THE A&TREGISTER

NCATREGISTER.COMWEDNESDAYMAY 5, 2010

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROLINA A&TSERVING THE AGGIE COMMUNITY FOR OVER 80 YEARS

FREE VOLUME LXXXIII, NO. 30

See FLOOD on Page 2

See SHOOTING on Page 2

theSCENEFREEDOM SLAM TAKES PLACEA&T Alumnus Joesphus Thompson III hosts a poetry slam in the Greensboro area.

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theSCORESWINGING OUT OF THE PARKAggie Baseball is headed to the big dance in the MEAC baseball tournament.

PAGE 7

High: 86°Low: 63°

THURSDAY: Mostly Sunny | High 89°

FRIDAY: Mostly Sunny | High 90°

WEDNESDAY

WEATHERtheWORDSENIORS SAY FAREWELLThe end has fi nally come for the seniors of The A&T Register, and they have a few things to say to AggieLand.

PAGE 6

theYARDGRADS HUNT FOR A JOBWe’ve outlined some tips from experts on how to land that job after graduation.

PAGE 3

ONLINESTAY UPDATED ALL SUMMERKeep up with breaking news on our Web site. Slideshows, videos and more are available online.

www.ncatregister.com

SENIOR COUNTDOWN

2 DAYSCONGRATULATIONS!The A&T Register would like to congratulate the graduating class of 2010 and also thank Dexter R. Mullins, Daniel Henderson, LaPorsha Lowry, Anjan Basu, Ashley Reid, Chad Roberts, Michaela Edwards, Shante´ Mathes, Stacie Bailey, Marcus Thompson, Kenny Flowers, Brittany Dandy and Carlton Brown for their service to The A&T Register. They will be missed. Good luck on all your future endeavors, and again, congratulations!

REGISTERBasketball court shootingMoore Gym basketball courts shut down

last Sunday, no AggieAlert sent out

James, Shelton to receive honorary degrees at commencement

A&T alumnus and national business leader Donna A. James to also deliver commencement address

UNIVERSITY RELATIONSNorth Carolina A&T State University

CONTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSITY RELATIONS • NORTH CAROLINA A&T

ABOVE A&T Alumni (Top) Donna A. James, (bottom) Ralph K. Shelton.

Donna A. James, managing director of Lardon & Associates LLC., will be the keynote speaker for North Carolina A&T State University’s Annual Spring Com-mencement. The commencement will be held Saturday, May 8, at 8:30 a.m., at the Greensboro Coliseum. The university will be graduating more than 1,000 students.

A 1979 graduate, James is a corporate director for many public companies in-cluding three Fortune 500 companies. She has over 25 years of diverse leadership and management experience at the highest cor-porate levels, where she has been a trusted resource and advisor for senior business leaders on issues related to governance, new business development, strategy, fi nan-cial and risk management, and leadership development.

James serves on the board of directors for prestigious brands such as Coca-Cola Enterprises, Conseco Inc., Limitedbrands and Time Warner Cable. Prior to her current position, she retired as President of Nation-wide Strategic Investments, a division of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. In her community, she is founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Families, a non-profi t focused on transforming the lives of pregnant and parenting teens and their children.

In 2005 she was named by Black En-terprise Magazine as one of the top 75 in Corporate America, as well as being a 2007 inductee into the National Histori-

cally Black Colleges and Universities Hall of Fame and a 2008 inductee into the Ju-nior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 2008.

James and Ralph K. Shelton, two alum-ni and national corporate leaders, will be awarded honorary degrees at North Caro-lina A&T State University ‘s annual spring commencement.

Shelton, is the founder and chairman of Southeast Fuels, Inc. Southeast Fu-els, founded in 1984, is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., and is one of the few minority-owned coal brokerage companies servicing the eastern region of the Unites States. He holds a bachelors of Science de-gree from N.C.A&T, in addition to degrees from Wake Forest Type University and the University of Virginia.

Several recognitions have been be-stowed upon him, including the North Car-olina A&T State University Distinguished Alumni Award (1998); the National Con-ference of Community and Justice Broth-erhood Award (2004); and the Chamber of Commerce Thomas B. Osborne Dis-tinguished Citizen Award (2009). He cur-rently resides in Greensboro with wife, Christine Crutchfi eld Shelton.

A native of Washington, D.C., Donna is the wife of attorney Larry James. They re-side in Columbus, Ohio and, are the proud parents of two adult children, Christopher and Justin. They have fi ve grandchildren.

On Sunday, May 2, at ap-proximately 8:00 p.m., several unidentifi ed individuals were involved in an altercation at the basketball courts outside of Moore Gym.

According to the University Police Department, it is un-known as to whether the per-sons involved were students or non students.

“Somehow a verbal alter-cation took place, leading to a

physical altercation,” A&T Po-lice Chief Glenn Newell said. “Allegedly, one of the people who was involved in the alter-action, left to go to his vehicle, shot into the air, then drove off. We can not say who was playing on the court, who was involved, o rwhether they were a student or non student at this time. Most of the people in the area actually left before the police arrived.”

Recently A&T underwent an active shooter training exercise on campus to test the universi-ties preparedness in the event

that a shooting incident were to occur on the campus. Part of this preparation included the univer-sity communicating to the com-munity through AggieAlert.

AggieAlert is a text messag-ing alert system that is designed to immediately notifi ed all those who are registered in the event of an emergency.

According to Chief Newell, this situation did not warrant the activation of AggieAlert.

“The aggieAlert system serves two functions: to provide information in an emergency

like a blackout, hurricane, or other weather related emergen-cy, and to alert the University community if there was a danger to the community on campus,” Newell said. “If someone was to come on campus and shoot a few people, and we didn’t know whether that threat was gone or not, then we would activate the system. In this isolated incident, since the threat actually left campus, there was no need to is-sue the alert.”

More victims feared as Tenn.

floodwaters recedeNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —

Rescuers feared even more bodies would emerge on Tuesday as muddy fl ood waters ebb from torrential weekend rains that swamped Nashville, much of Ten-nessee and two neighbor-ing states, killing at least 29 people.

The Cumberland River that submerged parts of Mu-sic City’s historic downtown began to recede Tuesday af-ter being swollen by heavy rain and the fl ooding creeks that feed into it.

Residents and authorities

know they’ll fi nd widespread property damage in inundated areas, but dread even more dev-astating discoveries.

“Those in houses that have been fl ooded and some of those more remote areas, do we sus-pect we will fi nd more people? Probably so,” Nashville Fire Chief Kim Lawson said. “We certainly hope that it’s not a large number.”

Businesses along Nash-ville’s riverfront lost electricity early Tuesday. Laurie Parker, a spokeswoman for Nashville Electric Service, said a main cir-

CHRIS TALBOTTAssociated Press

Fire near Aggie Village last week

DID YOU KNOW? Graduation rehearsal is Friday? Seniors can pick up their zipper pulls now?

DEXTER R. MULLINSEditor In Chief

DEXTER R. MULLINSEditor In Chief

On Wednesday, April 28, there was a brush fi re on the outskirts Aggie Village, Jo-seph McNeill Hall. Accord-ing to A&T University Po-lice Department Chief Glenn Newell, UPD is not at this time clear on what exactly caused the fi re.

But in an interview with Fire Department Chief Da-vid Douglas, the fi re was an accidental fi re due to neg-ligance of proper cigarette disposal.

“The fi re was started by an individual whom was smoking a cigar. He placed the cigar in the trash can, thinking it was out, and the cigar wasn’t,” Douglas said.

“It was an acciedental fi re, and thanks to A&T UPD having the incident on video, we were able to corroborate (verify) his story.”

No one was injured, and the blaze was quickly put out. There was no structural damage to the building.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

HILLSIDE BLAZE An improperly disposed of cigar led to a � re on the mulch near Joseph McNeill hall.

theYARD2 The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010

even

ts

5WEDNESDAY

FINAL EXAMSAll Day

THURSDAY

6

THE A&TREGISTER

Box E-251601 E. Market StreetGreensboro, NC 27411Newsroom: NCB 328A

(336) 334 -7700www.ncatregister.com

THE A&T REGISTER is published every Wednesday during the fall and spring semesters by students at North Carolina A&T State University. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Register’s newsroom (subject to availability). All subscription requests should be directed to the Business department. THE A&T REGISTER has a weekly circulation of 5,000 copies on-campus and in the community and is a member of The Associated Press, The Associated Collegiate Press and the Black College Wire.

