’s paper airplane and
sailboat contests. In an effort to
bring scientific extracurricular
activities to Clark, he created
The Society of Physicists.
“I just thought that Clark
needed to do things like we did
at my high school,” Watson
said. “So 1 created The Society
of Physicists to give physics
majors,, and other students
interested in science, a place
and an organization that
allowed people to express
themselves scientifically.”
Watson and the three other
members of The Society of
Physicists decided to make a
charter in order to be recog
nized by Clark as an official
club. But the group ran into an
obstacle. They failed to come
up with 10 club members to
satisfy club guidelines.
“We just weren't able to get
the number of people willing to
become active members,”
Watson said. “But we were told
by the administrators in the
Physics Department to wait for
a year, because they said that
they were working on a
department sponsored club.”
The year followed and
nothing happened.
Meanwhile, Watson had
joined the Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity and the idea of
starting a physics club lost
momentum.
Last year, just when it looked
like there wouldn’t be a physics
club, in stepped Domenica
Boswell. A sophomore physics
major from Birmingham, Ala.,
Ms. Boswell, not knowing
about Watson’s previous
attempt at starting a physics
club, talked to administrators
in the Physics Department
about starting a physics club.
The administrators introduced
her Watson, and together they
worked on getting a charter for
a new physics club called The
Physics Club.
“When I got here I didn’t
know about what Quinton had
gone through trying to start a
physics club, but when 1 found
out, I decided to help him work
on getting a charter,” Ms.
Boswell said.
After two months of working
with Ms. Boswell, Watson was
able to make his dream of
creating a physics club a reality.
On Jan. 10, the club received its
charter.
“Getting the charter and
being an official club was a
great feeling,” Watson said.
However, The Physics
Club’s battle is not over.
Despite the fact that the club is
chartered, it lacks the financial
support that it wants from the
Physics Department.
“We do need funds and we
would like them from the
Physics Department,” Ms.
Boswell said. “They have
helped us in terms of advise
ment and the little things like
clerical work in terms of letting
us use the copier to copy
papers, but I expect more from
them in the future.”
According to Dr. Charles
Brown, chairman of the
Physics Department, the
department is behind The
Physics Club, but getting the
financial support from the
department will take time.
“1 think the club is good,
because as a department we try
to convince students to join the
club and use it to help further
them in their course work,” Dr.
Brown said.
This spring The Physics Club
plans to hold a city-wide model
rocket building contest for
Metro Atlanta high school
students as a way to bring in
funds and is confident that the
contest will be a success.
“There’s always a strain
when you first start an
organization, because you have
to wait and get dedicated
members,” Watson said.
“Eventually when people see
how good the organization is
going, they’ll want to jump on
the bandwagon, it’s always
hard at the beginning.”