Lively Mix at Yardfest By Jocelyn Jones
Rain, sleet, snow or shine, Bowie State University students have a lot of pride within their school. On Oct. 14 students stood outside in the rain for the Yardfest activities. The event consisted of students gathering as well as mingling together to socialize and watch the performances. The host of the evening was Bowie alum Antonio the "Cuban Cigar Smoker" and Ill Will of 93.9 WKYS. They were giving out CDs and chances to win great prizes. A lot of students were able to get on the radio and represent for Bowie State University's homecoming. For various hours students stood by the stage and watched local artists' talents. Musical performances had a lot of variety when it came to musical talents. Just to name a few local artists that showed their gifts were Main Girl "Us Against the World," Solo the Don a.k.a. Don Juan from Jive records performed "Look At Me," "Overtime," "Me and My Skateboard" and "Bomb Bomb." B.E. who's album in now released called "Wake My City Up" and various other artists. A lot of artists rapped and had a unique flow, there was also a Jamaican vibe and others sung and came up with their own dance moves and kept the crowd in tune with their beats. Surprisingly "Chopper" from P. Diddy's television show "Making the Band 2" back in 2002 with the band was called "Da Band" had dropped and spit a few bars for the audience. Not only Chopper came but he also brought MTV with him. He is doing an upcoming show on MTV called "Life After the Band" which consists of a college tour. When he made that announcement people were all over the cameras making faces, waving etc. because they were going to be on television. Chopper has not lost his touch because his new single will soon be a club hit. As he was performing he took the initiative to throw some money into the audience and the crowd went chaos, as if they never saw money before. As he is throwing money constantly in the audience and the crowd is jumping from left to right just to get a few dollars. As he gets the crowd hype he also takes of his nice golden, diamond watch and tosses it into the audience as he ended his performance. At the Yardfest there was not a dull moment. They kept the crowd on their toes and made sure they enjoyed themselves by playing a little bit of old school with the new and Baltimore music as well as some Go-Go music. Indeed it was a bit cold outside and drizzle turned to rain and back into mist, but the students went anyway and still gave the performers their support regardless of the outcome. There was a dance contest and a lot of prizes such as homecoming concert tickets, wrist bands and t-shirts that were given away. All and all the students did enjoy themselves and saw that a lot of locals had a lot of talent. | 
I chose Bowie State University because not only was it close to home, but it also has a growing and terrific communications department. 
Before transitioning into the classroom, Haynes was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, Ebony, and the Providence Journal-Bulletin. She has two decades of experience as a newspaper reporter, magazine writer, essayist, book reviewer, copy editor, news editor, photo editor, and page designer.
Greg and Laurie Fields met at Bowie State University in 1998 while they were pursuing bachelor's degrees. Both of them were in the Honor's Society and the Ronald McNair Scholars program. 