FRIDAY

7

theBLOTTERApril 281:35 a.m.Pride Hall- VandalismClosed Prosecution

10:30 a.m.Moore Gym PVA- Vehicle AccidentCase Closed

3:55 p.m.Aggie Village 6 (Outside)- FireClosed Information

April 2911:05 a.m.Aggie Suites E- Attempted Suicide Closed Information

11:30 a.m.Aggie Stadium-Vehicle AccidentCase Closed

April 3010:30 a.m.Craig Hall Parking Lot- Drug OverdoseClosed Information

1:10 p.m.Stallings Ballroom- Simple Physical AssaultCase Under Further Investigation

11:58 p.m.Curtis Hall- BurglaryCase Under Further Investigation

May 22:50 a.m.Alumni Event Center Parking Lot- Motor Vehicle TheftCase Closed

8:04 p.m.Moore Gym Parking Lot- Weapon Discharge Case Under Further Investigation

May 4

2:10 a.m.Aggie Suites PVA- Drug ViolationCase Closed with Arrest

SENIOR NIGHT: A&T seniors decorate their caps for graduation at Senior night in the Student Memorial Union.

PHOTO BY SHANTE´ MATHES • THE A&T REGISTER

If you ever see anything

suspicious or need assistance

call Campus Police

(336) 334-7675

SATURDAY

8

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Dexter R. MullinsMANAGING EDITOR: Malcolm S. Eustache

NEWS EDITOR: Jasmine JohnsonOPINIONS EDITOR:Kelcie McCrae

SPORTS EDITOR: Daniel HendersonASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR: Lauren Morgan

SCENE EDITOR: LaPorsha LowryCOPY DESK CHIEF: Anjan Basu

COPY EDITOR: Ashley Reid, Chad RobertsPHOTO EDITOR: Kenneth Hawkins

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS: Michaela Edwards, Shanté Mathes

EDITORIAL CARTOONIST: Evan SummervilleNCATREGISTER.COM: Stacie Bailey, (Online Editor)GRAPHIC ARTIST:Cameron Z. SimmonsSENIOR REPORTER: Marcus ThompsonREPORTERS: Johnathan Veal, Alessandra Brown, LaRia Land, Sylvia Obell, Ricardo Lawson, Monterius Smith, Whitney Mack-Obi, Jiril Clemons, Prince AskewPR DIRECTOR: Kenny Flowers BUSINESS MANAGER: Jamia HarrisonBUSINESS STAFF: Carlton BrownFACULTY ADVISER: Emily Harris

(336) 954-7575

Hey Aggies!Monday-Wednesday:

2 LARGE 1-topping pizzas $14

Every day special:LARGE pizza

Any way you want it$10!

Every day deals:$7.99 1 LARGE 1 topping OR 1 MEDIUM 2 topping

cuit failed before dawn, knock-ing out power to downtown businesses in a 24-square-block area, including the 33-story AT&T Building, a Hilton hotel, the arena where the Nashville Predators NHL team plays and honky-tonks in the country mu-sic tourism district.

Parker said the power in that district would be out the rest of the week.

“It will be Friday at the ear-liest,” she said, “depending on how fast the water level falls.”

Thousands of people have fl ed their homes and hundreds were rescued by boat and canoe over the past two days, but as the fl oodwaters began recede, bodies were recovered from homes, a yard, even a wooded area outside a Nashville super-market. By Tuesday morning, the fl ash fl oods were blamed in the deaths of 18 people in Ten-nessee alone, including 10 in Nashville.

By Tuesday, rescue opera-tions of stranded residents were winding down in Nashville, though emergency management offi cials were checking a report of a house fl oating in a northern neighborhood, trying to deter-mine if anyone was in it.

It remained unclear how many people were still reported missing. Communications and power had been cut in several areas of Nashville and outlying counties, and authorities were requesting residents to alert them if they believe someone might be missing.

In one neighborhood west of Nashville, residents scoured through debris, trying to deter-mine how much they’ve lost.

Luke Oakman fi nally got a look at the room he and his wife designed for their 11-month-old daughter after the family fl ed their Bellevue home on Sunday.

It was ruined. Baby toys and books sat on a mud-coated fl oor. The baby’s wooden bed leaned

back against a wall as a rock-ing chair was propped up by the child’s dresser that had been knocked over.

“I broke down when I saw that,” the 32-year-old lab work-er said Tuesday.

In Nashville, the Cumberland River also deluged some of the city’s most important revenue sources: the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Cen-ter, whose 1,500 guests were whisked to a shelter; the adja-cent Opry Mills Mall; even the Grand Ole Opry House, consid-ered by many to be the heart of country music.

Floodwaters also edged into areas of downtown, damaging the Country Music Hall of Fame and LP Field where the Tennes-see Titans play, though the Ry-man Auditorium — the long-time former home of the Grand Ole Opry — appeared to be OK. It was not immediately known how much damage the Hall of Fame or LP Field received.

Restaurants and bars clus-tered on a downtown street were closed Tuesday because of the power outage. Bar manager Susan Zoesch said the closure would be hardest on servers who rely on tips.

“We’re trying to fi gure out what we can do for them if we’re going to be shut down for a while,” Zoesch said.

Carly Horvat, 29, who lives in a downtown condo, ventured out with a few friends to look at damage Monday night.

“I have never heard the city so quiet,” Horvat said. “Usually, you hear whooping and holler-ing from Broadway.”

The fl ooding also prompted election offi cials to delay the city’s local primary, which had been set for Tuesday.

Damage estimates range into the tens of millions of dollars. Gov. Phil Bredesen declared 52 of Tennessee’s 95 counties disas-ter areas after fi nishing an aerial tour from Nashville to western Tennessee during which he saw fl ooding so extensive that tree-tops looked like islands.

Authorities and volunteers in fi shing boats, an amphibious tour bus and a canoe scooped up about 500 trapped vacationers at the Wyndham Resort along the river near Opryland on Monday. Rescuers had to steer through a maze of underwater hazards, including submerged cars, some with tops barely visible above fl oodwaters the color of milk chocolate.

The severity of the storms caught everyone off guard. More than 13.5 inches of rain-fall were recorded Saturday and Sunday, according to the Na-tional Weather Service, making for a new two-day record that doubled the previous mark.

The water swelled most of the area’s lakes, minor rivers, creeks, streams and drainage systems far beyond capacity. It fl owed with such force that bridges were washed out and thousands of homes were dam-aged. Much of that water then drained into the Cumberland, which snakes through Nash-ville.

The weekend storms also killed six people in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, including one man whose truck ran off the road and into a fl ooded creek. One person was killed by a tor-nado in western Tennessee.

The Cumberland topped out around 6 p.m. Monday at 51.9 feet, about 12 feet above fl ood stage — the highest it’s reached since 1937. It began to recede just in time to spare the city’s only remaining water treatment plant.

Still, about 50 Nashville schools were damaged and fl oodwaters submerged hun-dreds of homes in the Bellevue suburb alone, including Lisa Blackmon’s. She escaped with her dog and her car but feared she lost everything else.

“I know God doesn’t give us more than we can take,” said Blackmon, 45, who lost her job at a trucking company in De-cember. “But I’m at my break-ing point.”

FLOOD From page 1

FINAL EXAMSAll Day

FINAL EXAMSAll Day

COMMENCEMENTGreensboro Coliseum-8 a.m.

WASTE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE CERTIFICATE

CEREMONYMemorial Student Union, Exhibit

Hall12 p.m.

THE A&T REGISTERWould like

to congratulate

all graduating seniors. It has been a long road, and you should

enjoy your graduation.

CONGRATS!

WE WISH YOU

WELL.Newell said that many people

misunderstand what the purpose of the AggieAlert system is. Only in an emergecny situation where a threat to the campus community is still on campus, or it is unclear as to whether the threat is or is not on campus, will the system be put into use.

“A decision is made at the time as long, as it follows under our guidelines,” Newell said. “This situation did not.”

He also said that the Uni-versity did have the option of choosing to e-mail an update out after the fact, but chose not to.

“I guess we could have sent out an e-mail, certainly, but it did not warrant an AggieAlert.”

At the time of publication, it was still unknown as to whether or not the persons involved were students or non students.

Editor’s note:If you or someone you know

may have any information regard-ing this situation that may help the police, please stop by the University Police Station (Ward Hall) next to Cooper Hall and near the New Sci-ence Building on laurel Street. Or, you may call UPD at 336 334-7675. Police tips can be anonymous.

SHOOTING From page 1

Chief Newell: “this situation did not warrant activation of AggieAlert”

THIS IS THE LAST ISSUE OF THE YEAR!!!

THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH US! WE’LL SEE YOU IN

THE FALL.

theYARDThe A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010 3

Although it’s a scary thought, you may not get a job right after you graduate. But instead of sitting on your couch eating Cheetos waiting for a job to fall into your lap, try doing something productive that also will boost your resume.• Get an internship. Many companies won’t even hire you unless you’ve

interned with their company,so

why not look at an internship as an opportunity to impress your bosses and potentially score a full-time gig at the end of the trial run?• Travel the world. You’re young and most likely single, so what better time to travel the world? After you land a full-time job and start a family, there may not be another opportu-nity to scale the Alps, surf in Australia

or visit the Queen of England.• Do nonprofit work. Have you always wanted to build houses in a developing country or teach children English? Take your time off as a blessing, because you can do that now. Not only will the experience be personally reward-ing, but it also may impress potential employers.

