Moniesha Curry, the new president of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she wants to lead the organization in a unified direction.

“I would like to think that we bring a sense of unity, I would like to think we’re all on some level or another, unified although I know we’re separate,” Curry said. “We are separate but equal.”

Curry said she has always been an advocate of expressing herself in a politically correct manner at all times. She said as president she wants to bring significant topics going on in the world to campus.

“The slogan ‘Black Lives Matter’ is such a big slogan and I’m trying to figure how to get the community and students to get involve, to understand, not just Black Lives matter but all lives matter,” Curry said. “But we need to start off with our community and build off that, and know our lives matter too.”

Curry joined NAACP as a sophomore and she joined Black Student Union her freshman year.

Last year Curry was the treasurer of NAACP and she said was given the honor of leading such a prestigious organization.

NAACP has collaborated with a couple Greeks on campus, but Curry said as president one of her goals is to make connections with more organizations. She also said she wants to get as many active members on NAACP as possible.

Curry said unlike most people, she handles stress with a grain of salt. She said she has a condition where when stressed, she breaks out in hives.

“My last breakout was in February, and before that it was in high school,” Curry said. “I know that I can’t control the nature of things and I know I don’t stress like normal people.”

Curry said her best way to manage time is investing in a planner. She said staying organized creates less stress.

Curry was the co-coordinator of Miss Black EIU last year and after competing in the pageant in the past.

She said the hardest part of coordinating the pageant was having everything on one accord. She said she took on a lot last year, but got through it.

“Never overwhelm yourself with always trying to get involved, and be involved, if you know that’s not what you’re able to do at that point of time,” Curry said. “A lot of people are not genuinely doing it because it’s placed in their hearts to do, it’s for show.”

Curry said the biggest problem with student involvement on campus is keening into everyone’s interest. She said people would not go somewhere if it is not a certain number of people involved.

“They feel like they’ve already been in class long enough so they don’t want to come to another meeting and learn something else,” Curry said. “But learning continually happens, you never stop learning and as soon as our community realizes that, the better off we’ll be.”

T’Nerra can be reached at [email protected] or 581-2812