THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504140419
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONYA WOODS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
Carita V. Banks, a senior at Norfolk Academy, is a track star with a passion for drawing. Pamela A. Brown, a senior at Western Branch High School in Chesapeake, works on her car with help from her dad and has a talent for writing.
They don't know each other, but they share something: They are the only two students in South Hampton Roads to be awarded the 1995 National Achievement Scholarship for Outstanding Negro Students, a prestigious award sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. Six students on the Peninsula also won awards. The amount of money students receive varies with the type of scholarship they win.
Brown, 17, who will receive $2,000, said getting money for college is a great feeling.
``Applying for scholarships is harder than applying for college,'' she said. ``For some of them you have to write 2,000-word essays, get all these recommendations, and sometimes you're still not guaranteed anything.''
Brown and Banks, among nearly 575 recipients nationwide, were chosen because of their outstanding academic records and their potential for further success.
Banks, 18, of Norfolk, doesn't know yet how much money she will get. But with plans to study pediatric medicine, she said, every little bit will help.
``I really love children,'' she said. ``My ultimate goal is to work with Operation Smile, traveling to Third World countries, repairing cleft palates and cleft lips on small children.''
The National Achievement Program is an annual academic competition for black students. Seniors become eligible when they state their interest in the program upon taking the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. Students can qualify for a single $2,000 scholarship or for a corporate-sponsored scholarship that is renewable and gives a stipend of $500 to $2,000 a year.
With varied interests and skills, Banks and Brown could be considered young Renaissance women.
Brown says her interests range from engineering to creative writing.
She attended a NASA mentorship program last summer at the Governor's School of Science in Williamsburg, where she worked on an atmospheric testing project. She spent a week the summer before in an engineering program at the University of Virginia. Brown also writes stories for the Teenology section of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
``It's kind of ironic that I have all these engineering activities,'' said Brown, who would like to be a reporter. ``But these experiences have been good support systems for me.''
Banks spends much of her time on the track, where she has won almost 40 competitive medals and trophies, mainly in relays.
Time she's spent volunteering at the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk gave her a real glimpse of what working with youngsters would be like.
Banks and Brown still are trying decide which colleges to attend. Brown has narrowed her choices to U.Va. or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
``I know I'll adjust well to college, but I would still like to stay close to home,'' Brown said.
It could be U.Va., Emory University or Washington University in St. Louis for Banks. Or it could be Spelman College, a historically black women's college in Atlanta.
But she wonders how she would fit in at a predominantly black institution, considering that she's always been in the minority at the private Norfolk Academy.
``It has never really bothered me, because that's what I'm used to. I feel like if I choose to go to Spelman it'll be a major shock,'' she said. ``Some people show black pride through a certain hairstyle or by the way they dress. But I don't do any of that because I haven't been exposed to it at school.''
Brown also has found herself in the minority in most of her public school classes. She expressed her feelings about that in a poem, which won a silver medal at a regional NAACP awards ceremony.
``In the first and second grade it was hardly an issue,'' she said.
``But in the sixth grade, everybody started to become more aware of their race. By the time we reached high school, we pretty much knew who was prejudiced and who wasn't.''
Brown and Banks agree that the college they choose has to have a family-like atmosphere.
Banks says her 8-year-old brother, Buddy, has been part of her inspiration to major in pediatric medicine. ``I've been like a built-in baby sitter,'' Banks said.
Brown said she has had to tolerate all the disadvantages of being the middle child. With an older brother, Raphael, and a younger sister, Jennifer, she admits always having a sibling at the same school has its problems.
``I was always Raphael's little sister when he was in school with me and now I'm Jennifer's big sister,'' she said. ``Sometimes it's like I don't even have a name.''
Brown and Banks said they are looking forward to facing new obstacles and finding their own identities.
``I'm looking forward to meeting more diverse people,'' Brown said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Carita V. Banks of Norfolk is a senior track star at Norfolk
Academy. She plans to study pediatric medicine.
Pamela A. Brown, a senior at Western Branch High School in
Chesapeake, excels in science and writing.
by CNB