Salimah A. Cogbill
NewPennDel President 2005-2007

Greetings members,

The main thing I would like to see accomplished this year is the fulfillment of all of the purposes established for NewPennDel. This organization has several purposes. One purpose of this organization is to promote and emphasize the importance of academic achievement amongst its members. We plan to assist all members in obtaining academic excellence in a couple of ways. We are creating a buddy system for the incoming freshmen in our organization that involves an upperclassman being assigned to two or more freshmen. The upperclassman will be responsible for contacting their buddies a least once a week to keep a steady track of their progress and to find ways to assist them where they are having difficulty. This gives the freshmen the opportunity to have a peer to turn to when in need and an extra advantage to do well academically. In addition to the buddy system, we also plan to have a tutoring system in place that involves current members offering tutoring in subjects, in which they are academically strong, for those members who need extra help. The idea behind these initiatives is to give all members every opportunity to do well academically. The progress of all members will be monitored by the submission of midterm and final grades at their respective times to the organization so that excellence can be celebrated and struggle can be helped.

A second purpose of this organization is to promote service to the University. We believe in giving back to our soon-to-be-alma mater while we are students so that once we become alumni it will be natural for us to give back to Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). We plan to exercise service to our school by assisting in recruitment efforts. This means that during breaks from school, like Thanksgiving or Winter Break, we would make an effort to go back to our high schools and neighborhoods and encourage people to take a look at ECSU as their place to succeed. This enhances the school’s reputation as well as attracts an even more diverse applicant pool. The other way we will emphasize service is to require all members to become a member of the Pre-Alumni Club. The purpose of this is to expose members to what is needed from alumni by the university and students so that we will continue and enhance the legacy once we graduate. Also, it gives the alumni the opportunity to see current students being successful to show that their efforts in giving are not in vain and maybe inspire them to give more.

A third purpose of this organization is to assist members with the social and emotional changes they may go through as a result of attending this institution. Most members of this organization are from or live a far distance from this school. Being this far away oftentimes doesn’t allow for frequent visits home and thus can cause homesickness. Coming from a northern region where things are done one way to a southern region where things are done differently, can cause a culture shock to some members. Also, making the transition from high school, where there is one set of protocols, to college, where there is a totally different set of protocols, can be overwhelming. As an organization, we plan to help address all of these issues and concerns. We plan to do this by having mini forums amongst our club in which those who have been at the University longer can share their knowledge and experiences with those who have not been here as long. In this way, the questions or concerns can become fewer and ease and comfort can be added to members. As a result, members can be successful without distractions.

A final purpose of this organization is to help ourselves and the entire student body at Elizabeth City State University. We plan to have fundraisers to raise funds for a variety of reasons. One reason is to raise money to develop two scholarship funds. One fund will only be for the students of the Tri-State Area (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), either for an incoming freshman or a returning student and the recipient will be determined based on the decision of the group. The other fund will be for all the students at ECSU and will be awarded by the group based on its determinations. This is a long-term goal and will be reached by saving the majority of funds raised for that purpose. A second reason for raising funds is to fund activities of the group such as materials needed for fundraisers, refreshments for meetings or food for functions we plan for ourselves, and for free-giveaways we would want to give as part of a promotional event. The funds can also be used for paying the dues of members who have difficulty paying the dues of the Pre-Alumni Club or of NewPennDel.

There is much to be accomplished this year as outlined in the above list of purposes for the organization. It may seem like plenty but it promotes two very important concepts- academic achievement and service to others. The founders of this organization wanted all members to be able to compete at ECSU and beyond. These two components are essential in being a great student and thus allows for any member to be marketable in the job market or other degree granting programs (i.e. graduate or professional schools) later. Therefore, I urge all members to be active participants in NewPennDel to enhance you first, enhance the organization second, and enhance the University third. Most importantly, I wish for everyone to have fun and enjoy because that is what NewPennDel is really all about!

Sincerely,

Salimah A. Cogbill
President of NewPennDel
School Year: 2006-2007