Newspaper Page Text
Staff Writer Returns From Africa
- Brings Touching Story
Adam L. Smith
A Staff Writer of The Maroon
Tiger, a Red CrossVolunteerand
Junior Class President, Adam L.
Smith returned from an African
tour sponsored by the Red Cross
and said that the effects of the
drought and resulting starvation
was far worse than he had ever
imagined.
“The sand has completely
taken over the land, and people
just don’t have anywhere to go,”
said Smith, the youngest
member of the fact-finding
team, at a press briefing held
upon his return to Atlanta.
“I have never in my life been
so close to death until I went to
Mauritania,” said Smith, a
mature 20-year-old. "There was
nothing more dramatic than to
see the extended bellies and
walking skeletons.”
Mauritania is one of 27
drought-stricken African coun
tries which the team of American
business and civic leaders, Red
Cross staff and volunteers —
including actor Charlton Heston
— visited during the 8-day mis
sion.
The mission was to assess the
extent of drought in Mali,
Senegal, Mauritania and
Ethiopia, the country hit hardest
by the African drought, and to
make Americans more aware of
the famine sweeping the conti
nent.
Smith talked of the need for
American help in relieving the
famine. The famine, Smith said, is
killing five to 10 people a day in
Mauritania and 30 to 50 people a
day in Ethiopia. Most of the
victims are children, he said.
Smith, a Red Cross youth
volunteer for seven years and a
finalist for Community Service in
the Atlanta Association of Black
Journalists’ eighth Pioneer
Award Competition said he
hopes to mobilize youth in the
fund-raising effort. "I believe we
can make a difference,” he said.
Smith is a pre-medicine and
psychology major with an in
terest in international medicine.
Two years ago, he spent the
summer working with a medical
team in a rural Ivory Coast
Village under Operation
Crossroad Africa.
He is the son of M. Larkin and
the late Maggie C. Smith and a
graduate of Maplewood High
School in Nashville, Tn., where
he served as the student body
president. At Morehouse, he
servest as director of education
for the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraterni
ty Inc., associate editor of "The
Weekly Calendar,” director of
Homecoming '84, captain of the
Headache Committee and editor
of the Freshman section of the
1985 "Torch.”
Smith is a member of the
Morehouse College Honors
Program, Psi Chi Psychology
Honors Society and an active
member of the Student Govern
ment Association.
His Red Cross affiliations are as
follows: Former Secretary of the
National Advisory Committee on
Youth; National Health Services
Committee; Member of the
Midwestern Field Office Com
mittee; and Member of the
Atlanta Area Chapter American
Red Cross. Smith also served as
ARC Youth Council Chairmanof
the Nashville Area Chapter in
1981-82.
Vol. 60, No. 5 Morehouse College, Atlanta January 11, 1985
n r
Christmas *81
In Retrospect
-page 4
The Maroon
Tiger Wins a
National Free
Press Award
-pages 2 & 3
Teachers,
We Need
Respect
- page 10
Happy 10th
Anniversary
Dr. M.
- page 18
J
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High Hopes For Black
College Freshmen
Academic excellence and the
opportunity to fulfill one’s
highest potential have been
trademarks of historically black
colleges and universities since
they were founded in the
nineteenth century. According
to a recent UNCF research
report, these continue to be two
of the main reasons that many
black college freshmen choose
to attend private, historically
black colleges today.
The report, entitled “Fall 1983
Freshmen at Private Black
Colleges,” found that many
freshmen at private black
colleges attend college for
reasons similar to those of
students at other four-year
private colleges. However,
three-quarters of private black
college freshmen, compared
with fewer than half of the
freshmen at four-year colleges
nationally, cited preparation for
graduate school as a very impor
tant reason for attending a
particular college or university.
Private black college freshmen
(45.1 percent) are more likely
than freshmen at four-year
colleges nationally (26.2 percent)
to choose their college because
its graduates are admitted to top
graduate or professional schools.
Freshmen at private black
colleges possess a drive to
achieve that is exemplified by
the significant number that plan
to attend graduate or
professional school. Nearly 72
percent of the education at the
graduate level, compared with
56.5 percent of the freshmen at
four-year colleges.
The Research Report is
produced by Kathleen Payne
and Alan Kirschner of UNCF’s
Research Department.
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Celebrating Our 60th Year