Are you unsure about what field you want to break into but know you want to work as soon as possible? You’re in luck, because according to Forbes (www.forbes.com), these three professions are hiring now:

• Paralegal at bankruptcy or foreclosure firm. These firms are espe-cially busy in this economy, which means they need a bigger staff. Generally, the legal field is no longer firing, and as of April 1, 26 percent of the field said they would be hiring. The positions available range from administrative and support staff to high-paid lawyers.

• Sales and business development. As of the second quarter, 10 per-cent of the field plans to hire additional staff.

• Information technology. The industry comes in third, with 5 percent hiring by April.

Who’s not hiring: • Finance and accounting. Forbes says negative 1 percent of these

fields have the intention of hiring right now.If you’d rather take a different approach to getting hired, consider

researching individual companies. Some are known to treat employees better than others, and many have higher hiring rates than others. CNN Money (http://money.cnn.com) has the top five companies to work for, and the companies hiring now.

ToP comPanIeS To work For:• SaS: The world’s largest privately owned software company, this

employer offers its staff great benefits. Included are high-quality child care at $•10 a month, 90 percent coverage of the health care premium, unlimited sick days, a free medical center staffed by four physicians and 10 nurse practitioners, a free 66,000 square foot fitness center and nata-torium, a lending library and a summer camp for children. On top of that, the company’s turnover is the nation’s lowest at 2 percent.

• edward Jones: Also on the list of companies hiring now, this invest-ment adviser company hasn’t laid off a single employee or closed any of its 12,615 offices. Impressive, huh?

• wegmans Food markets: This grocery company was rated one of the best in the nation, and has astonishingly never had a layoff in its 9•-year history.

• Google: They’re hiring again! Reports say Google will add thou-sands of employees in 2010. The company also added a stock-option exchange program last year to help employees with underwater options. And music to your ears, 20 percent of each employees’ time is devoted to a project of his or her choosing.

• nugget market: This lesser-known supermarket chain has frequent employee-appreciation events. Another perk? Upon being hired, employees receive cards for 10 percent off of $500 of groceries every month.

comPanIeS HIrInG now:• edward Jones: The company has more than 600 openings for financial

advisors and branch office administrators. They’re looking for self-starters who put the client’s interests first and like working with and helping people. Their advice to prospective employees? Make sure you understand the job, have past stable work experience and an appropriate commitment level.

• wegmans Food markets: Also one of the best companies to work for, the grocery chain has 1,500 openings for jobs such as customer-service team members, chefs, team leaders and department managers. They’re looking for food enthusiasts and people who are passionate about good service. Their perfect employee is someone committed to con-tinuous learning, with diverse experiences who exemplifies the values of caring for and respecting others.

• Google: In addition to being one of the top companies to work for, Google has 1,000 openings in software engineering, user-experience researching, product marketing, finance and human resources. They want people who thrive in ambiguous situations and are energized by complex challenges. An employee must be passionate about technol-ogy and committed to the community.

• Qualcomm: This software designer has more than 600 openings for engineering and business positions including software engineers, digital design engineers, patent counselors, architects and product marketing directors. They’re looking for people with a passion for technology and a desire to innovate. Their advice? Do research on the company and be self-aware.

• cisco: With close to 600 openings, this company is offering careers in engineering and design organization, services, product managing, sales, finance, marketing, IT, manufacturing, supply chain and human resources. They want strong collaborators who have a focus on execu-tion and know the needs of organization. They advise prospective employers to ask good questions at the interview.

S O U R C E S : U . S . B U R E A U O F L A B O R S TAT I S T I C S ; F O R B E S ( W W W. F O R B E S . C O M ) ; C N N M O N E Y ( H T T p : / /M O N E Y. C N N . C O M ) ; YA H O O H O T J O B S ( H T T p : / / H O TJ O B S . YA H O O. C O M ) ; W W W. M A k I N G I T I N T H E C I T Y. C O M .

GRAD JOB HUNTMcclATcHy-TRiBUNe

as the U.S. unemployment rate teeters at just under 10 percent, let’s face it: It’s a scary time to graduate. with

thousands of americans facing unemployment despite their long histories in the work force, you’re lucky if you’re

graduating with a job lined up.

Getting hired certainly isn’t as easy as it used to be, but there are ways to rise to the occasion. and let’s look on the bright side: according to a march 9 Bureau of Labor

Statistics release, there were 2.7 million job openings on the last business day in January,

boosting that rate to 2.1 percent.

By narrowing in on the fields and companies that are hiring, specializing your networking skills and gaining

some life experience, landing the job of your dreams is not so far out of reach.

By Molly Klinefelter, Mcclatchy-triBune

Even with all this knowledge, it can be hard to land a job, especially in this economy. These tips from Yahoo! Hot Jobs (http://hotjobs.yahoo.com) will assist you in making connections all over the business world.

• Personalize your resume. For every job you apply to, alter your resume a bit to emphasize the qualities that prospective employer is looking for. That way, your resume will pop off the page instead of getting lost in an inbox.

• network, network, network. Use your public interactions as a way to make connections. Employers agree they’d rather hire someone they know than a complete stranger.

• Use the web. The Internet is a huge resource for employers, and by registering with career Web sites and doing your research on specific companies, you’ll be more educated than your competition.

• Follow up. Whether you’ve just interviewed with a prospective employer or met a possible connection at the grocery store, e-mail or call them within a few days to thank them or further discuss your career. This way, your name won’t fade out of their mind.

• Be patient. Finding a job isn’t easy, so don’t expect to be employed within a month. Don’t give up if you haven’t heard back from prospec-tive employers; just be more persistent.

Does the word “networking” scare the living daylights out of you? It’s not

as hard as it seems. “Making It in the City,” a book and Web site (www.mak-ingitinthecity.com) founded by writer Adina kalish Neufeld to help others adapt to living in a big city with no money, resources or connections, gives the basic networking tips.

• The Golden rule: Multiply your connections. When you meet some-one helpful, ask him or her for five other names and their contact infor-mation.

• keep your hands and mouth free. It’s hard to meet people when you’re holding a plate and your mouth is full of food.

• Do your research. know who the top people are and what’s going on in the field. That way, if you unexpectedly run into a connection at Starbucks, you’ll have something to talk about.

• know the guest list. Before an event, find out who’s going to be there so you can practice your conversation and read up on a particular person.

• Introduce yourself. people will be impressed if you know who they are and take the initiative to approach them. Be honest and confident, but avoid sounding over-enthusiastic.

• ask about them. people love talking about themselves, and if you ask them advice on how to break into the business, they’ll probably tell you how they did it.

• Dress for the occasion. Don’t show up in a suit and tie if you’re going to a backyard barbecue. Wear something comfortable. You don’t want to be in scratchy fabric or too-tight pants; it’ll end up making you feel insecure.

• assert yourself without being annoying. Don’t take up too much of someone’s time, but ask if you can contact them in the future, or if they can give you someone’s information that may be of interest to you.

• Practice your handshake! Many people judge people at first solely on how they shake hands.

• Say their name. Not only will this help you remember their name, but they’ll be impressed you remembered, as well.

• Bring your resume and business card. You never know when you’ll need it.

• Don’t get discouraged. If you’re not the best conversationalist, it’s Ok. Not everyone can talk to a wall. keep it one-on-one so you’ll feel more comfortable.

illustrations by Paul traP/mct

GRADS ON THE HUNT FOR THAT ELUSIVE

FINDING A JOB

MARKET YOURSELF

NETWORKING

OTHER OPTIONS THAN A JOB

theWORLD4 The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Failed attack worries residents

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cleanup and containment of a massive oil slick resumed Tuesday as winds eased in the Gulf of Mex-ico and people along beaches and bayous waited to fi nd out just how badly it might damage the delicate coast.

So far only sheens have reached some coastal waters. The oil has lingered in the Gulf for two weeks, despite an un-capped seafl oor gusher. The slow movement has given crews and volunteers time to lay boom in front of shorelines, an effort stymied by choppy seas over the weekend.

Rig operator BP PLC con-tinued to try to cap one of the smaller of three leaks, which if successful, could make it easier to install a containment system over the well.

BP’s chief executive said a containment dome designed to cover the principal leak will be on the seabed Thursday, and will be hooked up to a drill ship over the weekend.

CEO Tony Hayward stressed to reporters in Washington that the procedure had never been done before at a depth of nearly a mile below the water’s sur-face.

The plan is to cover the leak with a 98-ton concrete-and-met-al box structure known as a cof-ferdam, and funnel the oil to the surface, but Hayward cautioned “there’s no guarantees.”

The uncertainty has been try-ing for people who live along a swath of the Gulf from Louisi-ana to Florida. The undersea well has been spewing 200,000 gallons a day since an April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that killed 11 workers. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd.

“The waiting is the hardest part,” said Dodie Vegas, 44, who rents rooms in her Bridge Side Cabins complex in Grand Isle, the southernmost tip of Louisiana.

