Lana Wilson

Single Mom Wins Award for Project
Springfield Union News, Thursday, May 3, 2001
By Sandra E. Constantine, Staff Writer

In 1998, when Lana M. Wilson was a senior automotive major at Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School with a baby, she thought she had little chance of getting into Mount Holyoke College. Lana WilsonThe college junior ended up getting in as a Frances Perkins Scholar and has carried a full load of courses since her admission.

She recently won a Weed Summer Research Scholarship along with another student, Adrienne Pope, to help Jennifer L. Margulis, visiting assistant professor of English, produce a documentary on Octavia E. Butler.

Butler is an African-American science fiction writer whose works Wilson learned about while taking Margulis' course "African-American Images of Africa." Wilson plans to interview old and young blacks in Springfield to learn about the myths and stereotypes each group has concerning the other. Later in the summer, when, with Margulis, she visits Butler in Seattle, she plans to use the material to interview the writer about how her work deals with African-American intergenerational relationships. "I think it's amazing," Wilson said of winning the scholarship. "I'm glad the Weed Scholarship Committee chose my project to sponsor."

The scholarship is geared toward African-American, Hispanic and Native American students who want to do summer research with a faculty mentor. "We need more people doing this kind of work," Margulis said of Wilson's project. "I think Lana is an extraordinary person. She is not a typical Mount Holyoke college undergraduate. She has a lot of life experience and she brings that to her studies."

Wilson, 21, said the first year of her Mount Holyoke experience was the hardest because she was driving a second-hand car that broke down frequently and finally blew its engine. Things are also easier now that she is no longer breastfeeding, Wilson said. Her daughter, Imani K. Wilson, 4, spends most of the day in preschool. Wilson lives on Norman Terrace in Agawam with her father, Lawrence W. Wilson, who is helping her with her living expenses. Other relatives help with the child care so she can hold down a part-time job as a bank teller. "I think overall this is a good experience for me and for students like myself," Wilson said. "I hope other people of color will consider going to college and not think it is out of their reach.