By Le Datta Grimes
Ruthie Newsome attended five different colleges and universities. Between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she has graced many classrooms in many cities and states.
None of her experiences, however, compare to her college years at Arkansas Baptist College. There, she fashioned the foundation for a lifelong career in education. There, she forged a sense of community.
And there, she forged familial ties that last even now, nearly 50 years later. With a heart to continue the tradition that was and is Arkansas Baptist, Newsome and other school alumni use travel as a major fund-raiser for their alma mater.
The group, known as the ABC Alumni Club, donates $3,000 to the school annually. “It was a small school, and it was intimate and familylike,” Newsome said. “We got to know our teachers. Our teachers got to know us, and we interacted heavily with the community and churches.”
Arkansas Baptist College is a four-year, liberal arts school in Little Rock. A historically black college, the school was established in 1884 and is the only Baptist school of higher education west of the Mississippi River.
Newsome arrived in 1958 and graduated in 1962.
As president of the national alumni chapter, she still carries within her that sense of community and camaraderie instilled in her all those years ago. Today, it manifests itself in the trips she plans annually to raise money for the school.
“We have to give back and religiously educate young black youths,” she said.
Comprising nearly 20 alumni and school supporters, the group meets monthly and plans an extended trip a year, as well as a shorter weekend or day trip. Newsome has been at the helm of the travel planning for at least 30 years, she said, and the group has been together even longer. As a unit, they’ve seen places such as Chicago, New Orleans, Canada, and Tunica and Biloxi, Miss., throughout the decades.
Beyond their cause, Newsome said her trips are special because of the people on them. Many are Arkansas Baptist graduates with the same love and affection Newsome has for the school, and they venture from places like Chicago, Alabama and Arkansas just to take part in the alumni group activities and travels.
“What stands out about the trips is the people who travel with me,” Newsome said. “It’s the same ones over and over. We’ve built up a nice clientele, and it’s really a good group.”
In June, the group did a nine-day, eight-night trip to Cape Cod, Mass.
In October, the group spent three days in Wisconsin visiting the Fireside Theatre in Fort Atkinson and House on the Rock in Spring Green. They also toured Dale.
Next year, the group ventures to Savannah, Ga., for a seven-day, six-night adventure in the South. Most of the trips are educational, Newsome said, as well as fun — like Arkansas Baptist College, a place from which Newsome’s heart never strays far.
“There’s an emotional attachment to Arkansas,” Newsome said. “It’s the times we came along in, the sense of community. We were not in that ‘I’ generation. It was a group thing; we considered the group and not just self.”
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