Livingstone College hosts Regional Academic Conference

Livingstone College hosted the North Carolina Region I Meeting of Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the college’s location on Jake Alexander Boulevard. Undergraduate scholars and academic advisors from North Carolina’s HBCUs, such as Bennett College, North Carolina A&T State, St. Augustine, and Winston-Salem State universities, convened for professional development and networking opportunities while exploring the graduate school and career prospects under the theme, An Inquiry of Ideas, Identity, and Intersectionality.

As the organization aims to promote high scholarship among undergraduate juniors and seniors, encourage sincere and zealous endeavor in all fields of knowledge and service, cultivate a high order of personal living, and develop an appreciation for scholarship and scholarly endeavor in others, under the leadership of Livingstone College’s Alpha Kappa Mu advisor and Region I President Da’Tarvia Parrish, attendees engaged in a full day of enrichment activities to strengthen scholarship, professional outlook, and service-learning initiatives. Parrish said, “As our organization’s birthright is steeped in a tradition of higher standards for student-centered, scholarship-focused, and service-oriented undertakings, I welcome you to partake in an experience that aims to produce leaders of integrity, professional excellence, intellectual depth, and social consciousness.”
Meeting presenters included Jean McBride of the North Carolina Department of Administration, who shared state internship opportunities; Da’Tarvia Parrish, also president of the American Association University Women (AAUW) Salisbury branch, who shared the organization’s signature salary negation workshop Start Smart, Livingstone College Student Ambassadors of Society of Financial Education and Professional Development (SFE&PD) who presented financial literacy, and William McKee of Winston-Salem State University who served as the guest speaker with a message entitled, “It’s a Movement.”

Exhibitors to include Freedom Schools Partners, US Navy Chaplaincy, Hood Theological Seminary, University of Notre Dame, Creighton University School of Law, Wayne State University School of Law, University of South Carolina, Pfeiffer University, and St. Thomas University Benjamin Crump College of Law shared resources and openings for scholars and advisors to prepare and engage in employment, internship, summer, and graduate school and/or research programs. “I was quite impressed with the academic opportunities offered by the exhibitors, and I am looking forward to engaging in a summer business opportunity with the University of Notre Dame,” said Muan attendee Emile Doge of Livingstone College.

Alpha Kappa Mu’s national president, Brandon Henry of Albany State University, greeted the body and workshopped scholarship applications extended to members of the organization. Regional Director Sandrea Williamson met with advisors for best practices in Honors, and the full committee elected Asia Rogers of Bennett College as Region I Student Representative. The meeting concluded with a spirited closure by Livingstone College’s president, Dr. Anthony J. Davis, who congratulated scholars and advisors on their commitment to a higher academic calling and charged them to be intentional in engagements that strengthen their brilliance and enrich the promise of future greatness.

The 2022-2024 Region I executive committee includes President Da’Tarvia Parrish, vice president Tonya Doane, student representatives Febbie Piersol and Emile Dogbe, and regional Director Sandrea Williamson. For more information about Alpha Kappa Mu, visit www.alphakappamu.org