ISSUE 9, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018
The Southern DIGEST www.southerndigest.com ● The sentinel of the enlightened student body at Southern University and A&M College ● Since 1926
WHAT’S INSIDE:
College of Business Meet & Greet NEWS, PAGE 3
Volleyball tops Grambling SPORTS, PAGE 4
Where the fans at? COMMENTARY, PAGE 11
Service Matters:
Army SU Ag. Center Vice Chancellor Strong, Army receives George Washington Smart: Carver Distinguished Service Award ROTC Makes History of 1995. When asked how this achievement affected her view of her profession and its importance in the community, she stated, “One thing I realized from this award: you never know who’s looking at you.”
Courtesy/Dawn Mellion-Patin, Ph.D.
Paris Duncan ● DIGEST Staff Writer
“Lifelong Learner” is what the the recipient of the George Washington Carver Distinguished Service Award describes herself as. Dawn Mellion-Patin, Ph.D., shows this initiative with an exemplary achievement and her ongoing providing of service and learning. This award, started in 2005, is given to distinguished alumni from Iowa State University, who dedicated their lives to service and be leadership in their communities. Iowa State University is a major research facility with an extensive background in agricultural research. Prior to receiving this award, Patin was a graduate of Iowa State University, Class
Dr. Patin left her duties as an employee of the College of Education to serve her community and her state, Louisiana, by joining the sharecropping extension program of public service. She lived by the main principle of Agricultural education “Learn by Doing”. She continued her service beyond the campus by facilitating and founding the Small Farmer Agricultural Leadership Institute in 2005. This is a partnership with farmers from all across the US to help them become agricultural entrepreneurs. Dr. Patin sheds light on how she gained this achievement not only through her works but through her thinking and plan of action as well. “I always keep 3 basic things in mind,” she began, “Always model the behavior I want to see, let my work speak for itself, and perfect my craft each and every day.” An avid reader, Dr. Patin also attributes her love for reading to her success. From early on she grew a deep
passion for reading and learning. Dr. Patin expands her intellectual horizons by reading developmental journals, fiction, and other forms of literature. This also helps contribute to the worldly attitude she has attained as well as the thirst for knowledge and agricultural advancements.
“I begin to have all these noble feelings.” She describes after discovering that she had produced a string bean in her crop production class in the late 80’s. This experience was the key inaugurate that took this inner city young woman to her passion for agriculture.
As class registration for the Spring semester continues, the Office of Academic Affairs has recently launched a new campaign called the “15 to Finish” in 4. This campaign is an initiative to encourage every student on campus to take 15 credit hours in order to remain on track to graduate in four years. The director of First & Second Year Experience for the Office of Academic Affairs, Zackeus D. Johnson,
encourages students to follow the advice of the academic advisors and take a minimum of fifteen credit hours. “Enrolling in 15 credit hours has benefits of reduced debt, savings on tuition and early career placement,” Johnson says. The campaign itself, however, is only geared towards students pursuing degrees that are equal to or less than one-hundredtwenty (120) credits. This excludes Engineering, Nursing, and any students pursuing a double major as all three are four to six year programs. www.southerndigest.com
In the December 2018 and May 2019 commencement ceremonies, Southern University’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program will be commissioning Cadet Davonne Franklin as a cyber security officer, and Cadet Blaize Preston as a male nurse officer; both being a first for Southern University.
She then went on to say, “If a row of these can feed my family, then if I had 5 rows I could feed my community if, I had 10 rows I could feed the whole state. If I not only had all these rows but teach others how, then we could feed ourselves and the world.” This altruistic attitude has propelled her to not only grow communities by feeding them but by enriching and guiding them to help one another. All these values reign true to the fact that education is key to success.
Cadet Davonne Franklin
Such cases are unavoidable as there is a large percentage of students enrolled in Southern University school system who fall into those categories. This is why summer school is offered. “Students who are in Engineering, Nursing and other majors who require more than 120 credits are still able to graduate within four years if they enroll during summer school,” Johnson explains the opportunity for students to retake classes or to graduate
ROTC is one of three ways one could commission as an officer in the United States. “The ROTC program is the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps with the purpose of teaching cadets leadership skills, decentralized responsibility, time management, and how to provide with the [limited] resources they have,” Colonel Melvin Chisolm informed. Cadet Franklin is a senior Computer Science, CyberSecurity concentration major from Baton Rouge. During an interview with the Digest, he specifies the importance of cyber security and what it takes to be a cyber security officer. “Based on the recent growth in technology, it is becoming an important part of every field including the military. With adversaries constantly attempting to hack networks, it is necessary to protect data and person identifiable information,” Cadet Franklin stated, also noting that this job is newly found in the military — less
see 15 TO FINISH on page 3
see ROTC on page 3
She
loves
to
encourage
see SERVICE MATTERS on page 3
15 to Finish: New programs seeks to keep students on track to graduation Dante Davis ● DIGEST Staff Writer
Treci Thomas ● DIGEST Staff Writer