Bent Tree News » Christina Semple

Take my Advice: Online Edition

Christina Semple — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:15:05 +0000

So here’s how it works: You give me a question that for whatever reason has you stumped and bothered and I answer it with as much wit, charm, and candor as I can muster. It doesn’t matter what the topic is (just not anything with finances or business, I don’t do numbers☺ ); whether your significant other is seemingly uninterested in being significant, your boss is asking you to do waaaaay too much after hours, or why what the chick you just met said just doesn’t add up, I’ll be more than happy to offer whatever advice these 29 years have given me.

I may not be able to solve the problem, that’s your job, but at least, between the entire student body and myself, at least you’ll be heard.

Got a problem? Need advice? Then type away and leave a comment below……….

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Super Senior: Lameka Nalls

Christina Semple — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:06:22 +0000

The past few years have found Lameka Nalls doing many things she never thought she would. She’s taken on new leadership roles, familial responsibilities, and opportunities to broaden her view of life and her role in the community.

Before 2003, when she became a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., she considered herself shy and introverted, but then she blossomed into the charismatic and focused woman I saw in front of me. She walks into a room smiling for seemingly no reason at all, other than in remembrance of one of her favorite quotes, “Smile. The world is yours and everything in it is yours to conquer.”

Although convenience was the main selling point that drew the Cleveland native to Clayton State, it is her sorority and her psychology classes that have anchored her here.

As an Integrated Studies major, she is currently taking abnormal psychology, one of her most challenging classes. No fear though, she is a self-proclaimed nerd. Along with the “realness” of Professors such as Dr. Bridges and the compassion of teachers such as Dr. Ragsdale, she will graduate Fall 2007.

After graduation, Lameka Nalls plans to follow her “higher calling” and teach eighth grade English in Clayton County or South Fulton. She has always had an innate passion and drive for education and she also credits her uncanny resemblance to a middle-schooler as an influence. Middle school was some of the best years of her life.

She recalls, “It was the first time I made an ‘F’.” What was so life-altering about this event was that she was able to persevere and continue her education in spite of the minor setback. She recalls the words of her former pastor, “The person that has never made a mistake, is the person that never tried.” This was one case where she practiced what she preached, and as a mature woman, has tried to instill this same drive and inspiration in her sixteen year old brother whom she became guardian for since her mother’s death in August 2006. She also urges upcoming seniors to never give up, “no matter how long it takes. And do your work, don’t procrastinate.”

Between her employment with Public Safety for three years and becoming President of Zeta Phi Beta, Lameka Nalls has worn many hats while attending Clayton State. Her friendships and associations have become invaluable to her and although she only spoke briefly about the matter, in the softest tone, she spoke of her mother in a way that made it obvious, at least to me, that perhaps her higher calling may be coming from her.

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Super Senior: Leandra de Los Angeles

Christina Semple — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:49:56 +0000

She is a rarity. She is distinguished. She is determined. Leandra de Los Angeles has done what few students here have been able to do in the amount of time she has. Not only has she completed her courses in the traditional four year period, but she has done so with her eyes set keenly on her criminal justice career. So much so, the Super Senior has a job as probation officer at the Dekalb Juvenile Court already lined up.

In preparation for this noble vocation, Leandra has taken and enjoyed her criminal justice classes. In particular, she loved those taught by her favorite professor, Dr. Shabazz. It was the class discussions and debates she remembers most fondly about his classes, and this allowed her the opportunity to work with others which brought her to the criminal justice major in the first place.

Outside of school, she balances caring for her five year old daughter with spending time with friends, participating in community service, and fellowship with her sorority sisters. As a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., she considers joining the organization one of her best moves at Clayton. She appreciates the opportunity her sorority offers her to meet new people, network, and build her community. Besides being a devoted member, she also considers herself a student leader and advocates campus involvement because “it is what college is about,” and she urges everyone to “also [do] what you have to do.”

Though not a Georgia Peach by birth, Leandra does think the standard of living is better here compared to her home state of New York. Growing up in Jersey, she migrated here in 2000, but New York will be where her heart is. For the rest of her family, the Dominican Republic is where they hail from.

Of course juggling all of these activities is no easy task. Yet she has, over these past four years, learned to “stay focused because there are a lot of things that can take you away from where you want to be.” She has learned that procrastination is perhaps a college student’s worse enemy. If she could do anything differently, she explains that she would have taken her classes more seriously, especially during her freshman and sophomore years which includes, “actually reading the books.” Whether she has read them all or not, she is picking up her bachelor’s this fall.

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