St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1957-03-08
The Hidden Ones
CFrom TIINIE)

(FrOm TllMED
During his first year at Phillips
Exeter Academy there were times
when Nathaniel Lamar Of Atlanta,
Ca. thought ne would never make
il. The son of a widowed school
teacher, he had gone to a Negro
elementary school that left him
unprepared for the competition
at Exeter. Had it not been for an
organization called the National
Scholarship Service and Fund for
Negro Students, he would never
have bothered to apply for Exeter
at all. But young Lamar gradually
found his bearings. Eventually he,
- was elected senior class poet at
Exeter p graduated summa cum
laude from Harvard, 81 won a fell
iowship to Cambridge University,
A published short stories in the
Atlantic Monthly, and is now on
the way to finishing a novel
In 194s when NSSFNS (pro-
nounced "Nessfeness") began fer
reting out hidden talents such as
LaMar's, Negroes accounted for
only one-tenth of 10 of the stu
dents in interraCial colleges. To
three prominent New Workers -
Dean Harry Carman of Columbia
College, Mrs. Felice Schwartz, and
Pastor James II. Robinson Of the
Church of the Master-this seemed
not only an injustice, but a waste
Of brainpower. Though too many
boys and girls Of all races were
missing their chance for full
education because of poverty or
bad training, the largest group af-
fected was the Negroes.
Deciding to go to the rescue,
Dean Carman g. Co. hired Richard
Plaut. a personnel expert, TO be
Nessfeness' executive vice chair
man. Last week, in small booklet
called Blueprint for Talent
Searching" reader could learn just
how much Plaut has accomplish
ed.
Nessfeness' chief tasks have
been not only to find hidden talent
but to interest promising studentI
in higher education.
Now supported largely by Col
lege Campus Chests all over the
country, the service talks to hun
dreds of students and parents
year, guides them in choosing
college best suited to their needs,
arranges for the necessary tests,
provides them with money to sup
plement whatever scholarships
they win. Since 1e4S Nessfeness
has PLACID 1000 boys and girls in
300 interracial colleges. In only
two years its Southern Project,
which concentrates on the Deep
South has placed $50.
At the same time, the service
has begun sending promising stu
dents to Eastern prep schools. The
students have done astonishingly
well: of the $50 Southern Project
students, only four had dropped
out for academic reasons by last
June.
Some Nessfeness case histories:
Carole Waters, whose widowed
mother works as a u. S. Treasury
Department messenger in Wash
ington, D. C., managed to earn
only a B-minus average at Illinois
Rockford College, but she made
such a hit with her schoolmstes
that they elected her president Of
the Student Government Associa-
ton.
Milton r. Pharr was found by
Nessfeness in a segregated high
school in Gastonia, N C., where
his father Is a janitor, his mother
cleaning woman. After a poor
start at DePauw University Zone
B, two DIS. and an F. Milton rails
ed his marks TO four AS, a B a
c, made the varsity baseball team
and became president Of the liter
airy magazine
Robert Earl Hood, son Of a
Louisville hotel maintenance man
and a laundress, has maintained a
B-plus TO A-minus average at
Ohio Wesleyan, sings in the glee
club, is a member Of the debat-
ing team, writes for the under
graduate Transcript, is president
Of the Young Democrats, treasurer
Of his fraternity. the first Negro
ever 10 be elected vice president
Of the Student Government Asso-
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