In pursuit of excellence: ten new generation scholars use brains and leadership ability to reach the top - Special Issue - The New Generation of the '90s

Ebony, August, 1990 by Roxanne Brown

In Pursuit Of Excellence

Ten new generation scholars use brains and leadership ability to reach the top

BLACK EXCELLENCE is alive and well and don't let anyone tell you differently. Skeptics might ask where should one look to confirm such an utterance. Well look no farther than the nearest college or university. Young men and women, on predominantly White or historically Black college campuses, are breaking new academic ground and reaching new heights of achievement.

Early this year, three law students at the prestigious Harvard, Stanford and University of Iowa law schools made history as "firsts" when they took positions as presidents of the law review journals of their respective institutions. "There is no question in my mind that there have always been qualified minorities, capable of serving in leadership positions," says Shauna D. Jackson, president of the Law Review of Stanford University. "What it [the election of Blacks] says is that at the individual institutions there is an opportunity."

Somehow, opportunity is the key word for Black scholars this year, as it appears more plentiful and more diversified. Of the 10 students featured here, half are carving out careers in the sciences in areas such as biomedical engineering, electrical engineering and pharmacy. That is not to say that talent and opportunity do not abound in the liberal arts. A top graduate of Morehouse College, James Dickens, goes off to Duke University Law School with a full scholarship, having scored in the top percentile on his law school entrance examination.

Advanced degrees give top scholars a competitive edge, yet for Blacks that advantage is often secondary to a more personal or altruistic goal. Adrienne Goolsby, a chemistry degree candidate at Spelman College, will earn an engineering degree in a dual degree program before going for a Ph. D. in biomedical engineering. Obtaining the doctorate is a childhood dream of hers that never vanished. For Barack Obama, Harvard University law student and president of the law review, a degree in law was the necessary vehicle to better community organization and activism. "The idea was not only to get people to learn how to hope and dream about different possibilities, but to know how the tax structure affects what kind of housing gets built where," he explains. April Silver, president of Howard University Student Association, garnered national publicity when she spearheaded a protest that changed the makeup of the Howard University Board of Trustees.

Any news of Black academic excellence in these trying times brings a sense of pride and hope to the community. That sense of Black progress is particularly relished when academic excellence is juxtaposed with declining Black enrollment at colleges and universities around the country. So, read on and be proud with us.

PHOTO : James Dickens, 21, a Morehouse graduate, is a very understated guy, but this was not the

PHOTO : case when he saw his score for the Law School Admission Test. "I screamed," Dickens

PHOTO : reveals. Out of a possible 48 points, he aced the exam with a score of 44. He left

PHOTO : Morehouse with a political science degree and a 3.9 cumulative grade-point average. He

PHOTO : enters Duke University Law School this fall with a full-tuition scholarship. After law

PHOTO : school, the Statesville, N.C., native plans to become a law professor.

PHOTO : When Shauna D. Jackson was living in Olathe, Kan., she didn't know that she wanted to

PHOTO : become a lawyer, but she did know that knowledge was power. "I'm a firm believer that

PHOTO : knowledge is power," says the 23-year-old president of the Stanford University Law Review.

PHOTO : Jackson, who considers herself a "doer," earned bachelor's degrees in English and

PHOTO : political science from Stanford while working as a teaching assistant and resident

PHOTO : assistant. She managed a campus radio station during her first year of law school.

PHOTO : Adrienne Goolsby, 21, a junior at Spelman College, has more years of college ahead of her

PHOTO : than she does behind her, but that doesn't discourage this honor student. She is in the

PHOTO : dual-degree program for chemistry and biomedical engineering. She has a 3.9 grade-point

PHOTO : average and memberships in the national math and science honor societies.

PHOTO : Barack H. Obama, 29, has an Arabic first name that means "by the grace of God," which

PHOTO : could explain why he looks so humbly upon success. The Harvard University law student made

PHOTO : history this year when he became the first Black president of the 104-year-old Harvard Law

PHOTO : Review. "The fact that I've been selected shows a lot of progress, but it's important that

PHOTO : stories like mine aren't used to say that everything is okay for Blacks," says the son of

PHOTO : a Kenyan economist. Obama has a bachelor's degree in political science from Columbia

PHOTO : University.

PHOTO : April Silver (below), president of the Howard University Student Association,says the

PHOTO : "cultural nourishment" she received from her parents has spurred her desire to lead. The