Creating strides with VCU-NAACP

The primary focus of most seniors this time of year is graduation, but Alethia Watford, a criminal justice major and president of the VCU chapter of the NAACP, has broadened the scope of her attention to promoting diversity among her peers.

“We promote economic, social, political and educational progress, as well as improvement and diversity among all people of color,” she said of the student chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People. “Our organization is not just for African-Americans.”

Since Fall 2002, Watford led the chapter in membership and voter registration drives and organized several forums that seek to educate and empower young people on how to be successful.

“My junior year I had a class with the (former) president, Ramsey Bronhay, who told me about the first meeting,” she said. “Ever since then, I have been involved with the NAACP.”

Last semester, VCU NAACP sponsored a forum on the “Crab Effect” and how to avoid it.

“If you put a whole bunch of crabs in a barrel and you take the top off, none of the crabs are going to get out because once one crab reaches the top. The rest of the crabs are going to pull him down as they try to get out,” she said, explaining the crab effect.

“That is how it is a lot of the time, not just in the African-American community, but in other cultures.”

Watford is organizing for this semester, including a forum, “African-Americans, Past, Present and Future,” for Black History Month. In April, the organization will host a campus version of the NAACP Image Awards.

“The ceremony will recognize people in the VCU community, students and faculty who have made a contribution or who have done something significant for VCU or the surrounding communities,” Watford said.

Napoleon Peoples, the faculty adviser for the organization said, “Alethia is very thorough and follows through with assignments. She is a hard worker and has creative ideas. I see her as really beginning to move the organization forward.”

Watford’s involvement in VCU organizations that seek to promote diversity in young people doesn’t end with VCU’s NAACP chapter. She is also an active member of the Black Awakening Gospel Choir, a nationally recognized choir with a goal to develop leadership in its members and inspire direction in its listeners.

The choir performs at many VCU events, including basketball games, talent shows and fundraisers. They also sing in community churches and regional choir competitions.

Outside of school, Watford enjoys working out, roller skating, reading and laughing with her friends. After graduating in May, Watford will attend law school. She is examining her options and keeping an open mind.

“I don’t want to do criminal law,” she said. “I am trying to get into other areas. I have been thinking about entertainment law, tort law or corporate law.”