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Clark Atlanta University
The Panther February 15-28, 2017 5
Omega Gents visit CA U
Members of Omega Gents from Inglewood, California tour campus.
By Alysha Conner
MANAGING EDITOR
The Omega Gents
from Morningside High School
in Inglewood. California traveled
to the Atlanta University Center
recently to tour the campuses and
get a glimpse of life at Historically
Black Colleges and Universities.
Eddie Conner is a member
of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Conner founded Omega Gents at
Morningside High School in 2004.
He has taught AP Government and
Economics at Morningside since
September 2000, and has served as
Activities Director, since 2005.
Conner gives credit to
Evelyn Manor, former principal
at Morningside High School,
for encouraging him to create
the Omega Gents. Conner said,
“Manor brought it to my attention
that there was a need for more
Black role models for the male
students at Morningside and a
another extra curricular activity for
them to be involved in other than
sports.”
A trip during the spring
semester for the graduating
seniors to the South to tour HBCU
campuses, is just one of the
incentives offered by the mentor
program. Another incentive
offered, is all seniors of the Omega
Gents will receive a scholarship
for college provided that they meet
all requirements upon graduating.
All funding for the Gents stems
from the Omega Scholarship
Endowment Fund. For the young
men of Omega Gents, the trip
down South is highly anticipated
as it is many of the members'
first time travelling outside of
California or even some of their
first times riding on an airplane.
The trip itinerary consists
of a four-day trip to visit Alabama
and Atlanta. They toured Tuskegee
University, Alabama State
University, Morehouse College
and Clark Atlanta University. At
each campus they sat down with
admissions to discuss potential
enrollment. While on a tour at
CAU, Dominic Wells, an Omega
Psi Phi Fraternity member and
CAU alumni, greeted the young
Gents. He shared some words of
wisdom from his experiences at
CAU, as well as some motivating
words for the journey the young
men will embark to one day
become an Omega man.
Current Omega Gents
president, Cameron Brooks, described
his experience in the mentorship:
"Being an Omega Gent has given me
the opportunity to travel and be able
to meet people in power while also
making connections. It has helped
me gain a strong bond with people
I never thought 1 would be close to.
Because of Omega Gents, when I
graduate I know I will be able to take
care of myself and not have to depend
on other people.”
Student participates in MLK service
By Alysha Conner
MANAGING EDITOR
Clark Atlanta student selected to speak at the 48 th
Commemorative Service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. last month at
Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Blake Osborne, a senior Political Science major, read an excerpt
from one of Dr. King’s speeches during the five-hour ceremony.
Working as the Operations and Special Projects manager at the
Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute, Osborne is very active within the
community and with the continuance of the fight for racial and social
equality. During the portion of the program, Osborne read an excerpt
of Dr. King’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech. The excerpt of the speech that
Osborne recited, read:
“We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the
victims of our nation and for those it calls “enemy,” for no document
from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. They
must see Americans as strange liberators. They watch as we poison their
water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the
bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious
trees. They wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties
from American firepower for one Vietcong-inflicted injury. So far we
may have killed a million of them, mostly children. They wander into
the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes,
running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children
degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children
selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers. We have
destroyed their two most cherished institutions: the family and the
village. We have destroyed their land and their crops. We have supported
the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. We have corrupted their women
and children and killed their men. Here is the true meaning and value of
compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point
of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves.
For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own
condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from
the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”
Osborne was one of the many participants selected to pay homage
to Dr. King, other speakers included: Sen. Bemie Sanders, Atlanta Mayor
Kasim Reed, Sen. Johnny Isakson, along with many community leaders
across Atlanta.
Ebenezer Baptist Church is where King once served as a co-pas-
tor. His birthday was Jan. 15. Osborne described his experience stating:
“It was an honor. It was definitely a humbling moment getting up
there and reciting Dr. King’s words. The more you recited, then the more
you realize what he was going through during that time when he was
writing that speech. They say that’s the speech that got him killed, with
his opinions and stance on Vietnam. So you know, now I’m here reciting
these words and also hearing how eerily similar they were to what we’re
going through today with Syria and a lot of our other conflicts. It was
prophetic, enlightening and very humbling, so it was an honor to do that
in every way. I felt a sense of pride for being able to be on the stage and
representing CAU,” Osborne said.
NEWS BRIEFS
Ice Cube to speak at Clark Atlanta University Feb. 16
Renowned actor Ice Cube is coming to Clark Atlanta University
Feb. 16 to promote his new film “Fist Fight” in the Multipurpose Room
of the Student Center. Doors will open at 2 p.m. and the activity will
begin at 3 p.m.
The event is open to all Atlanta University Center students. Seat
ing is on a first-come, first-served basic. The movie will open in theaters
nationwide Feb. 17.
CAU alumna to receive Career Achievement Award
Clark College alumna and former Clark Atlanta University trustee
Reatha Clark King (Class of ‘58), will be awarded the Colquitt County
Career Achievement Award. She was the first African-American woman
to be hired as a chemist by the National Bureau of Standards in Washing
ton. Her research contributed to the NASA space program.
Music professor named vocal coach
CAU music professor and alumna Ann Marie McPhail has been named
vocal coach for Chiwetel Eijiofor, star of groundbreaking films like “12
Years a Slave,” Amisted, and Triple 9.
Fitness Center opens in Student Center
Clark Atlanta University has opened a new student fitness center.
Panther Fit is a state-of-the-art workout facility with superior fitness
equipment from Inflight Fitness. Located inside the completely reno
vated former recreation room in Henderson Student Center, Panther Fit
includes treadmills, elliptical trainers, liberator cross fit machine, fitness
and spin bikes, free weights with benches, medicine balls, kettle bells and
aerobic equipment. The project was designed and built by Advantage
Fitness.
Panther Fit comes just in time as students begin to tone their
bodies for Spring Break, or those who want to develop healthier lifestyle
habits. The new exercise center was spearheaded by members of the
Progressive Impact Administration headed by Undergraduate Student
Government Association President Adrain Artary.