Powell wins Antonio Johnson scholarship
Kelly Shaw
Senior News Editor
Jessica Thimons
Winner junior Lydia Powell (right) accepts her full tuition scholarship.
Lydia Powell was awarded the Antonio Johnson scholarship last Friday at the 32nd annual Antonio Johnson Gala to recognize outstanding African American students at Xavier on Friday, April 18.
Powell was chosen from 11 finalists by a committee of administration, faculty and students. The finalists must be juniors who have a GPA of 3.0 or higher and exhibit outstanding leadership, involvement and service to the Black Student Association or the Xavier community.
Powell will receive a full year of tuition, room and board and a book stipend.
Powell is an occupational therapy major. She is the 2007-2008 BSA treasurer and member of Xavier Gospel Choir, Rho Xi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Peer Leadership Team. She is a student assistant in the Office of Student Life and Leadership. She also does research at the Drake Center. After graduation, Powell wants to work as an occupational therapist with disabilities and other special needs.
“It was a bit overwhelming,” said Powell regarding her first reaction when she heard her name called. “I couldn’t even believe it. So many emotions erupted. I didn’t know how to feel. When they first called my name I just prayed and thanked God. I was so happy.”
Leandria J. Thomas was this year’s runner-up. She will receive a $10,000 scholarship from Macy’s Credit and Customer Services.
Thomas is a pre-med/biology major with a minor in chemistry. She works as a lab tutor and assistant in the biology department and is a member of BSA, Gospel Choir, Students Committed to Christ and Ernest E. Just Society. Thomas wants to become a Doctor of Internal Medicine and help the often underserved black and Latino populations.
The Antonio Johnson scholarship was established to commemorate Antonio Johnson, a 22-year-old Xavier student from 1971-1976. Johnson was involved in the band, was president of the Black Student Association and fought for causes of social change and justice. He organized activities for Black History Month in February of 1976, but suddenly died on Feb. 8, 1976, at the age of 22.
The scholarship was originally $1,000, but the university has in recent years increased its funding.
“The university recognizes this is a very high honor,” said JaLissa Coffee, co-chair of this year’s gala along with sophomore Aaron Marble.
Coffee also believes the scholarship is important for Xavier because it fits in with the Jesuit mission in addition to honoring black students.
“It is a very necessary way to recognize the African American students that excel on this campus because many of them go above and beyond the call as a student. The Antonio Johnson scholarship does an excellent job of letting them know that they’re going down the path that AJ wanted to follow.”
The gala also praises other African American students for their achievement with five separate awards: Outstanding Freshman, Outstanding Sophomore, Outstanding Senior, Antonio Johnson Leadership and Outstanding Service. An outstanding faculty member is also awarded the Staff/Faculty Support Award.
“The gala did an excellent job of bringing to light the accomplishments of all the students,” said Powell who expressed congratulations to the recipients of the other awards.
Dr. O’Dell Owens gave the keynote address on this year’s theme, “The Essence of Excellence.” Owens, a Cincinnati native, is the Hamilton County Coroner. He attended Yale Medical School and in 1988 was named one of the top 15 black doctors in America by Black Enterprise Magazine.
Owens is the president and chair for Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), which is a collaborative of the Cincinnati Public School system.
The ‘not’ bookstore can make you not poor
Madeline LaFave
Features Editor
“Project Bull” is the coined name for the Xavier Marketing Club’s quest to provide lower prices for students purchasing textbooks. With help from 49 active club members and the special work of a 12-person subcommittee headed by freshman Alex Burkhart, the group has been successful in promoting NOTthebookstore.com among the Xavier community.
NOTthebookstore.com is a website service started by Xavier alum Dale Ting, who currently works for Proctor and Gamble but came up with the idea during his time at Xavier after experiencing the heightened prices of Xavier’s bookstore. The website compares bookstore prices to those from Amazon.com, and directs students to the best deal.
“The nice thing about [NOT thebookstore.com] is that you can have all of your books sent to the Xavier Mail Center so you can just pick them all up similar to the way it works at Xavier’s bookstore,” said project manager Alex Burkhart.
Ting is currently working to expand the site to work in conjunction with other providers in addition to Amazon.com, including Half.com and possibly Ebay. While the names and schedules for individual Xavier students are not available on the website, a list of classes and their required texts is provided, along with the comparison of Amazon’s prices to those of the bookstore.
New and used options are offered on the site when available. A book buying guide offers students suggestions for purchasing books and warns them to watch out for library or international editions, so they don’t purchase the incorrect book.
The site will not be ready for summer 2008 classes, but students are encouraged to log onto NOT thebookstore.com and sign up an email address in order to receive a reminder email this summer as to when textbooks will be available for purchase.
Patrick Stevenson
Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Peters
Ann Tassone
Darren LaCour
Senior News Editors
The Xavier Newswire 3800 Victory Parkway Cincinnati, Ohio 45207-2129 On-campus location: The Publications House, 3739 Ledgewood Dr. Telephone: 513.745.3607 Advertising: 513.745.3561 Fax: 513.745.2898 Email: John LaFollette
Editor-in-Chief Ellie Jaqueth
Advertising Manager Full list of staff contacts www.xu.edu/newswire
