Dynamite

Although they'd never admit it, most freshmen arrive on the Hanover Plain with more than a few apprehensions mixed in with their pea green enthusiasm. But 'fof Juanita Sanders '85, who became the director of the Gospel Choir her freshman fall, the eagerness clearly outweighed the anxiety. "I wanted to grasp the Dartmouth experience right away," she explained. "So I did."

"Going to Dartmouth was like walking into a candy store," she said. Sanders was delighted with the abundance of offerings at the College: curricular challenges, a supportive faculty, extracurricular activities, and a diverse student body. "I was proud to be at Dartmouth, and I was made to feel that Dartmouth was proud to have students like me," she said.

Sanders was only a sophomore at the Boston Latin Academy when one of her teachers encouraged her to attend a workshop for law mediators at the Dorchester Municipal Court of Boston. When she was singled out as one of the ablest conciliators at the end of the session, the workshop coordinators were incredulous to discover that she was only 16.

And what did disputants think of having their differences solved by Massachusetts's youngest law mediator? Sanders simply avoided disclosing her age and let her skills speak for themselves. "Two angry disputants often on the verge of assaulting each other would come in and sit down," she recalled, "and a few hours later I'd walk out of the room with two entirely different people." Encouraged that she was able to "make things happen" and see the results, Sanders became fascinated by law and politics. "At that point I decided to go into law-making," she said, "so I could help enact laws which would better articulate the concerns of the people I'd worked with."

In addition to serving as a mediator and keeping up with her high school's demanding academic schedule, Sanders worked as a researcher and lobbyist on Massachusetts environmental affairs for Governor King in 1979 and then as a legislative aide for the Boston City Council until 1982.

Sanders has made the most of the challenges offered at Dartmouth, pursuing her interests in music and communications as well as in politics. Professor John A. Rassias, who has known Sanders since her arrival at the College, has always been impressed by her sensitivity and talent. "She's great. This girl is dynamite, dynamite, dynamite!" he said. "It's good to know that talent like this is in our midst."

Sanders worked as an assistant teacher for an intensive English language program for Japanese students under Rassias (in addition to taking classes) during her sophomore summer. Using a Dartmouth-ese term which the Japanese students learned to pronounce and spell particularly well, she described it as "a 'psyched' experience." Sanders found Rassias's effervescent enthusiasm as inspiring as the opportunity to instill a similar enthusiasm in her students. At the end of the program, when one of her pupils asked her in broken (but improved) English, "Juanita, why are you doing this?" Sanders replied that she was motivated by love and the desire to promote communication among different peoples. The Japanese student smiled and said, "I'm psyched."

In keeping with her conviction on the importance of communication, Sanders was the first student to develop a government major modified with communications. After applying these skills during internships with Representatives Ronald Dellums of California and John Conyers of Michigan, she decided that "Capitol Hill is the life for me." She attended Congressional meetings and debates and watched legislation she had helped draft become law, finding it gratifying to see that "things were getting done" in Washington.

Sanders ultimately hopes to hold Congressional office "to change things in a better way for America, particularly for my race," she said. "And the best way to implement change successfully is not just to talk, but to do it."

On campus, Sanders followed her own advice by serving on the Undergraduate Council's Committee for Educational Policies which was instrumental in gaining support for the new D-Plan. Last year, Sanders co-chaired the Tucker Foundation's Intern Search Committee to find someone with the talent and skills to conduct worship services in the black tradition for the Dartmouth community. Sanders also combined her communication skills with her love of music as a disc jockey for WDCR's Sunday morning gospel show.

Not everything is perfect, however, at "dear old Dartmouth." At times, Sanders has found it "complex" being black at Dartmouth, and has had to assert herself as an individual rather than just another "perceived black student." "Before I was perceived as being Juanita, I was perceived as being black," she said. "I had to transcend that stereotype to overcome the perception of being black."

Quick to attribute her many successes to her deep religious faith, Sanders fulfills her desire to "give back" the knowledge she has acquired from school and in the political arena through involvement with the church, her "nucleus of inspiration." During a Foreign Study term in Puebla, Mexico, Sanders ignored her classmates' joking advice to be "laid back," and she began streetwitnessing (in Spanish) for one of Puebla's few born-again Christian churches. "I thrive on activity," she explained. "I love it and apparently it loves me." Sanders has also shared her skills with others as a Sunday school teacher, drama coach, and gospel choir director for her church in Boston.

Because of her indefatigable enthusiasm for her many activities, Sanders was chosen to appear in an Admissions Office film about Dartmouth. In the eyes of one faculty member, she "typifies in so many ways the complete student with her intelligence, personality, and character." Indeed, Sanders took time out from her busy schedule as an intern in Washington last spring to vie for a title based on personality, character, talent, appearance, and speaking ability.

Her weekend trip to Boston to compete as one of 64 finalists for the event proved worthwhile: after winning all four divisions of the contest, Sanders was crowned Miss Black Massachusetts 1984 by State Representative Royal Boiling, Jr.

The competition's theme of "Black Pride" initially inspired Sanders to enter the contest. Already very interested in promoting this idea, she wanted "to portray the theme and express myself to the fullest of my ability."

"It was not a beauty contest in the traditional sense of the word," Professor Rassias explained. Rather than focusing only on appearances, the competition emphasized strengths in a broad range of criteria.

Describing the pageant as "glamorous," Sanders said she has not been overwhelmed by the fact that she is a "beauty queen." She did not let knowing that judges were voting on her affect her, she said, because she already had a positive self-image before entering the pageant. As Miss Black Massachusetts, Sanders has enjoyed the royal treatment she has received from public leaders in New England as well as the opportunity to project who she is and what she stands for on a wider scale.

As a result of the contest, Sanders received a recording contract offer which she may pursue later. Last fall, Sanders worked as a news reporter and commentator, doing programming and production for Alabama Public Communications Broadcasting Services in Birmingham. After graduation, Sanders plans to study law at a school "that will make me, my family—and Dartmouthproud," she said.

According to Sanders, the Dartmouth spirit has grasped her. "I don't think I'll ever leave," she said. "Dartmouth is inside of me and that's a great feeling."

Describing her as "someone who walks into a room and makes everyone feel good," Rassias said that Sanders is "a genuine human being."

"I'm just proud she's with us, proud she's at Dartmouth," he concluded. "I hate her," he added (with a perfect poker face), "because she has no flaws."

"I have 27 hours in my day," Sanders says with a laugh. "If the day goes by and I say to myself, 'Wow, there's so much more I wanted to do this day,' I just think, that's OK, tomorrow's mine too."

The multitude of experiences at Dartmouth was "like walking into a candy store for fuanitaSanders '85 when she was a freshman. Now a senior, she's sampled many of those experiences,including serving as a deejay at WDCR.

Alice Dragoon '86 is an English major fromPelham, Mass. She is a news editor for The Dartmouth, co-editor of The Fortnightly, and a member of the Winter Carnival Council.