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Introducing Miss Maroon and White: Stormee Windom
Windom expressed, "I kept
asking myself, 'Why am I
Photo courtesy College Relations
Our reigning homecoming queen,
Miss Stormee Renai Windom
By C. Reynard Hardiman
Features Co- Editor
Behind any strong black
man, there is a strong black
woman. Keeping in the same
tradition, the men of
Morehouse elected Stormee
Windom on Sunday,
September 23,1996, as the new
Miss Maroon and White.
Windom, a senior
Psychology major from Los
Angeles, CA, stated that she
was not really interested in
running for the position, until
she realized the possibilities
that the queen of Morehouse
offered. "I wanted to take the
title and go other places with
it," commented Windom, "I
felt that there was a need for
Spelman and Morehouse to be
brought together because the
relationship is often exploited
and underrated." After
recognizing this void, she was
called to service as the future
Miss Maroon and White.
Windom admits she was
not interested in running for a
pageant of this magnitude
before. In her words, she
believed the
pageant scene
was not her.
When she
decided to run,
she expressed
that her friends
and family were
very shocked
about her
decision.
She further
realized this
decision on the
night of the
pageant.
Witnessing how
the crowd
usually behaves
during the
pageant,
Stormee stated
that she was in
constant prayer to keep her
composure — no matter what
happened on the stage.
here?' But after the first scene
I was at ease."
During her reign, Stormee
maintains that her platform
will be focused on community
service. She stated that
Morehouse men seem to have
a lackadaisical attitude
towards serving the AUC and
the West End communities.
"The little boys in the
community look at Morehouse
as a dream that they can never
have, like Morehouse is so
untouchable," she
acknowledged. "But I want
Morehouse to go out and say
that we are not untouchable."
Windom hopes that under
her leadership she will be able
to lead Morehouse men to a
greater commitment of service
through some innovative
initiatives. First, she plans to
start a mentoring program
because there are young
African American males in the
Continued on page 13
Windhom hopes that under her leadership she will
be able to lead Morehouse men to a greater
commitment of service through some innovative
initiatives.
Morrow Directs The Glee Club To the 21st Century
By Marc Johnson
Staff Writer
With a class including Dr.
Walter Massey and Maynard
Jackson, it would seem that the
Morehouse early admissions
program boasts some of the
college's most illustrious
alumni. It comes as no
surprise, then, that the music
department's own Dr. David
Morrow, director of the world
renowned Morehouse College
Glee Club, matriculated at
Morehouse in the fall of 1976
at the historically significant
age of 16.
A native of Rochester,
New York, David Morrow, the
young scholar, had no desire
to follow his older brother,
Donald ('77), "down south."
David Morrow's longing to
attend school elsewhere,
however, was strongly
influenced by his mother
whose desire to have her son
explore his "southern
heritage" at a historically black
college culminated in his
enrollment at Morehouse
College.
That it was not the
cafeteria's cuisine or the five
star lodging of the dormitories
that kept David Morrow at
Morehouse is somehow
comforting. Some things
change; some things stay the
same. Among the latter are the
Glee Club, in which Morrow
held several offices, and, the
immutable academic
challenges of Morehouse. Each
of these, the singing
organization and the rigors of
academia, respectively,
encouraged him to remain
and complete his education
at Morehouse. What is
more, the seemingly
boundless loyalty of his
mentor and predecessor,
Dr. Wendell Whalum,
towards the college
engendered a school pride in
Morrow that grows with each
year.
At the suggestion of Dr.
Whalum, David Morrow
returned to Morehouse in the
fall of 1981 as an instructor of
music and assistant director of
the Glee Club. With a BA in
Music and a Master's of Music
in choral conducting, however,
teaching would seem an
insignificant medium towards
reaching a career in
conducting or performance.
Dr. Morrow maintains,
however, that he is definitely
where he wants to be. Though
he feels that teaching becomes
tedious and frustrating when
it resembles "baby-sitting," he
maintains that teaching is
extremely rewarding "when it
feels like I'm doing just that!"
In fact, he
"When someone is learning it
almost makes the salary issue
insignificant."
One issue which has
steadily grown in significance
is Dr. Massey's establishing of
a "World House Here at
Morehouse". When asked
what role music would play in
establishing this world House,
Dr. Morrow maintains that
music can be an effective
inroad to understanding
different cultures because
music, by nature, "tells you
something." That is to say that
those things that a culture
embodies are often conveyed
by music; and as Dr. Morrow
contends, "Because
[African-Americans]
have had to be
multicultural, we
must know
everything."
N o t
surprisingly,
knowing and
singing
"everything" is
a standard
which the
Morehouse
College Glee Club,
under Dr. Morrow
baton, has continued to
uphold. Upon the death of
Dr. Whalum, Dr. Morrow
assumed directorship of the
Glee Club in the fall of 1987.
Espousing the ideals of hard
work, commitment and
brotherhood, he maintains
that despite the opportunities
outside the college in which to
grow professionally and
financially, to be the director of
the selfsame organization
which helped him to grow is a
"phenomenal joy."
With the ink on passports
still fresh from the Glee Club's
summer tour of Russia and the
acclaim kindled by their
participation in the opening
and closing ceremonies of the
Centennial Olympic Games, it
would seem that the Glee Club
is destined for greatness. An
integral part of this
"greatness" is contingent upon
Dr. Morrow. Morrow,
however, reciprocates this by
suggesting that any eminence
achieved by him will be
contingent upon others
including "God, my family
and the Glee Club."
Without regard to success,
Dr. Morrow maintains that he
cares about Morehouse and
her students. He quickly
articulates, however, that he
espouses excellence and, like
other faculty members, will do
what has to be done to ensure
that the ideals and standards
of Morehouse are upheld.
With this in mind, all members
of the Morehouse family,
students and faculty in
particular, can feel secure in
the fact that this brother in
song will sing on, embodying
the characteristics of the
scholar, the musician and,
perhaps most importantly, the
Morehouse man.