President's Report 2007 - Benedict College

BENEDICT
COLLEGE
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton embraces Miss
Nadia Muhammad, Miss Benedict College, after
Miss Muhammad introduced the presidential
candidate during one of her visits to Columbia.
Miss Benedict poses
with presidential
candidate, Mr. John
Edwards, before he
spoke to students
and the Columbia
community at Town
Hall meeting hosted
by Benedict College.
SGA President, Mr. Joshua Strohman (far left)
poses with Rev. Jesse Jackson and his cabinet
during a reception in the President’s Dinning
Room following Jackson’s speech to the campus
and Columbia community.
The FIVE PILLARS of SUCCESS
1. Success = Personal Accountability
2. Success = Commitment to Excellence
3. Success = Effort
4. Success = Tiger Pride
5. Success = Community Engagement
NATIONAL VENUE, NATIONAL ATTENTION
With such continuous positive coverage, people are coming
to see for themselves. Campus visits have more than
doubled, with the historic campus on Harden Street is now
a must-stop for elite newsmakers and the media which
cover them.
Presidential candidate John Edwards featured Benedict
College as a significant stop on his 2007 Town Hall Meeting
tour. Several Benedict students were featured in the stories
this significant news item generated.
Nadia Mahammad – Benedict senior and Miss Benedict
College – introduced Senator Hillary Clinton during her
own 2007 presidential campaign visit at neighboring
Allen University.
NASA astronaut Charles Bolden, a senior Marines
commander, returned to his hometown to introduce
Benedict College’s third Annual XTreme Technology Week
Assembly. Bolden, a veteran of three space flights including the deployment
of the Hubble telescope, kicked off the famed science competition attracting
high school students from three states.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan led a rally at Benedict College to stir up
support for the 10th Anniversary of the Million Man March. Black Entertainment
Television (BET) featured Benedict College students in their reality program “The
Road Show.” Two sold-out performances of “Dreamgirls,” the 2006 Academy-
Award winning sensation, wowed the audience at Benedict’s Henry Ponder
Fine Arts Theater.
Moreover, locally born but internationally acclaimed, Larry Lebby brought
a mini-retrospective of his legendary paintings to Benedict College. Lebby
– whose works depict everyday African American existence in the South
– was commissioned to create a portrait of former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter. Several Lebby paintings also adorn the walls of the Vatican.
Finally, Benedict College played host to two of South Carolina’s most
prominent cultural events. Spiritual Rising, a symposium and celebration
of African American spirituals, beautifully echoed South Carolina’s official
state music at historic Antisdel Chapel. And over 400 attendees came to
Benedict College to participate in the 2005 Young People’s Christian Assembly.
The annual summer program is a 40-year tradition celebrating Baptist
Christian faith.
EXCELLENCE …TIMES FIVE
Without an doubt the most important public relations campaign at Benedict
College, occurs every day, with little fanfare and no reporters to speak of.
Benedict’s students, faculty and staff pride themselves on upholding the
new “Five Pillars of Success,” a campus-wide communications initiative
encouraging excellence in self and community.
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