december 2016

Student spotlight: Howard Walker

Despite being from a big city in the North – or perhaps because of that – Howard Walker likes going to school in the South.

“I chose Saint Aug due to the family environment and the fact that it was an HBCU in the South,” Walker said. “I always wanted to be in the South. I love the Falcon family because I feel that people care about you and want you to succeed.”

A business administration major, Walker hails from Philadelphia, PA. But he has thrived in a less urban, more southern environment.

Walker serves as vice president of the Student Government Association at Saint Augustine’s University. He also is a member of Ethics Bowl, the Pre Alumni Council and is on the SAU golf team. He has a radio show on WAUG, the university’s radio station, called “Unlawful Radio.” In addition to all that, Walker is an RA at Boyer dormitory.

He even has found a home within a home as a member of the Kappa Epsilon Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He crossed over in the spring 2016 and already feels that he has built friendships that will last a lifetime.

Among those friends is Quan Vann, a junior psychology major and fraternity brother whom Walker considers his best friend. The feeling is mutual, Vann said. “Howard is a motivating brother,” Vann said.

Last month, at the Iota Iota Chapter of Raleigh and Xi Mu Mu Chapter of Cary achievement banquet, competing against students from other HBCUs in the Raleigh, Durham and Chapter Hill region, Walker received the Omega Man of the Year award. “It was an honor and I felt blessed to be among other great men who were nominated as well,” Walker said.

Walker doesn’t plan to slow down after he graduates. “I want to get into a dual program that allows me to get my master’s as well as my law degree,” he said.

— By Sterling Raynor