The Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity took center stage with the aid of crutches, wheelchairs and a walker.

The men, dressed in hospital gowns and wearing neck braces, spun around in the chairs and used the crutches to create a beat. Before the end of their routine, team members were high stepping and clapping in sync at a fast pace.

The fraternity from Temple University used   more »

Members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and employees of the Mississippi Department of Transportation provided BHS with "Rover," a truck body on a machine that simulates an accident in which the vehicle rolls over with passengers inside. As the truck rolls, dummies - like Bob - inside flop around and are ejected through the windows, just like in some rollover accidents.

"We have to make sure you graduate from high school and college. And in order to do that, you have to be alive," said Alpha Phi Alpha Alumni Chapter President Dexter Holloway. "Accidents happen, and we need to make sure you're prepared."

The speakers focused on two particular safety precautions: wearing a seat belt and not drinking and driving.

MDOT representative Lisa Valadie told the group that   more »

Teachers, former students and concerned citizens showed up at the March 17 DeLand City Commission meeting with a request: Help us save Starke Elementary School.

The Volusia County School Board plans a final vote on its school-closing plan at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 31, in the DeLand High School auditorium, 800 N. Hill Ave.

DeLand Mayor Bob Apgar told citizens attending the commission meeting the city already has written to the School Board, expressing concern about eliminating "a neighborhood school and a focal point of activity for the Spring Hill area of DeLand."   more »

Some people mellow with age. Others grow more passionate.
If the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.'s weekly sermons seem overly zealous, Barak Obama's outspoken minister has earned his outrage over decades of social injustice, a longtime friend said yesterday.

"I look at Rev. White as controversial but prophetic," the Rev. G. Daniel Jones said. "He is informed and he informs. He is a religious analyst coming out of the biblical tradition who denounces social ills and warns people on how to become more just and more humane."

Jones is pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Germantown, Wright's spiritual home when he was growing up in Philadelphia.

Wright's father served as pastor there from 1938 to 1980. His portrait hangs in the entryway, above a plaque commemorating the church's centennial in 1992. The family was   more »

In the grand finale, lights and smoke attracted the audience's attention to the entrance of the auditorium as Manhattan High School's step team started its performance.
A celebration of dance and step brought members of the community together through MHS and Black Student Union's "Unity in the Community" event Friday night at the MHS West Campus.

The Fort Riley dance group Girls With a Future opened with a tribute to U.S. soldiers.
The women of Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Kappa Alpha followed, incorporating stepping into skits that put emphasis on the historical background of the sororities.
"Having the greeks from K-State participate gives the show more "umph," said Jasmine Cook, president of MHSÕs BSU and captain of the step team at MHS. Alpha Phi Alpha members showed their support with a step-routine performance and an imitation of a scene from "You Got Served" to hype up the audience. Rap group High Poynt Studios changed the event's vibe. They came from Junction City to support the show's "Unity in the Community" theme.   more »

Ohio State student Ibrahim Bamba is out of his comfort zone.

Born in the Ivory Coast and raised from the age of six in New York, New Jersey and Cleveland, the junior in chemical engineering considers himself away from home at OSU.

But while away, he said the next best thing to having his family right beside him is being a member of OSU's African Youth League - an organization that brings students from different African countries together to interact socially, talk about culture and educate the community on both current and future issues relating to the continent.

The organization meets weekly but holds monthly events open to the entire OSU community in order to advance its mission.

This week, AYL will be hosting Tribute To Africa, an education workshop being held each day from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center. As part of the event, students and faculty will interact to discuss topics such as hope for improved health and future development in Africa.   more »

If you haven't seen a Greek step show like the one featured in the 2006 movie "Stomp the Yard" you might want to get to a St. Petersburg greek show early to get the best seat. That's because people will tell you the rhythmic moves are breathtaking and if you blink you might miss the action.

No one knows that better than the producer of the flick Will Packer Jr. He's from South St. Pete. He graduated from Florida A & M in Tallahassee in electrical engineering and says he stumbled into film making because he wanted to be an entrepreneur.

He and his best friend Rob Hardy, have accomplished that goal together by   more »

During the Mr. Black Penn State Pageant on Saturday, the coveted title came down to one question.

"What organization or group would you choose to support and why?" one of the emcees asked the final two contestants, Michael Fontain (junior-telecommunications) and Eric Charity (sophomore-international politics). Fontain and Charity were tied for first place.

Fontain said he would want to create unification in the black community, and Charity replied that he would choose AIDS and poverty prevention programs.

Charity eventually claimed the title of Mr. Black Penn State 2008, with Fontain coming in second and Mark Anthony Fraser (senior-biobehavioral health) placing third.

The pageant was hosted by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., with the theme of "Living The Legacy."   more »

On UD’s campus, the word “nupe” might not generate many pictures in a person’s head.

There aren’t many of them left, but nupes, members of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., are trying their best to revive a brotherhood they hold dear.

Kappa President Stacey Harris is the only active member left on campus and represents the fraternity alone in the Kappa house, 206 Lawnview Ave. He is surrounded by colorful 5-foot pledge class paddles in every room, with names of brothers he never knew. He is also often surrounded by invested alumni, a reminder of the family he will always have.

From 2000 to 2006 Kappa was the largest black fraternity on campus. UD recognized it as an official organization in 1978; it was founded at Indiana University in 1911. Its birth state was the same as the Ku Klux Klan’s during a time there weren’t many black college students, according to chapter adviser Charles Kellom.

The adversity Kappas have faced throughout the years gives them a reason to join together. Kellom, ’05, said the fraternity is “a tradition of lifetime commitment . . . because we’re always helping brothers succeed.”   more »