Newspaper Page Text
THE VOICE OF
BLACK
WOMANHOOD
SPECIAL
EDITION:
Freshman
Week
INSIDE TODAY
Freshman Writes
Home p. 3
Highlights of Freshman
Week p. 4
Honors Program .... p. 6
Security Story p. 7
Action at
the Omni
The New
~~ Spetmw ,
gPOTLIQHT
VOL. XXIV, NO. 1
Atlanta, Georgia
September 12,1980
Why They Chose Spelmcm
By Cynthia Williams
The incoming freshmen class of 1984
at Spelman this year is just as versatile
as any other before, and chose to attend
Spelman for a variety of reasons.
As many high school students, fresh
man Lanita Gregory from Boston,
Massachusetts desired primarily to leave
her familiar home surroundings and ex
plore a new state. Lanita expresses this
common sentiment by saying, “I knew I
wanted to get out of Massachusetts and
go to school down South.” Information
concerning Spelman was scarce to
Lanita at first, but soon after her initial
interest, opinions started running high.
Many of Lanita’s friends and acquain
tances voiced factual and heresay infor
mation. With the assistance of her high
school counselor and a Spelman
recruiting representative, Lanita made
the momentous decision to attend
Spelman. Lanita further verbalized the
situation by stating, “A lot of people star
ted telling me about Spelman and my
high school counselor really felt I should
go, so eventually I just said Spelman’s it.”
Freshman Cordelia Daniel from Jack
sonville, Florida didn’t have one par
ticular reason for choosing Spelman
College, but a great many of them . Cor
delia saw Spelman’s location as an ad
vantage as well as its size. Cordelia also
talked with a Spelman representative
and reasoned Spelman could be pretty
positive for her future. Cordelia summed
up her feelings by saying, “There was
one not particular reason, but I did want
to go to a private school because of its
size.”
Many Spelmanites would argue the in
fluence Morehouse College has exerted
on their lives, but for freshman Eloise
Matchett from Valdosa, Georgia a More
house man played a primary role in her
decision to come to Spelman. Eloise felt
Spelman College would ultimately be
her choice for college, but further added,
“My brother who went to Morehouse
really pushed me a lot to attend
Spelman and did influence me a great
deal.” Eloise had heard the name Spel
man College spoken of in high regard
and particularly the Psychology Depart
ment of which she possesses an interest.
Tanja Reed, also a freshman from
Valdosa, Georgia was influenced mainly
by her high school counselor. Tanja is
hoping to work a great deal with Spel
man’s Sociology Department. Tanja
feels she had an added advantage by
having a friend who now attends
Spelman.
Freshman Karla Sanford and Belvet
Perry, both from Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma had similar reasons for
deciding upon Spelman College. Many of
their peers attended Spelman and they
both preferred a small private institution
as opposed to a large siate-operated
university. Karla and Belvet visited Spel
man befoie making their final decision
and felt the visit was impressive. Karla
expressed her view by stating, “The
people here were really nice and
Spelman is one of the better colleges.”
Belvet ended the conversation by saying,
“We both heard a lot of positive things
about Spelman and I was very im
pressed after the visit.”
While all of the above mentioned
freshmen have come to Spelman from
other states and cities, freshman Marcia
Ward is a native Atlantan. Marcia knew
a few women who have recently
graduated from Spelman. Even though
Marcia lives here in Atlanta, she felt the
need to have an indept tour of
Spelman’s campus before making her
decision. Marcia did add that her
primary reason for considering Spelman,
like many others, was its location. Mar
cia elaborated by saying, “I didn’t want to
go to school of Atlanta and Spelman
seems pretty nice.”
In essence it appears to be an abun
dance of reasons one may finally choose
to attend Spelman College. The class of
1984 most certainly does possess a
fairly high representation of those
reasons and factor. And even though the
reasons are indeed as versatile as the
students, they all seem to add up to the
thought of freshman Lanita, Gregory
when she stated, “Spelman is
