This year during the chapel service of Religious Emphasis Week, we had a recent graduate as the preacher. Kevin Cooper is a seminary student at ITC in Atlanta (also a UNCF school). He was a two-term SGA president, and member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

So it was great to have a young alum come back to share his message about not building a bridge to nowhere. Keeping with our social justice emphasis, he reminded us of all the people along the way who need our help, and we have to be sensitive to their needs as well. Good job, Coop!

The Prez

Last week was Religious Emphasis Week. This week is the centerpiece of our Black History Month. The week was filled with worship services, lectures, and service opportunities.

Our chaplain and the religious life organization have really done a great job over the past few years elevating this week. In the past we have had such notables such as Jeremiah Wright, Cain Hope Felder, and H. Beecher Hicks. In an attempt to raise the level even further, he brought in none other than...

Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the first woman Bishop of the AME church. We had a nice crowd on hand for her sermon, and of course she had major support not only from the AMEs but the members of Delta Sigma Theta. So look out for the week next February.

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Yesterday, Wesley Chapel UMC had a leadership retreat with our guest being Rev. Olu Brown from the Impact Church in Atlanta. Olu is a graudate of 2 UNCF schools- Jarvis Christian College and ITC. He led a new church start for the United Methodist Church in 2006.

With a core group of 25, they sought to launch a movement, not a church. This movement means they have small groups that meet throughout the city during the week. Their Sunday services are held at a local middle school. They use technology in a way I have never seen a church do before. In fact, their motto is "Doing Church Differently."

4 years later, over 1,000 people attend services there. This kind of movement is needed among all denominations as the news this week again pointed out that younger generations continue to opt out of church. Impact's core group is 20-40, so young people want church, but it needs to be different.

Check them out: www.ImpactDCD.org

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Yesterday we had our ceremonial groundbreaking for our new residential suites. We postponed because it was raining the first day, but yesterday was COLD!

60 students will be able to live in the suites, with private rooms. We will do some learning communities as well.

This building will be the first of 4, which will dobule our residential capacity. The building will be ready by mid-August.

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We kicked off Religious Emphasis Week yesterday with two sermons by Bishop Violet Fisher of the United Methodist Church. She preached two excellent sermons- both extremely powerful. We're preparing for a great week.

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There is a new show called "Undercover Boss" where CEOs of major companies work at the ground level for a week. I missed tonight's show, but I had my own experience this weekend.

I traveled with our SGA to a conference in New Orleans. We have never been to this conference, and it was a great eye opener for students. So I am expecting new innovation.

But traveling in a van for 8 hours with 10 students is an experience that I think every faculty member, staff, and administrator should have. In all our committee meetings, proposals, positioning for power, etc. I am often surprised how few times we talk about students. And when I saw we, I'm not speaking about just PSC, but all of higher education. We need to spend more time at the basic level getting to know students, understanding them, and engaging them so that we can be reminded of our true purpose.

I guess we need some sort of communion for those of us who work in higher ed.

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Our Black Male Initiative hosted an oratorical contest this week. The men had to discuss the importance of the five wells: well read, spoken, traveled, dressed and balanced.

The concept was developed by Dr. Robert Franklin, president of Morehouse College. I absolutely love the concept, so I have asked our students to adopt them as a way of life as well. I really hope Morehouse promoted this for all HBCUs and maybe even do an annual conference to help schools teach their students how to be well.

Our six winners received a great prize: a trip to St. Louis for the upcoming Jay-Z concert! Man, I wish someone did something like this when I was in school. We had local professional men serve as judges, which was another great way for our students to interact with men in the community.

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So I'm going to be working with SGA for the remainder of the semester. This takes me back to my days as the SGA advisor at Old Dominion University. So, as a new advisor for this group, the first thing we had to do was have a mini-retreat.

They are all so busy, so the only time open was late night. So they gathered at my house starting at 10 p.m. last Friday, and left around 2 a.m. We had a great session and I think we're going to see some good results from this group.

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