BP has been unable to shut off the well, but crews have reported progress with a new method for cutting the amount of oil that reaches the surface. Results were encouraging but the approach is still being evalu-ated, BP and Coast Guard offi -cials said.

The latest satellite image of the slick, taken Sunday night, indicates that it has shrunk since last week, but that only means some of the oil has gone under-water.

The new image found oil covering about 2,000 square miles, rather than the roughly 3,400 square miles observed last Thursday, said Hans Graber of the University of Miami.

The effect on wildlife is still unclear. No oil was found on 29 dead endangered Kemp’s ridley turtles that were examined by experts after washing up on the beaches along the Mississippi coast over the past few days.

Meanwhile, crews haven’t been able to activate a shut-out valve underwater. Worse, it could take three months to drill sideways into the well and plug it with mud and concrete to stop the worst U.S. oil spill since the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska, leak-ing nearly 11 million gallons of crude.

BP said Monday it would compensate people for “le-gitimate and objectively verifi -able” claims from the explosion and spill, but President Barack Obama and others pressed the company to explain exactly what that means.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist toured an Escambia County emergency operations center and said while the Panhandle would see the fi rst impact from the spill, the entire state should be prepared.

“If and when it gets into the Gulf Stream, that will take it around the Gulf of Mexico po-tentially down to the Keys and up the Atlantic side.

Now, I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I want to be a real-ist. And I just think we all need to be prepared to do whatever we can to protect our state. It’s precious.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and other offi cials kept up their criticism of BP and the Coast Guard, saying they never pro-vided plans to protect the Loui-siana coast from an oil spill.

By all accounts, the disaster is certain to cost BP billions. But analysts said the company could handle it; BP is the world’s third-largest oil company and made more than $6 billion in the fi rst three months of this year. The oil spill has drained $32 billion from BP’s stock market value.

HARRY WEBER & VICKI SMITHAssociated Press Writer

Gulf Coast officials watch path of oil spill NEW YORK (AP) — Another

failed terrorist plot. Another mass sigh of relief.

The Times Square car bomb-ing attempt last weekend was just the latest in a long list of schemes that for nearly two decades have placed New York City squarely at the center of a sinister target. A breed of hard-ened wariness has taken hold for many New Yorkers — the price they must pay to live in the na-tion’s largest city.

“I’ve never felt as though I was out of a bull’s-eye,” said Lee Ielpi, a retired fi refi ghter whose son, also a fi refi ghter, died in the Sept. 11 attacks. “The event did not end on 9/11. The event has continued right on. ... These people are going to come back. Saturday just reinforces that.”

There have been at least nine planned terrorist attacks in the city since Sept. 11, 2001.

The terrorists involved hoped variously to destroy the Brook-lyn Bridge, to blow up fi nancial institutions, to smuggle explo-sive materials into the city, to detonate explosives on the sub-way, to release cyanide into the subway system, to ignite an air-port jet fuel pipeline and to col-lapse commuter train tunnels at ground zero

And, in 1993, there was the fi rst attack on the World Trade Center, where Islamic extrem-ists exploded a rented van load-ed with fertilizer in a parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 oth-ers.

More often than not, though, the schemes have failed. On Saturday, the smoking SUV was noticed without the explosives inside doing any damage.

But for New Yorkers, the question always remains: What

about next time?“One might fall through the

cracks. And that’s the greatest fear,” Long Island resident Jack Brijmohan said Monday, stand-ing on the corner where the smoking car bomb was parked a few days earlier. “There’s al-ways unguarded moments.”

The New York Police Depart-ment hopes there aren’t many of those. It’s setting up 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras covering lower Manhattan, and a similar effort is under way in the Times Square area.

The department embeds of-fi cers with foreign law enforce-ment agencies and sends them to the scenes of international terrorist attacks in an effort to share information and better understand and guard against similar violence.

Since Sept. 11, the NYPD has partnered with the FBI and other agencies to share intelli-gence through the Joint Terror-ism Task Force.

Offi cers randomly search bags on the subways, and teams of offi cers appear unannounced at high-profi le businesses to stand guard.

Still, there’s no way to be certain of catching every would-be attacker in a city that attracts so many visitors and so much attention.

“New York is always a tar-get,” said Joseph King, profes-sor of terrorism at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s a world capital. On top of that, it’s a Western capital. ... When people think of the Unit-ed States, they think of New York more than they think of Washington.”

From 1970 to 2007, New York was targeted in more ter-rorist attacks than Washington, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles combined. Of the 1,347 attacks during that time in the

U.S., 21 percent happened in New York City and 70 percent of those used bombs or explo-sives, according to a report by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Re-sponses to Terrorism.

The University of Maryland-based group defi nes a terror-ist attack as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non state actor to attain a political, economic, re-ligious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation.”

The Times Square suspect, whom authorities said they captured Monday as he tried to leave on a fl ight to Dubai, re-portedly told offi cials he acted alone.

For the investigators who work to discover such terror plans before they’re executed, one of the most worrisome pros-pects is just such a lone attacker — someone working without us-ing the communication methods that frequently allow authorities to catch plotters.

That sort of person is ex-tremely diffi cult to catch, said King, who used to be a U.S. De-partment of Homeland Security agent.

“You are looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said. “You’re looking for someone with no connections.”

To make it worse, the sort of bomb used in the SUV found Saturday is not particularly dif-fi cult to build, King said, adding that it really wasn’t that differ-ent from an earlier version of a car bomb that exploded on Wall Street some 90 years ago. That bomb, in a horse-drawn wagon, left shrapnel marks that can still be seen in the Financial Dis-trict.

There is a cachet attached to New York, former Mayor Ed Koch said Monday when asked why the city is targeted so often

by terrorists.“Frank Sinatra told us:

You make it here, you make it anywhere,” he said, adding that it seems the rule applies to terrorists as well.

And there is also a grimly pragmatic advantage for at-tackers in a city so densely populated that pedestrians frequently can’t even squeeze onto the midtown Manhattan sidewalks during rush hour.

“I don’t think you can fi nd a place with more people in a very concentrated area as you could on a Saturday night at 6:30 in Times Square,” said Robert Strang, CEO of secu-rity consulting fi rm Investi-gative Management Group, which advises some com-panies located near the car bomb.

Strang estimated the bomb could have killed hundreds of people there, especially if it hadn’t malfunctioned and had been driven into a the-ater or positioned to strike a subway station.

Still, these ongoing threats don’t seem to be enough to get New Yorkers to beat a retreat from the crowded streets — or from the me-tropolis itself.

After spending his 81 years in the city, Milton Gla-ser, the designer of the famed “I Love New York” logo, says he can’t imagine going anywhere else.

“Leaving this because it had suddenly gotten danger-ous ... it would be exactly like abandoning your par-ents,” he said Monday.

Glaser says he chooses not to live in fear of a pos-sibility.

“Who wants to spend time thinking about that?” he asked.

SAMANTHA GROSSAP Political Writer

New Congo rebel group sparks fear

For more information, contact your local ArmyRecruiter or visit us on line atwww.goarmy.com/info/h580

MBANDAKA, Congo (AP) — Eric Nkumu Bunita went to war armed only with some water and herbs he believed would protect him from gunfi re.

The skinny 27-year-old’s career as a fi ghter for Congo’s newest rebel movement lasted a mere four weeks.

Congo’s latest rebel move-ment, which Nkumu said is taking its orders from an exiled witchdoctor, is opening a new front in what was a relatively peaceful corner of this enor-mous Central African nation long brutalized by violent rebel groups.

An estimated 100 people have been killed and some 200,000 others have been displaced from their homes in more than six

months of fi ghting in which the rebels have defeated Congolese army troops several times, ac-cording to the United Nations.

Experts say the country’s new rebellion is gaining sup-port from armed militants loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, a warlord originally from Equateur prov-ince who is now facing trial at the International Criminal Court, as well as from disgrun-tled soldiers demobilized with-out benefi ts.

John Holmes, the U.N. chief for humanitarian affairs, visited Mbandaka over the weekend and warned in an interview with The Associated Press that the premature withdrawal of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as MONUC could worsen the situation in Congo.

Congo’s military says the situation in Equateur province

is “under control,” downplaying the implications of attacks that have stretched the resources of the largest and most expensive U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world and embarrassed the president.

The U.N. reports at least 8,300 rapes were committed against women in eastern Congo last year, averaging 160 rapes a week.

The new group, which calls itself Nzobo Yalobo according to Nkumu, has fed off of griev-ances about Equateur prov-ince being marginalized since its most famous son, former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was ousted in 1997 by a rebel-lion that splintered the country among various warlords.

It’s also called the Indepen-dent Liberation Movement of the Allies.

One month ago, this new rebel group in Equateur at-tacked the provincial capital of Mbandaka, defeating a small force of U.N. peace-keepers guarding the airport and overcoming scores of Congolese army troops to plunder other strategic targets — the main administrative compound, the governor’s offi ce and the governor’s residence.

