April 30, 2004

Photo by ASHLEY DAVIS BSU members enjoy themselves at the organization’s formal.

The weather couldn't have been any nicer for the Black Student Union's Spring Formal held on April 17 at the Holiday Inn on Military Highway. "Overall I think that the formal went very well, being as though it was our first formal," said Shalonda Harrell, BSU treasurer. "And we would like to thank Lina Green, Coach Boothe and his wife Yogi, Alumni's Lena Brown and Kelly Buffaloe for helping us with this event."

The event was open to Wesleyan students and the public and had a turnout of about 30 people. "We sold tickets for the formal in advance and at the door on the night of the event," said Harrell. "They were $15 for a single person and $25 for a couple."

The formal was held from 9 p.m. until midnight and had an alcohol bar; a veggie and fruit bar with caterers who served the guests hors d'oeuvres that included shrimp with cocktail sauce; fried chicken, beef skewer sticks, barbecue wings and chocolate and vanilla cake for dessert. "The whole atmosphere was so nice," said Ashley Woodous, a BSU member. "The food was good and the event couldn't have taken place at a better time."

Photo by JENN ALBRECHT Members of the Phi Alpha Theta honor society gather behind Godwin for a picnic and egg toss.

The Virginia Wesleyan chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society took home four awards from the annual Phi Alpha Theta Virginia Regional History conference at Old Dominion University on April 3. Each year Wesleyan members typically win one or two awards. This year, though, the four awards were a record for the college.

"This is the best we've ever done," said Dr. Clay Drees, advisor for Phi Alpha Theta. Drees attributed the society's success to the increased quality of the students' work and the history department's challenge for students to work harder. Each year, Phi Alpha Theta chapters across Virginia select essays written by members to be presented at the conference. This year the Wesleyan chapter entered eight papers into the total of 49 presented from various colleges in Virginia, such as ODU, James Madison University and The College of William & Mary.

The purpose of the conference is to allow students to submit work to be heard and judged by a statewide audience. It also gives them the chance to hear a rather prominent speaker. This year's guest speaker was Dr. William Whitehurst, a former congressman who is now a professor of public affairs at ODU. "The awards won at the conference help recognize Phi Alpha Theta on this campus as a leader in student scholarship," said Drees. "It very much puts us on the map in Virginia as a school that does very good work in the field of history." Students write the papers presented at the conference over the course of one semester. Although the topics vary, judges look for clarity of the thesis argument, effective use of primary and secondary sources and historical interest.

There were 16 awards given at this year's conference. The papers were placed in the categories of Undergraduate European, Undergraduate World, Undergraduate U.S. and one Graduate category. The winners from the Wesleyan chapter were Robert Harris and Gary Smith, who tied for Best Paper in the Undergraduate European category; Julie Kalinowski, who took Best Paper in the Undergraduate World category; and Naomi Belsinger, who won Runner-Up in the Undergraduate U.S. category. First-place winners at the conference received an autographed copy of historian Alf Mapp's most recent book. Second-place winners won gift certificates to Barnes & Noble.

Drees believes that this recognition is important. “It gives students confidence that the work they're doing here measures up very well to work being done at good schools around the state," said Drees. Phi Alpha Theta has always been one of the more active honor societies on campus. "The group is more like a club than a stuffy honor society," Drees said.

Not only do they contribute to the annual PAT Virginia Regional conference, they also hosted a living history reenactment from medieval, Civil War and WWII time periods, threw a big historical Halloween costume party, organized historical movie nights, and took a field trip last spring to the Berkley Plantation on the James River. They also host an annual used book sale, which serves as their fundraiser to earn money to travel to the schools where the conference is hosted.

Senior Marc Brown served as chapter president this year, and Kim Dodds has been voted president for 2004-2005. The group currently has 15 full members and 20 friends. In order to be a member of Phi Alpha Theta, students must have completed at least four college-level history courses and have a 3.0 GPA or better. Most members are history or social studies majors. With the Wesleyan winnings this year, Drees is excited at the prospects for next year's conference, which will be held at James Madison University. “Wesleyan has become the school to beat," he said.

 

Virginia Wesleyan Crime Log · On April 12 students reported items missing from the Trinder Center. · On April 13 students were found in lot K with controlled substances. Residence Life was involved, items were confiscated and the subjects were identified. · On April 14 an emergency exit mechanism was torn from a door in VII. · On April 16 security received a report of a forcible sexual offense. · On April 20 there was a student complaint that an unknown object broke her room window in VII. · On April 20 there was a report of smoke in the library. The Virginia Beach Fire Department was notified and responded. The fire was located outside the building area. Information courtesy of the Virginia Wesleyan Campus Crime Log

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