Spotlight on Excellence
Student Profiles
Kimberly Thornton,
a junior, music education major from Detroit, MI, was recruited to come
to Alcorn State University and offered a full music scholarship. She
sings soprano at the Concert Choir. Thornton was among other Concert
Choir members who performed at the presidential inaugural ceremony in
Washington D.C. She enjoys singing different types of music.
“I like gospel music of course, spirituals, classical, and choral
music,” said Thornton.
She sang solo “If I can help somebody” at The Spring Southwest
Mississippi Writing Conference with the choir Ladies in Order of
the Fine Arts Department.
She is planning to graduate either in Fall 2006 or in Spring 2007. After
graduation she would like to start teaching music somewhere in the
South, preferably in Memphis, TN. Also she is planning to go back to
school to work on her masters.
Margo McLeod, a
junior, accounting and business administration double-major from
Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada, has a perfect 4.0 GPA. While in high
school she searched for a University in United States, preferably in the
South with a golf team. Alcorn State was a perfect mach for McLeod, she
has got athletic and minority scholarship here.
McLeod became a second president of International and Multicultural
Student Organization in August 2004. She has a lot of friends among
international students and American students, and of course she is very
close with her golf teammates.
“We are just like family. We spend a lot of time together practicing,
traveling going out for dinners, shopping, celebrating birthdays, and
watching movies,” says McLeod.
She is planning to graduate in May 2007. After that McLeod wants to get
some work experience in accounting before going to graduate school to
work on her MBA. She raises her bar really high looking at such schools
as Harvard, Stanford, and Northwestern University in Chicago, IL.
However, she has all the ingredients for success: she has perfect GPA,
she was picked as this year’s Academic All-American, and plays an active
part in the university and community life.
Lawrence Woods,
Alan Williams and Javeyeta Collier, all from Alcorn State University
were among six students who interned last summer for the Army Field
Support Command (AFSC) at Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Ill.
Lawrence
Woods, who is a senior, industrial technology major interned in the
Centralized Munitions Directorate, Joint Munitions Command. He rotated
through several different jobs during his experience there.
“I’m
trying to be a project manager,” Woods said while completing his
internship. “That’s my goal.”
In my next move, I want to be an item
manger.”
As an item manager, “I know that every day that I come to
work, I’ll be responsible for somebody in the war, and of the soldier
doesn’t get his ammunition, then I fail. That’s important to
me.”
Woods also has a desire to deploy to Kuwait sometime in the
future.
One of the things that he likes about the army is the number
of opportunities that are available.
“I definitely would like to work
for the army because there are different avenues that you can take.
There are so many programs that you can go into, and the sky’s a limit.”
Alan
Williams, who is a junior, business administration major, worked
with AFSC’s Contracting Directorate.
I work with different
contractors every day that are doing things in Kuwait – doing things all
across the world. My business administration background definitely helps
me because in the future I want to be in management,” Williams
said.
“This is an experience of a lifetime. Not only am I learning
about the military, nut I’m learning about military life and I’m
learning about civilian life. I am also learning about how corporate
America works.”
Javeyeta
Collier, who is a senior, accounting major, worked with AFSC’s
Contracting Directorate. She evaluated and studied bid proposal
submitted by small businesses and contractors.
“Working for the army
– I know I contribute to the soldiers in the field in the sense that we
make sure that the government – the rates that they are charged, the
prices are fair and reasonable. And we make it possible to have enough
money to purchase the ammunition that they have in the field,” Collier
said.
She appreciated the efforts that the program sponsors and
command have made to make students feel comfortable.
Marla
Hughes, a junior, computer science/mathematics major from Liberty,
Miss., interned for the U.S. Department of Defense in Maryland this
summer.
Hughes worked as a programmer, using various programming
languages, C, C++ and Java. Most of the information she worked with was
classified, she said. This was her third summer interning
there.
Hughes plans to join the Department of Defense in the future
as a full-time employee.
Carla
Hughes, a senior, criminal justice major from Liberty, Miss.,
interned for the FBI this summer. She was located in Quantico, Va.,
doing research for the behavioral science unit. Hughes also plans to
pursue her further career with the FBI.
Chrystyna Tate, a
senior, technology education major from Chicago, Ill., interned for the
Argonne National Lab and U.S. Department of Energy, the Offices of
Science, located in Darien, Ill.
“We were troubleshooting and
studying further development construction of a Longmuir Through. We made
sure that the barrier and the motor of the through worked correctly,”
she said.
In addition to the research, Tate developed an education
module for the same topic.
Trinica Wells, a
senior, political science/pre-law major from McComb, Miss., interned at
the University of Arkansas the William H. Bowen School of Law.
“Well,
we studied one semester of law school in a month. We also attended that
Arkansas Bar Association meeting, and learned what the law is like,”
Wells said.