The Congolese branch of the African Association of Human Rights in part blames local frustration that has mounted in Equateur amid arrests and detentions of peo-ple associated with Bemba, another son of Equateur and former warlord who is stand-ing trial in The Hague for al-leged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

MICHELLE FAULAssociated Press

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readers!!

Making the transition from a fresh-man to graduation is somewhat of a bit-tersweet experience, but understanding that the change has to be made is a con-cept worth cherishing.

Growing up I always thought the col-lege experience would be parallel to the television sitcom a “Different World”, however I’m humbled and appreciative that this journey will last more than in a 30 minute segment.

Even though the cast members var-ied from episode to episode the central theme remained the same for being hon-est, objective, and patient helped me get through the process even when the hur-dles seemed highest.

Coming from New York City step-ping into unfamiliar territory wasn’t as

diffi cult as a thought it would be, but I must admit not seeing land-marks surrounding my every move was an adjustment to say the least.

Taking advantage of all the resources avail-able to me in my earlier years was something I took for granted, how-

ever I’m glad to say that through it all I gradually got the memo.

Understanding that hard work and dedication ultimately will separate me from the rest of the pack, I’ve conscious-ly made the effort to put my best foot for-ward and hopefully I won’t step on too

many toes. Becoming more professional and rec-

ognizing that everything I do is a refl ec-tion of me and my skill set, we all as stu-dents have to raise the bar to make sure that were maximizing our full potential.

Refl ecting on my entire four years I’d like to say that I had no regrets but that wouldn’t be truthful, for my only regret was not embracing The “Aggie Nation” earlier in my academic career.

As I graduate I’ve come to grips with recognizing that walking across a stage is only the beginning of my journey, for life in general as Big Brother Anjan Basu would say “Life is a bunch of treadmills”, and quite frankly I feel I’m prepared so it’s “On to the Next One”.

Are youregisteredto VOTE?

The deadline is Oct. 10 in North Carolina.

GO ONLINE:www.sboe.state.nc.us/content.aspx?id=23

theWORDThe A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010 5

Dos dedos!My name is Anjan Basu. None of you should

know who I am. I am a graduate student and my graduate assistantship is as the Chief Copy Editor for the newspaper. My job is to proof and edit everything that goes into the paper. I’ve also tried to make the staff better writers.

This is my second time graduating from A&T. The last time was with my B.A. in 2003. Fast-forward seven years and I’m married, house, dog, and BOGO on the way (somehow, my wife is car-rying twins). And I’m walking away from this place with a M.A. When I look at my life right

now, before I walk again, I’m overwhelmed with my blessings. At times, I feel slack-jawed and starry-eyed. But, I remind myself to never stop being thankful about being thankful.

To the staff of The Register, I will sincerely miss you. I know that I had to be a shock to your system, but after a while, I think we all learned how to work with each other. We put out a great product every week, on time. The fact that we worked with each other for two years, and won crazy awards, means something. I know we’re all friends on Facebook, but I’m terrible at keeping in touch. Even if we don’t speak again for the next 5 years, if you ever need any-thing, the Basu home is open to you. You can drop by unannounced, it’s cool. I believe in all of you. I fully expect each of you to be wildly successful, but more important, happy. If you are not, I will yell at you till you decide to be happy again. I’m dead donkey butt serious.

To all the people that are getting this Master’s in English/ Afri-can-American literature, I am thankful that I had such great com-panions to walk this path with me. To my professors: “O Captain, My Captain.” Anything you say is a good idea, I will follow ea-gerly. My most humble gratitude is reserved for you all.

A&T never stopped believing in me, even when I was giving them plenty of reason to give up. I was a terrible student.

I didn’t work hard. I had no work ethic. I managed to squeak through everything, and just barely. And what was worse, I was cool with it. But I’m grown now. I pay property taxes and push strollers. If you believe in yourself half as much as A&T, you might be OK in life. Be proud about yourself. Do your work. Your job is being a student. Come to work, and do work. Everything else will work itself out.

Shouts to ENGL 101, section 016. Ya’ll were real fun this year.And…I’m out.Anjan (20 Questions) Basu

ANJANBASU

My Senior Farwell

CARLTON NINO BROWN

North Carolina A&T: Home of questionable caf-eteria food, dedicated party-goers, frustrating administra-tive services, and some of the most interesting people you may ever meet. How I miss thee already.

It’s been four long years and I’d be lying if I said I’m not ready to leave, but I en-joyed my time here and I like to keep my goodbyes as short as possible.

My experiences in Aggie-land have been both educa-tional and entertaining. Since freshman year, I feel I’ve been able to enjoy almost all the pleasures that A&T has to of-fer its students and some of the headaches, too.

I’ve had the opportunity to see Flavor Flav dance with the band in the halftime show dur-ing “The Greatest Homecom-ing on Earth” and see A&T

make national news over the controversy of Gucci Mane performing at the homecom-ing concert.

I’ve seen students get-ting lap dances in the caf on nights when

music was played and I’ve seen people who don’t even at-tend A&T show up in some of their cleanest clothes just for Wing Night. I’m even proud to say that I was a student of a HBCU when the fi rst Black president of the United States was elected, even though I didn’t get the chance to jump into the fountain or dance on the cars of complete strangers with my classmates in all the excitement.

I can say that as I come to

the end of my undergraduate experience I will probably miss the free house parties, random cookouts, Halo parties and of course my friends who have become more like family to me over the years, including my co-workers at the Register, most of all. By the time I return to Ag-gieland, no longer as a student, but as an alumni I will probably also miss the benefi ts of paying a small athletic fee to watch the football team lose instead of the full price of a ticket.

As I begin my career, I will always remember the profes-sors who drilled AP style, his-tory, and too many formulas to remember into my mind from my earlier years coming to the university.

I will remember my friends who supported me, annoyed me and prayed for me, and even those who put me in some pretty awkward positions at

times. I plan to take everything that

I have learned and not only use it to advance in my career but also compound on it to better myself.

In the time I’ve spent here, I have had the chance to not only meet people from all walks of life but to also learn more about my own culture and history. Coming out of an HBCU rich in Black history and centered in a community with so much his-tory of its own has truly been a rewarding experience for me because, as the saying goes, you can’t know where you’re going without knowing where you’ve been.

To all of my family at A&T, student and faculty alike, I wish everyone the best. I really don’t know any other way to close my farewell to A&T ex-cept with one last enthusiastic “Aggie Pride!”

MARCUSTHOMPSON

On to the Next One

AGGIE

LIFE

Bittersweet“I’m sorry you can’t get your honors cords, be-

cause you’ve retaken some classes.” These words, like a dagger struck me in the heart, leaving me speechless and confused. In a rage I stormed out of the Registrar offi ce feeling betrayed. The classes that I’ve retaken still were calculated into my graduation cumulative GPA to receive honors, leaving me decimal points away from my cum laude graduation honors. What was I to do now? Fight for my cord, go study for my fi nal, fi nish squaring away graduation plans? With graduation only days away, I couldn’t rationally think of any-

thing besides, “I’m ready to get out of here!”In the fi nal weeks of my stay at North Carolina A&T State Uni-

versity, I fi nd it hard to reminisce on the good times. To say the least I have a host of memories from my matriculation at this institution. From showing my Aggie Pride at Football games with the Aggie Maniacs, to getting ready for battle of the Hometowns fashion show with NYNJ Connection, or concrete canoe challenge for ASCE’s spring conferences, or more recently winning the Homecoming Step Show with my sorors in the Alpha Phi Chapter. Still my mind seems to stray from these fond thoughts. Instead, all I can think of is STRESS.

This feeling may come as no surprise to fellow graduates. The hassle of dealing with fi nancial aid to ensure there aren’t any holds or additional charges on my account, nor issues with the registrar’s offi ce, still doesn’t trump the mounding pressure of fi nals. This race to the fi nish is a week, crammed with fi nals and presentations, with not even the satisfaction of a “Reading Day” (and Saturday does not count). With a schedule of fi nals leading up to the day before we walk across the stage, I fi nd myself pleading with professors to reschedule exams, just so I can receive my honors at banquets within the same week. This is ridiculous and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth before leaving A&T.

The problem surrounding this dilemma is scheduling. For exam-ple, Fisk University holds fi nals for seniors on the Monday, Tues-day and Wednesday prior to their traditional Monday graduation. Final grades are in by that Wednesday evening to notify students if they have completed all of their graduation requirements. A&T on the other hand, won’t post fi nal grades until after we have already walked across the stage, turned our tassels, and begun a new chap-ter in our lives. I’m simply proposing a senior week that allows for a smooth transition to graduation. Allowing seniors the opportunity to fi nish with fi nals a week prior to the rest of the student body will open up space in computer labs, enable us to fi nish getting grades and on campus business squared away prior to our fi nal walk. Hampton, Howard, Fisk, Tuskegee, and a host of other HBCUs and PWIs have senior weeks similar to what is being proposed.

