Portland observer., May 28, 1981, Page 9, Image 9

Portland Observer May 28, 1881 F'ege 8
Students discuss ACT-SO
By Pam Smith
At the fin a l P ortland ACT-SO
com petition, sponsored by the
national N A A C P , the judges and
the ACT-SO committee chose not to
award any gold medals. Their
reason was that no student, o f all
the four m ajor categories, met the
crite ria set fo r receiving a gold
medal. This c rite ria , which was
given to the participants only the
night before at dress rehersal was to
obtain a score o f 90 points or more
in order to be eligible fo r a gold
medal award, w ith an all-expense
paid trip to compete in the national
com petition held in Denver,
Colorado.
Two weeks ago, the Observer
spoke w ith Commissioner Gladys
McCoy, Chairperson o f the ACT-
SO com m ittee and w ith Lucious
H icks, President o f the P ortland
chapter o f the NAACP.
This week participating students
express th e ir concerns and ex­
pressions.
A lisa Webb o f W ashington/
M onroe H igh School was a par­
ticipant in the Humanities category.
This was one o f the c ategories that
was given no re c o g n itio n .in the
awards part o f the fin a l p e rfo r­
mances. She talks about the judging
system: “ I didn’ t find out about the
90 point system u n til the night
before the com petition and I s till
thought that there was going to be a
first, second and third award in each
category, and so did all the other
students. Nobody had that 90 point
system in mind.”
Corey Pritchette o f Benson High
School was one o f tw o students
awarded bronze medals in the area
of performing arts. Corey was also a
participant in last year’ s national
competitions. He says, “ I think that
there is a misunderstanding about
what nationals are all about. Last
year I had the opportunity to go to
M iam i Beach and compete in the
national competition and there were
just average high school students
from all over the nation. I think that
here in P ortland they look at
nationals as being professional. But
there are just average students from
all over the nation...som e are
good...some are average.” Corey
went on to express his feelings about
the judges. “ Last year the judges
had a d iffe re n t perspective. They
knew what the AC T-SO com­
petitions were all about. This year
the judges were professors and doc­
tors coming cold to judge.”
Alisa Webb continues along the
same line saying that the judges
could not relate to what was hap­
pening.
John Mays, an ESAA counselor
and an ACT-SO coach supported
his feelings that there was a break­
down
in
com m unication
somewhere. “ I knew one o f the
judges and after the program I
asked her what was going on and
she said, ‘ Honey, I ’ m a judge and 1
don’t know what’ s going on.”
Cindy Phillips who was awarded
the highest medal given that evening
said that the judges’ averaging was
unfair. She explains most o f her in­
dividual scores were in the 90s, but
once they were a ll averaged
together, it came out lower.
Mr. Mays explains his feelings on
the 90 point sysytem. “ There is no
in fo rm a tio n that I have received
mentioning the point system. There
is nothing that says anywhere that
the judges had at their discretion the
power to give only a second and
third. The information that I have is
all that has been sent out.”
Some students expressed their
dissappointment at what happened
the night o f the performances.
Gloria Dempsey o f Wilson High
School said, “ 1 received one o f
those sheets at dress rehersal the
night before, but I still thought that
there was going to be a 1st, 2nd, and
3rd prizes in each o f the four major
categories.” A fte r seeing C indy
Pniiiips' (Silver medal winner) per­
formance, she said that she did n ’ t
expect to win a gold medal, but she
was disappointed because C indy
didn’t receive what she deserved.
Denise Harct, also o f Wilson was
a participant in the Visual A rts
category. "M y category wasn't even
shown or anything. A ll they did was
mention our names at the beginning
o f the program and we stood up. I
was kind o f disappointed because 1
though that this whole thing was set
up for young Black students; to give
them a chance to express their art,
or give them a chance to show what
they had learned, or a gift that they
possessed. Then the next thing you
k n e w ...it just flopped! and then
Mrs. M cCoy stands up there and
says that no one was good enough to
go to nationals. I was ju st really
disappointed...so were a lot o f other
people. Then the MC tells everyone
to drive home safely and everyone
turns around and start grow ling
because no one understood what
was going on.”
K ahlil Tanner, a vocalist in the
perform ing category, said that
he fe lt like he had done it a ll fo r
nothing...that he practiced fo r no
reason at all. Alisa Webb sadly ex­
plains: “ It wasn’ t fa ir because it
took a lot o f time, e ffort and hard
work, and it took away from other
things such as school w ork.”
G loria Stewart, an ESAA coun­
selor at Roosevelt and a mother o f a
participating student, explains her
fru stra tio n s. “ They to ld ESAA
counselors to push for excellence, to
make sure kids participate. The kids
gave up time, effort and energy; and
now the counselors’ c re d ib ility is
questionable because the ACT-SO
program didn’ t follow through on
their guidelines and we pushed the
program.”
Speaking as a mother o f a student
involved in the com petition, Mrs.
Stewart said her daughter asked if
lack o f money caused the committee
to not fu lfill its promise to send a
student to the national competition.
She said she told her daughter that
something w ill be done; that the
ACT-SO committee w ill have to
give accountability even if it ’ s just a
statement because we all deserve
it.”
Parents seem to be ju st as dis­
turbed by the happenings as the
students are. A lisa said that her
mother told her that next year she
shouldn’t get involved if only three
awards were going to be given out
w ith so many students involved.
Donnie said, “ My mother was hot!
When I told her what happened, she
said, ‘ I don’ t understand. They’ re
supposed to be helping our young
Black students bring out their
potential...and then the next thing
you know, they’ re doing something
like that. My mother thought that
by the program being sponsored by
the NAACP it would do something
other than put down students...she
was really disappointed.”
The future o f AC T-SO is
questioned by this years’ com ­
petitors. “ I won’ t participate next
year unless they make clear,
definite, specific rules beforehand
for judging,” expalins Alisa. Cindy
Phillips says that even though they
didn’ t keep their commitments she
would participate next year but only
because she plans to go to college
and needs all the money and ex­
perience she can get.
LIFE IS N 'T
THE COST OF
L IV IN G .
I
GIVE TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY.
Corey Pritchett says it is likey that
he will participate, but only because
he has been involved w ith the
program before. “ I have to give
some strong thought to par­
ticipating next year because I don’ t
want to go through the same thing
that I went through this year. I
don’t want to put a lot o f effort into
something that may turn out to be
nothing.” G loria Stewart says that
the future o f the ACT-SO program
looks hazy. “ Students are kind o f
funny, especially i f you make a
promise to them and then d o n 't
keep it.”
The future o f the Portland ACT-
SO com petitions does look bleak
indeed, especially when compared
to other cities. For example, Des
Moines, Iowa sent 10 students from
11 m ajor categories to compete in
the national competitions.
B rie fly , in retrospect, the
N A A C P A C T - SO program was
conceived in 1978 to discover,
develop and reward academic
achievement for Black high school
student. But according to the ACT-
SO com petitions held this year in
Portland, the NAACP here has yet
to understand their own concept.
The concensus o f the students
participating in this year’ s program
is that u n til the sponsors o f the
ACT-SO program get their “ A C T ”
together they aren’ t going to waste
their time and e ffo rt in preparing
for the competition.
The students felt this was their
chance to showcase to the com­
munity, their scholastic and cultural
achievements, and to be awarded
fo r those achievements. Now, we
w ill never know whether one o f
those accomplishments might have
brought Portland a medal.
Velvet Fikes and Lisa Carter examine names of children murdered in Atlanta that
were posted at Irving Park during African Liberation Day activities.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
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