Augusta College - White Columns Yearbook (Augusta, GA)

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ANDREW JACKSON College is not for everyone, nor is everyone right for college. There is a great deal of material to be absorbed and a lot of mental energy to be expended in just four years. And. as much as college is a challenge, a privilege, and a builder, it is a pit-hole, a disciplinarian, and a leveler. Not every person can cope with the demands college imposes. IVIany have to overcome a variety of social, educational and physical handicaps to achieve a college education. Andrew Jackson, a 21-year old Augustan, is among this group. Andrew lost the use of his legs nine years ago, but he is determined , to achieve his goals. In the pursuit of his dream, he refuses to weep, yield to self-pity, or to look back on what might have been. He says, After my accident, I went to Warm Springs, the rehabilitation center for the handicapped that Franklin D. Roosevelt frequented. There I saw a lot of people whose lives had come to a complete halt. They went from sitting around to therapy, then back to sitting around. At the time, the thought of my leading that sort of life made me determined to eliminate as many obstacles as possible in order to resume the life I ' d planned for myself. Andrew, a personable and well-known young man on Augusta College ' s campus, bristles at being treated like a handi-capped person. I want to be treated like any other student — not babied, and not pitied, r ore than anything, he says forcefully, I want to be completely independent. When asked what problems he has had on campus because of his handicap, Andrew says resolutely, I have no problems. Even the limited access to certain buildings does not disturb me because I have lots of helpful friends. I attend many of the college activities and participate with the band. Andrew, currently living with his parents, is an amateur photographer and plans to be a studio musician. In the fall he hopes to transfer to Berkely College of IVIusic in Boston where, at last, he would be completely independent. When asked whether there is any possibility he might walk again, Andrew replies, The doctors aren ' t sure whether I ' ll ever be able to use my legs again, but it is possible. In the meantime, he concludes, I accept my handicap. I ' m just grateful to be alive.

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harry John schaeffer 10. vann langston 13. angelika selman freshman sophomore 11. lyle neff 14. jim youngblood junior senior 12. quincy pugh junior 10 11 12 13 14 james russey ' tsfine artsfine artsfine artsfine arts fine artsfine arts fine

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VICTOR WSAYE If ever there has been a renaissance man at Augusta College, Victor Mays surely is he. Victor is a man of ideas, plans, action. He is as artistic as he is intellectual. Every moment in his day is slotted; every day in his life is planned. What does he do? Almost everything. In addition to his college studies, Victor has contributed poetry and short stories to the SANDHILLS, as well as poetry to NOTABLE AMERICAN POETS, NATIONAL POETRY ANTHOLOGY, and THE LUNATIC FRINGE. In past years he has done several cartoons for the Bellringer. Recently he finished a difficult but rewarding task — working on a one-man performance of Kafka ' s METAMORPHOSIS. Every day from September 1978 to May 1979, under the guidance of Augusta College ' s Duncan Smith, Victor worked on its development, perfecting the show from the long and difficult memorization process to the blocking and characterization. When asked why he lent himself to so difficult a task — one which yielded only ten hours of college credit — Victor said simply, To offer another dimension of presentation to a prose work. For such an experience to be meaningful, he added, One must successfully perform the story so that you and the audience actually are living through it. Evidently Victor ' s performances are living experiences for his audiences. This past May when Victor presented his final performance, he brought METAMORPHOSIS to life for a captivated audience. His prose repertoire also Includes Gogol ' s DIARY OF A MADMAN, Eudora Welty ' s LIVVIE, and Faulkner ' s A ROSE FOR EMILY, Beyond what seems to be an already full and interesting life, Victor has a multitude of other interests and activities. Presently he is renovating an apartment building he purchased, in an effort to provide himself the money and, thereby, the freedom to do creative things. He said, I ' m doing this because I ' d like to continue what I ' m doing in my life — those things which content me — with a little less hindrance. In addition to his work at school and his renovation project, Victor cares for his grandmother. Although the care of an elderly person who is not well, like my grandmother, is extremely time-consuming, it is something which is very important to me. It is my duty. As Victor ' s ideas are not self-centered, however. He has a series of plans in his mind, as well as on paper, for parks, zoos, amusement centers, and living space which he feels are essential to the preservation and growth of the community, and which he ' d like to develop if ever he is financially able. Victor, as one might guess, is not only a gatherer of ideas and plans, but also a gatherer of things, both expensive and cheap. The word gatherer he prefers to collector. Collector, to him, connotes a certain seriousness, while gatherer seems more easy — less bespectacled. Ducan Smith, the instructor who advised and coached Victor in Metamorphosis, speaks of Victor ' s determination to achieve: Victor is a totally self-made man who has limited life and contacts to work on those things which are important to him. For instance, he noted, Victor does not own a car; instead he walks six miles a day. During his walks Victor studies his lines. He does not waste a moment of his life. Smith considers Victor an incredible human being. He said, Victor goes through self-denial to create. His life works around a strict mental regimen. He trains himself like an athlete. He is not prone to the pettiness and colorful outbursts which characterize creative people. Instead he is a warm, relaxed sort of fellow who spends his Mondays visiting invalids. An egotist? Hardly. He talks with surprising candor about himself, his ideas, and his accomplishments, and rightly he promotes himself. But in no way is he a shallow braggart. He is a cultivated man who says, If I can die a natural death, I ' ll live to be 480.