I’m airing this out in hopes that others will be prepared for there fi nal weeks. It may be too late for me to get things straight, but it hurts more that I can’t even enjoy the friends and for some family that I have gained here at A&T. Looking back after graduation I don’t want to feel like I was unable to cherish those fi nal moments due to fi nals, and running around that could have been prevented. I cherish all that I have gained at this institution and wish I could honor each and every person that helped make me the person I am today, yet I’m stuck in McNair fi nalizing projects and studying for fi nals. My hope is that graduating classes will be able to enjoy this time, even if I can’t. All in all, leaving A&T seems bitter sweet.

BREEPELHAM

Have aWONDERFUL

Summer!

I found this quote in a church program one Sun-day and it has stuck with me since that day and pretty much sums up my Aggie experience.

This has been a LONG & HARD four years for me here at A&T with a lot of ups and downs but I thank God for seeing me through it.

From being on the basket-ball team to being an editor of the A&T Register to running for Miss A&T, everything that I have done has been a part of God’s plan and I have trusted Him every time to get me through.

There have been more good times than bad in my experience and for that I am grateful. I enjoyed meeting new people and all of the opportunities that have been awarded to me.

I am most happy with the fact that despite all of the drama and hardships that I have gone through, every-thing happened in the end. If I had not stopped playing basketball,

I would not have been able to start writing for the A&T Register and run for Miss A&T. If I had not been able to do certain things that

I wanted to do, then I would not be able to set myself up for the future.

My faith in God has helped me through some of the hard times that I have expe-rienced and

made me fight even harder for my second chance.

Don’t ever count me out be-cause by you telling me what I can and can’t do, you motivate me to work even harder to get the things that I want.

Nobody can deter me or stand in my way or keep me from doing something because I know that I have something to offer this world and I will get the chance to show it and meet my goals.

I would like to thank all of the people who have supported me during my time here. Peo-ple still come up to me and say that they supported me when I played basketball and cheered for me whenever I scored or even got in the game.

I still remember that and it did not go unnoticed. I also still get people who say that they supported me during my cam-paign for Miss A&T and voted

for me. Every day I think about the people who helped me get as far as I did and I am eternally grateful to them.

I have never been a person to change who I was in order to fit in or be accepted by anyone.

I would like to think that I am the same person now as I was when I stepped foot on this campus in 2006.

Although I have grown and of course there are some things that are different, I am proud of myself for staying true to who I am and not changing for any-thing or anybody.

I am content with my expe-rience here at A&T and even though I haven’t been able to do everything that I wanted to do, I would like to think that I’ve done everything that GOD wanted me to do.

I know that there is a season and time for everything and if I continue to work hard, every-thing that I want to do will hap-pen someday for me.

I would like to thank the en-tire Register staff for all of the laughs over the past two and a half years that I have worked here.

The office has become some-what of a second home for me and I have enjoyed (just about) every moment that I have spent here.

Good Luck on the rest of your exams, and

have a safe and wonderful summer!

-The Register Staff

Editor’s note:The opinions expressed on The Word are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the staff of The A&T Register. All house editorials are written and revised with input from the editorial board, staff, and are approved by the editor. All submissions must be sent to theatregister@gmail.com to be considered for submission and should be no longer than 250 words. Submissions must be received by the Sunday prior

to publication at 5 p.m. to be considered. The A&T Register reserves the right to edit all submission content for clarity and grammar. Submissions become the property of The A&T Register and will not be returned.

theWORD6 The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010

STACIEBAILEY

LAPORSHALOWRY

DEXTERMULLINS

It’s so hard to say goodbyeI Dexter Rashuad Mullins,

being of sound mind, do hereby leave my final wishes for North Carolina A&T State University below.

To start, I would like to thank several people, and leave them each with the knowledge that they led me to success.

To Professor DeWayne Wick-ham, you have inspired me more than anyone I have ever studied under, and I truly feel privileged to have ever had you as a pro-fessor, a mentor, and more im-portantly, as a friend. You have taught me that journalism is tru-ly a labor of love, and that all I need to be successful is motiva-tion and a dream. To you I leave one of Pulitzer prizes I hope to eventually win, with the knowl-edge that I wouldn’t have been able to get there without you.

To Professors Gail Wiggins, Valerie Neiman, Dr. Teresa Styles, Dr. Sheila Whitley, Dr. Linda Callahan, and any other professor in the journalism de-partment who has helped not only myself, but all of the other JOMC students, who will actu-ally amount to something. Those of you that do not teach in two states at the same time, receive two pay checks and double ben-efits, and anyone who does not bully and disrespect the people who have paved the way for you to have your highly paid job, corner office, or sense of intouchability, I leave all the

gratitude my heart can give. To Mrs. Emily Harris, I leave

you a piece of my heart. You have allowed me to lead by example, to learn through mistake, and to develop and grow through expe-rience, all while giving me guid-ance and comfort when I needed it most. You more than anyone else, deserve a raise, a personal secretary, a bigger office (that actually has climate control), a reserved parking space, your own personal technician for the newsroom, and the requirement to have to only advise the news-paper and not teach. I hope this will suffice as a thank you.

You all are the beacons of hope and kindness in the Jour-nalism Department, and to each of you I leave you with a big-ger office, two secretaries, and enough vacation time to make up for every time the department dumped 15 projects on your lap and expected you to singlehand-edly handle all of them. Some-how you have always managed to pull off the impossible, and someone that great does not deserve to have to work out of an office filled with the work of other people.

To the University Adminis-tration as a whole, I leave sev-eral copies of Thomas Paine’s 88-page pamphlet entitled “Common Sense.” It’s been working for millions since 1918, read it and learn something.

To the Treasurer’s Office,

Financial Aid Office, and Bookkeeping Office, I leave you all with an intensive customer ser-vice training, and the re-quirement that none of you will be able

to work again until you have passed this training. While not all of you have done wrong, the vast majority of you treat the students as though they are a burden, when they are your pur-pose. Lets try to remember our purpose and focus on it: helping students.

To the Admissions Office, I leave you with a set of admis-sions standards and a physical cut off deadline for admissions. Please use these items to stop admitting Quetta & Kwan stu-dents that are doing nothing but tarnishing the reputation and image of this great institution we all call home. This is not a second chance high school, it’s a top tier university. Start treat-ing it as such.

To the Technology Depart-ment, I leave you with real technology and the people who actually know how to use it, ad-minister it, and teach it. I also leave you with enough “Com-mon Sense” (see above) to keep the people who actually deserve

to work here like Ruby. Don’t abuse your assets. You may not have them for long if you do. As Chancellor Martin said, we need to put the T, back into A&T.

To the Offices of Student De-velopment, Orientation & First Year Experience, and the Divi-sion of Student Affairs, I leave you with several things: first my gratitude for all you have done for me. Many people do not real-ize how much work you do, and I want to publicly acknowledge and appreciate you. However, I also leave you with much need-ed staffing, more leadership to spread the workload across the scale more evenly, and a friend-lier environment at the most stressful times of the year.

Additionally, the following people in Student Development deserve offices with a window, a reserve parking space, a raise, and a formal thank you from the University: Shauna Irwin, Ro-salyn Parker, Jeremicus Porter, and Shakietha Burnette.

To the Department of Hous-ing & Residence Life, I leave you with the ability to listen to and respect your student (or as you like to say “paraprofes-sional”) staff, and a promotion for the following people: Teron Martin, Elfrida Mensah and Jer-maine Foye. Please give them whatever position they desire as they can clearly run the en-tire department without having a student uprising. I also leave

you with the rehiring of Mr. Clency as the Executive Direc-tor of Housing upon Mr. Jones’ retirement.

To Chancellor Harold L. Martin, Sr. I leave you with a list of administrators that have caused nothing but grief, strug-gle, and heartache for the stu-dents on this campus. The list will state specifically why each of them deserves a pink slip, effective immediately. More importantly, I leave you with a humble request; please don’t leave. Some of us have seen as few as one and as many as four chancellors over the course of the last six years. I would really love it if someone would actu-ally stay and help A& T, instead of using it. I love my school, and I also love how much you love A&T, as it is your alma mater as well. Which is why I also leave you with the abil-ity to cut through the red tape, “Aggie Shuffle,” and lies so that you can see the bullying and po-litical nonsense that plagues this campus.

To the Award Winning A&T Register, I leave you with not only your editorial and staffing independence, but also the tools and motivation to become finan-cially independent. Also, I leave you with the privilege of joining the centennial club of collegiate newspapers. The Register has been around since 1893 and it’s been working for student rights,

advocating the truth, and serving as a training ground for journal-ists. Counting up all the gaps in publications, and analyzing the dates, it’s about time someone told you Happy Birthday.

To my staff, I don’t know that I have anything of worldly val-ue that I could give that would be able to express my gratitude enough. Each of you has made an impact on my life, and each of you are special to me in your own ways. I leave you all with my infinite support and trust, and all the thanks in the world. But especially to Malcolm Eu-stache, I thank you. I would not have been able to do half the things I did this year without you.

