Bryan Stokes II, Class of 2005, came to Kenyon intending to major in biology. Three years later he was writing for the student newspaper, interviewing talk-show host Jerry Springer, and contemplating a career in journalism or public policy.

"I realized that I was really interested in writing while I worked for the paper," says the Detroit, Michigan, native. "And professors started saying how much my writing was improving." Stokes switched his major to English and quickly rose from news assistant to the sole news editor at the Collegian.

He got a crash course in deadline writing when he learned the football coach had resigned the night before the paper hit the newsstands. "We were frantically calling team captains trying to find anyone to comment on the story," he says. "It was exciting to realize you could cover something as professionally as we did in such a short amount of time."

These days, Stokes is concentrating on covering the stories that interest him most. In the fall of 2003, he reported on the mayor's race in Gambier and landed an interview with Springer when he spoke at Kenyon. "There's a whole other side to Jerry Springer that you never see on television," Stokes says. "He has political aspirations, and he has a good sense of humor."

Stokes was named an African-American Scholar at the College based on his test scores, records from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, and an evaluation by Kenyon faculty.

While his interests may have changed, his reasons for attending Kenyon have not. "I had a long list of schools I was considering, but Kenyon was the only place I visited," he says. "I came here right after a snowfall, and I loved the campus. I loved the atmosphere."