Wells was among 25 participants in the program. She was
the only student from the state of Mississippi. She is planning to
attend Loyola School of Law in Chicago, upon her graduation.
Natasha
Johnson, a senior, accounting/finance major from Indianola, Miss.,
interned for the FBI’s Finance/Commercial Payments Division this
summer.
During her internship, she had a chance to learn about some
financial procedures in the FBI. After her graduation, Natasha plans to
be employed a full-time employee with the FBI, and earn her Master’s in
Public Administration/Economics degree.
Elena Chueva, a
junior, communications major from Voronezh, Russia, has been playing for
Women’s Soccer Team for over 2 years.
“I’ve been into sports all my
life. I can’t make it without it. However, I’ve never really played
soccer before I came to Alcorn. I really enjoy playing and I am also
great friends with the girls in our team.” Chueva
said.
Chueva is multi-talented: she works as an
on-air announcer at 91.7 WPRL The Gold radio station and maintains her
GPA as high as 3.93. Upon her graduation she is planning to apply to
either Law School or MBA Program in Natchez, MS.
Aleksandra
Orlova, a senior, mathematics major from Voronezh, Russia, has been
dancing in the Golden Girls dancing squad for almost 2 years.
“It’s
a great experience. We travel a lot with the Marching Band. The most
memorable trips were: the one to the Battle of the Bands in St. Louis,
Missouri, in 2003 and to a football game in Washington D.C., in 2004.”
Orlova said.
Her dream is to go to the 5 year Master + Ph.D. program
after her graduation in May, 2005, and to become a college instructor.
She applied to several schools but the one she set her hopes for is
Boston University. She’s got necessary teaching experience tutoring
College Algebra and Calculus at the department of Mathematics during
last semester.
Stephanie
Miller, a freshman, elementary education major from Biloxi, Miss.,
is interested in teaching, childcare, business and biology the most.
Miller had a full academic scholarship. She wants to go graduate school
upon completing her Bachelor’s. She has a dream of opening up her own
child care center. She wants to develop a curriculum for the center,
teach kids and also manage the facility. Having big family and dealing
with her younger siblings inspired her dream. Speaking of family ways,
one of the reasons Miller chose Alcorn State University is that her
mother is an alumnus. She told her daughter that she really enjoyed
Alcorn.
“People at Alcorn are very nice, they really make this
campus.” Miller said.
Nathaniel Hughes,
a sophomore, nursing major from Starkville, Miss., is not only an
excellent student with full academic scholarship, but a distinguished
athlete, a “big play” receiver for the Braves, and a trek runner.
“I
had one of my biggest games at Southern during my freshman year. It was
very memorable. We won 36:34. For a moment I felt like a professional
player,” Hughes said.
He was recruited by Coach McKenzie, but even
before that he knew he would come to Alcorn State University to continue
“the dynasty” of his grandparents, parents and many relatives Alcorn
State’s alumni.
Hughes wants to go to a medical school after
completing his bachelors, most likely to the University of Mississippi
Medical Center. However, if an opportunity to pursue a professional
athletics career presents itself he will pursue it.
Brittany
Villard, a freshman, music education major from Chicago, Il is into
music and psychology. She wants to combine these two subjects in
graduate school and to become a music teacher in future.
Villard
plays clarinet for the Alcorn State Marching Band for the concert
season, and she is also in the marching band flag court for the marching
season. She is socially active and interested in different aspects of
university life. She is part of college Democrats on Campus.
“It’s
my second semester at Alcorn but I am still learning things about
university life and all the activities. I just found out about National
Council of Negro Women and I want to become a part of this
organization,” Villard said.
Tiffany
Blackmon, a senior, biology/pre-medicine major from Greenwood,
Miss., is a senator of the Alcorn State’s Student Senate.
Blackmon
is planning to participate in McNair Scholar Program, University of
North Texas, Fort Worth, this coming summer. The program she looks
at is Research and Biomedical Sciences for Public Health. Blackmon
thinks that this internship will be a great experience that will prepare
her for working on her graduate degree in Public Health.
“I am
interested in working in the community, educating people from low income
areas how they can take better care of their health. I am still deciding
what exactly I want to do. I want some hands-on experience. That’s why
internships are important, they help you to figure out what you want to
do or don’t want to do,” said Blackmon.
Naheerah
King, a freshman, computer science major from Vicksburg, MS, had
searched through a lot of schools before coming to Alcorn State
University. She came here for a visit and was pleasantly surprised to
see that people on campus actually cared and were interested in having
her here as a student.
“I am glad I didn’t go far away,” said King.
She would like to spend this coming summer
interning as a computer analyst in Vicksburg, she wants to get some
experience dealing with computers, learn to correct computer
problems.
King likes to stay busy: she plays saxophone in the Band,
and she is a member of the Student Government Association (SGA). As she
said, she would like to be a part of as many organizations as she can
and definitely join a club that would help her understand her major
better.