To Jasmine Johnson & Kelcie McCrae, I leave you the keys to the office and my phone number should you ever need to call me. It is your turn to take the helm of arguably the best black colle-giate newspaper in the country, and despite the challenges you face ahead of you, I know you will do well. Good luck.

And to the students of this campus, I leave you with a sense of REAL Aggie Pride. Your attendance at this institu-tion is a privilege, not a right. Stand tall, respect your history, and go forth in the pursuit of ex-cellence, as only Aggies can do. Remember A&T really means “Assemble & Take OVER.” Do so.

True Life: I worked for The A&T RegisterI’d like to begin by saying

thank you to everyone who has ever edited, contributed to, read or commented on any of my ar-ticles. Regardless of what you thought of it, I appreciate you taking the time to read it at all.

Working for The A&T Reg-ister has been an experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I went from writing as an intern to becoming a staff writer to earning a position as the Online Editor of the newspaper’s web-site. I have come a long way and I can’t help but reflect on how this newspaper and its staff has helped me grow not only in my major/profession, but as a per-son. For every editor that I’ve worked under: Mike McCray, Aasiya Townsell and Dexter Mullins…I love you guys. To the wonderful staff who put up with my strange eating habits, I thank you. From late nights working to helping deliver pa-pers on campus by foot, I’m proud to have worked with all of you. Mrs. Harris! I miss you, but I know you are being an awesome mom as you have been to all of us; Connor is lucky to have you in his life.

Dexter, you are just amazing as a person and I can honestly say you pushed us to our limits but it was always in our best in-terest. In my eyes, you are the BEST in Print. Period. Malcolm, you are like a brother to me, and I love the mess out you; you

are definitely going to high places. I loved being the only female in the back office and listening to you, Dan-iel, Chad and Anjan have your “male” conversations

and allowing me to put my two cents in every now and then. Daniel, you are one of the hard-est working black man that I know and I admire you for all that you do; I know you’re go-ing far. Chad, thank you for the rides to the News & Record, but definitely for always being someone I can talk to if I had questions about writing, editing, journalism, etc.

Anjan, dude, you are like one of the realest people I know. Real talk, you remind me of my dad because of your sense of humor and genuine care for all of us in the newsroom. LaPor-sha, girl, your play lists are out of this world! I swear you have literally every song ever made and they’re always in good taste. Ashley! I don’t even have to tell you how much I’m go-ing to miss seeing you and ap-proaching you for a hug. Carl-ton Brown, I have no words for our friendship, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it. By the way, I’ll get dinner, but dessert

is on you (inside joke). Kenny, you are a part of the Register family that seemed to be miss-ing a lot, but you were always and will be family to me.

To the soon to be upperclass-men: Kelcie, you are a trip and I love that about you. You are so silly just like me and we mesh so well together. Jasmine, you are truly one of a kind; you keep it real at all times and that’s the kind of people I like to be around.

I know you’ll take care of things as the next Editor in Chief. Ken, you are really some-thing else.

You are who you are and you don’t try to be anyone else, I respect that about you. Thanks for providing awesome photos for the website…tell your mom thanks for keeping me in check in getting the site up in a timely manner. Sylvia, you bring a cer-tain Jersey flavor to the news-room; don’t change for anyone in or outside of GCB 328.

I hope my editorials made a difference to all who read them and I really appreciate the love I was shown for writing them.

To those who feel like The Register went hard on any group, individual, etc…you’ll be alright. As a part of the editorial staff, I’m pretty non-apologetic for us doing our job. And for the record…I worked for The A&T RegistER, not the RegistrAR. –S. Beezy

Life is not always fair, but God is ALWAYS faithful

7The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010

theSCOREAGGIESRUNDOWNbASEbAll

Bethune_Cookman 15-0 29-18N.C. A&T 12-3 22-23Delaware State 8-7 12-16Coppin State 6-8 12-28Norfolk State 6-9 16-22-1FAMU 3-12 10-27UMES 3-14 5-38

THIS WEEK’S GAME:Saturday@ Coppin StateBaltimore, Md.2 p.m.

Saturday@ Coppin StateBaltimore, Md.5 p.m.

Sunday@ Coppin StateBaltimore, Md.2 p.m.

TEAM MEAC OVR.

SOfTbAll

Howard 8-1 18-16N.C. A&T 8-1 18-20Morgan State 6-3 25-22Bethune-Cookman 8-4 21-32Delaware State 7-5 23-18Coppin State 7-5 20-18FAMU 4-5 11-12 MSU 3-6 7-16S.C. State 3-6 6-33Norfolk State 3-9 10-27MD Eastern Shore 0-12 1-28

THIS WEEK’S GAMES:Saturdayvs. Bethune-CookmanDaytona Beach, Fla.1 p.m.

Sundayvs. Bethune-CookmanDaytona Beach, Fla.12 p.m.

TEAM MEAC OVR.

NCAADAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — North Carolina State athletic direc-tor Lee Fowler is resigning on June 30 ending a 10-year run with the school. N.C. State said it will honor Fowler’s contract, which expires Sept. 20, 2013, and pays him $280,000 per year. The Associated Press

Aggies head into MEAC tourney as No. 2 seed

Photo by kENNETH HAwkiNs • THe A&T RegisTeR

sENiOr GEOrGE HiNEs and the Aggies swept Delaware state in their home tripleheader this past weekend. The wins give them the second seeding in the upcoming MeAC tournament.

Senior Day was a success for Aggies baseball and its six seniors as they came away with an 8-2 win over Delaware State.

The victory capped a three-game series sweep and clinched the second seed in the upcoming MEAC tournament.

The Aggies (22-23, 12-3 MEAC) jumped ahead early on Sunday, scoring a run in each of the first two innings in-cluding a solo shot by Kelvin Freeman in the second.

With a 2-0 lead going into the third inning the Aggies put

some padding on the lead scor-ing 3 more runs.

With one out, sophomore Marquis Riley hit a two run homer after Xavier Macklin was walked.

The Aggies managed three more hits in the third inning in-cluding a RBI single from se-nior infielder James Howard.

Freshman Brent Moore al-lowed just two hits and three walks in six shutout innings as the starting pitcher.

Delaware State didn’t score a run until the final inning and by then the Aggies had already scored eight runs on 13 hits.

Howard and Freeman both finished the game with three hits in four at bats to lead the

Aggies and combined for three RBI. The Aggies outscored Delaware State 28-7 in the two games on Saturday.

The first game was a 17-2 blowout that was ended early because of the 10 run rule.

The Aggies hit five homer-uns in this game, two of which came in a five-run first inning.

Alex Grubb hit his first of two homeruns for the game and Riley hit his fifth of the season in the opening inning.

The Aggies were well on their way to victory with a 9-2 advantage going into the bot-tom of the fourth inning when they exploded for five more runs.

They would score another

three runs in the sixth in-ning off of a three-run homer from senior outfielder George Hines.

Starter Esterlin Paulino, reigning MEAC Pitcher of the Week had plenty of run sup-port in his six innings of work and improved to 6-2 on the season.

His 2.98 ERA is the best among the Aggies starting pitchers.

A&T will play at Coppin State in a tripleheader begin-ning Saturday at 2 p.m.

The second game will take place that same day at 5 p.m. and will be followed by Sun-day’s final game at 2 p.m.

PriNCE AskEwRegister Reporter

Aggie softball defeat

spartans

AROUNDSPORTS

Seniors Lillian Bullock and Jessie Larson made their final game at the Lady Aggies Soft-ball Complex one to remem-ber. Larson’s hit led to the game-winning run that was scored by Bullock in a 6-5 win over Norfolk State Sunday af-ternoon.

Bullock, who will finish at the school’s all-time leader in home runs, went 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI. The senior duo who grew up thousands of miles from Greensboro, made their im-pact felt again during the sev-enth inning of Sunday’s game. The Aggies trailed 5-3 going into the final inning of regu-lation. A triple by freshman Hope Fletcher put the Aggies to within one as senior Yaha-mma White scored.

Bullock stepped up and singled to left to tie the game as Fletcher scored.

The most clutch player for the Aggies this season - Lar-son - stepped to the plate and promptly singled an 0-1 pitch to right field.

A hustling Bullock ad-vanced to second and then forced the issue by attempting to take third.

Her effort drew a throw from Spartan right fielder Sar-ah Spanka. The throw was an errant one, allowing Bullock to score the game-winner to end the game.

Bullock’s extra effort helped the Aggies (25-22) win their seventh straight. The Ag-gies also improved to 7-1 in the MEAC’s Southern divi-sion and hold on to first place.

sTAFF rEPOrTsThe A&T Register

Morris Ricks II is a 20-year-old sophomore Journalism major transfer student from Raleigh, NC. What sets Ricks apart from other students here at NC A&T is that he’s also a well-acclaimed rapper. His stage name is King Mez and if you Google him you’ll find a series of links that show he’s not just your average wannabe rap artist.

