Candidate Description: Michelle McCleary
By Auburn Mann For the 2011 spring SGA elections that will decide who will hold the SGA offices for the 2011-2012 school year, there is a healthy measure of competition. Running for Miss Bowie State University 2011-2012 is junior, Michelle McCleary. Michelle is campaigning on a platform of Umoja, which in Swahili means unity. This policy presents a goal, to "promote and enhance unification on campus," she said. This is to be accomplished through acknowledging and addressing pertinent issues on campus, such as HIV awareness, self-esteem, alcohol and drug abuse, relationships and dating. McCleary said she is also concerned about academic issues such as retention rates at historically black institutions. Michelle brings a wealth of experience in campus involvement and service to the general community in various capacities. This ranges from, serving as a resident assistant at Lucretica Kennard Hall, certified peer educator for the ATOD prevention center, historian for the Society of Sophisticated Ladies, membership coordinator of the Commuter Student Association, member liaison of the National Society of Leadership and Success, Miss Black for the Eta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., a volunteer for the Columbia Lighthouse for the blind, and Miss Junior at Bowie State, among other positions. "I have a complete and genuine love for this school and its students," she said. Some appearances included on her campaign schedule are Kitchen Good Drive's for the homeless and an ATOD HIV/AID awareness presentation "Are you positive that you're negative." Other events are "Beautiful Black Women, I Bet that Chick Look Better in Red" and the lock-in movie discussion after the film "Diary of a Tired Black Man." Team Michelle McCcleary and Desiree' Sealey (candidate for Miss Senior) and their campaign teams are partnering for a Rita's Ice Cream give away in front of the Wiseman from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. April 25, which is the same evening as a planned firewall discussion for the candidates ahead of the April 27 election. | 
In October 2008, Nikki E. Owens, a junior at Bowie State University, received a Milton Pericles Darden III Memorial Scholarship from the Scott Lee Foundation during its First Annual Nicole Lynette Scott Lee Memorial Scholarship Awards Reception. 
Dr. Brenda DoHarris, a native of Guyana and former chair of English at Bowie State University, is a full professor of English with a specialization in post-colonial women's literature.
Sudarat Tuntivivat describes herself as “a small town girl from Thailand” with a dream of studying other cultures. That dream led her to leave Thailand at 17 to study at Pennsylvania’s Edinboro University. As an undergraduate, Sudarat interned at the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, an opportunity that inspired her to pursue an advanced degree at Bowie State University.