King Mez started rapping at 16. He credits his interest in rapping to his two parents, both of whom rapped back when they were younger. His father almost got signed to Bad Boy but had to go into the army before the deal went through. He also credits his interest to the fact that he grew up around music.

King Mez compares his style to rappers like Nas, Tribe Called Quest, and Lupe Fiasco. “I would call my music inspirational. I encourage people to be true to themselves. When I first started rapping I just wanted to be the

best but now I pay attention to the message of my music,” said King Mez.

His creative process is varies, “When I’m in the in the studio the lyrics tend to just come to me, and I just make the lyrics up as I go. When I’m given beats I pre-write my lyrics. That’s what I’m trying to do more on my future projects; it makes my lyrics more precise.

King Mez has been featured

on popular hip-hop websites such as hiphopdx.com, djbooth.net, illroots.com. He even was featured in Genesis Magazine.

As far as what’s next for him, he has performances in Manhattan, Virginia Beach, and San Francisco. He also has an upcoming mix tape coming up entitled The Paraplegics. He’s also trying to get a record deal with help from Play of Kid & Play.

Scene heard&

cam’ron refusesdipset

reunion!He recently turned down

offers to record a Dipset reunion album, “Diplomacy Immunity 3,” after Jones made a peace offering on Hot 97’s Funk Master Flex radio show.

“My year is booked up. I don’t have time for that,” he says. “I wish them the best of luck. Maybe next year we can sit down and talk, but no time soon. Right now, I’m focused on ‘Crime Pays’ and the rest of my 2009 plan.”

dash to resurrectrocafella records

Dash is resurrecting Roc-A-Fella Records and plans to make Curren$y’s Pilot Talk the label’s first new release on June 15.

-J.V

thescene8 The A&T Register | ncatregister.com | Wednesday, May 5, 2010

1. After the fire by Village 6, can we say ‘stop, drop, and roll’? 2. How many of you forgot that Mother’s Day is this Sunday? 3. What are you going to get her? 4. Do you need to borrow money from your mom to get her a present? 5. Is that your definition of “grown?” 6. How many of you aren’t coming back in August when you still need credits? 7. Realer than that, how many of you will be missed? 8. How many of you feel some kind of way having to congratulate your friends that are graduating? 9. Was it your fault that you’re in this situation? 10. Did you know you could work hard and make amends for past mistakes? 11. To the graduating class of 2010, what do you have planned for Monday, May 10th? 12. You hear about the laptop stealing organization? 13. Did you know some 40 laptops have been stolen from around the Village? 14. Did you know there was a technology thief at A&T? 15. Is that gangsta, gangsta, gangsta grizillz? 16. What ever happened to the good ol’ weed-man? 17. With a hyphen in it, doesn’t weed-man sound like a superhero? 18. Wouldn’t a class trip to Myrtle Beach be dope? 19. Like back in high school? 20. How many of you never did any of that class trip stuff because you went to a Title 1 school with free lunch?

20QueStionS

The A&T Register’sguide to what’s going on this week in arts and entertainment.

iron man 2 starring Rob-ert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Gwenyth Paltrow, and Scar-lett Johansson comes out this Friday. With the world aware of Tony Stark being Iron Man, the government and public pressures him to know the technology of the suit. But he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands.

- J.V.

nine starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, and Penelope Cruz is out on DVD. Famous film director Guido Contini struggles to find har-mony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.

-J.V.

waka flocka flame will be live in concert at the N-Club on May 21st starting at 9 p.m. Tickets are $30 for general admission and $50 for VIP. A non-refundable $3.00 N-Club Fee is added to the price of each ticket. Tickets may also be purchased through the N-Club at 336-333-9300.

-J.V

aBc 45 and my 48 will be held at the Union Parking Lot Lawn on Thursday at 4 p.m. Presented by Office of Career Services, representatives from both stations will set up tents and speak to students relative to internship possibilities.

-J.V.

hotli

st

May 3rd-9th

on Screen

on Stage

on ShelveS

on campuS

Poets given ‘Reasons 2 Rhyme’Out of the nation, 15

poets competed in a three round poetry competition for a $1000 cash prize in the Reasons 2 Rhyme 2nd annual Freedom Poetry Slam Friday evening at the Sloan Theatre at the Greensboro Day School.

Reasons 2 Rhyme is a mass variety of events celebrating the art of poetry while connecting to the community.

Reasons 2 Rhyme offers gatherings in a variety of venues throughout the year that are open and free to the public and expand the opportunity for poetry to be seen, heard, and experienced.

Reason 2 Rhyme, created and hosted by A&T alum, Josephus Thompson III, put together a nine-month long poetry series throughout the Greensboro area.

With so much help from PR consultant and fellow A&T alum, Alana Allen along with four public relations interns, senior Arista Ratchford, and juniors Brooke Waller, Ashley Minter, and Talisha Holmes, the slam was put together in a timely matter.

“I remember the Poetry Café being my first event of Reason 2 Rhyme and I saw Josephus perform. We then became friends on Facebook and he needed some PR work for Reasons 2 Rhyme and I accepted and started a internship program for public relations students to help with the series,” says Allen.

The help from the interns had an effect on the outcome of the event through social media and volunteer recruitment.

The Freedom Slam had a similar setup as Russell Simmons Def Poetry.

With a DJ playing hits from the 1980’s to present time and Josephus giving comedic commentary were great intermissions to pass time in between poets and rounds and it kept the audience entertained.

All the poets had a different style and approach in all of their

performances. Animated faces and movements throughout the poet’s performances gave the audience a more understanding of what they were talking about.

The final round was a tribute to the A&T Four and for starting the Sit-In movement in Greensboro in 1960.

After the final tally of the scores, Quentin Talley was announced the winner.

The South Carolina native was real inspired to be apart of the slam.

“I was invited to be apart of the slam after I won the grand slam in Charlotte,” states Talley.

With so much animation to his pieces, Talley was use to the visual aspect to his poetry because he has been a theater kid all his life.

The second and third runners

up, Kane from Durham and Eurydice White from Winston Salem were very appreciative of the effect their performances had on the audience and they were very inspired.

“Life is inspiration, there is no writing without inspiration,” says Kane. Being involved in this slam with one of his protégés, G was very inspiring for him as Kane and G performed together after the slam.

Eurydice White was very happy with the show overall and all the talented poets involved.

“Words have power to inspire and I believe I have something that needs to be heard,” says White. “This was an excellent experience.”

The Freedom Slam made great success with a big turnout of families and students from

Dudley High School and North Carolina A&T.

“I want expose many people to poetry,” says Thompson. All of the poets who were involved in the Freedom Slam were categorized as the nation’s top because of various wins of poetry slams across the nation and top poets and the Internet as well.

“The slam from this year exceeds last years slam because It is bigger and better and a more diversity of the series,” Thompson states.

“I’m so happy, with taking over the entire show when Josephus went to Australia, to see a great turnout, it is relieving,” says Allen.

Reasons 2 Rhyme has made great success thus far and is continuing to host poetry cafes and festivals throughout the year.

Photo by ChaRlie Jones •reason to rhyme

Reasons 2 Rhyme the three finalists eurydice White, Kane, and Quentin talley performed at the 2nd annual Freedom slam hosted by Josephus thompson III on Friday at sloan theatre at the Greensboro Day school.

Jonathan VealRegister Reporter

the real World: Couture Word

artiSt profile: king mez

a&t student looks to break into music industry

on Screen

This past Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Exhibit Hall, after only two weeks of organizing and preparation, several A&T students gathered on stage to perform a concept show that was identical to that of BET’s College Hill and MTV’s Real World.

Two of the main male two poets/performers/actors were Jason Cameron, a junior at A&T and Brian Fingers both Liberal Studies majors.

“For the amount of time that we had to prepare for the program, it turned out to be extremely well and the crowd response was very well also. I didn’t consider them to be dry.” stated Jason Cameron.

What made the program so successful was soulful music from the ‘90s era that kept the crowd rocking to ever beat and had audience members on the edge of there seats singing almost every word.

“I thought the crowd really enjoyed the program as a whole and I always have fun performing. If I get a good crowd response then that is all

that matters to me in the end” said Fingers.

What also made the performance so special was creative props that they set up on the stage and the way they used them to enhance the on stage performances that took place in front of pleased crowd.

The students who performed delivered a message that everybody enjoyed and it reached everyone emotionally, so much that people from the audience were able to come up and give poems and express themselves.

One student, Averi Jackson a sports science major commented on the performance by saying “She loved the play and how the artists used their talents to give a message to the crowd”.

Other students felt extremely well about the program and overall it was a well sought out program for those students who are into reality television shows such as BET’s College Hill and MTV’s Real World.

You could tell that the performers were having a good time on stage and the performances were flowing smoothly with each other.

mandeVille BeRRy iiiRegister Reporter

sylVia oBellRegister Reporter

ContrIbuteD Photo