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The official newsletter of South Arkansas Community College • El Dorado, Arkansas • Spring 2015
Stovall to address graduating class More than 300 students will be recognized as graduates during Spring Commencement at 7 p.m. on May 15 at the El Dorado Conference Center. The guest speaker will be Arkansas Community Colleges executive director Bill H. Stovall III. Stovall assumed his position in 2013 when the organization of in-state community colleges was known as the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges. Before that,
Stovall was a special assistant and chief of staff for several former Arkansas House Speakers. Previously he had been a state legislator and a quorum court justice, in addition to being a small business owner. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro with a master’s degree in liberal studies, of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock with a bachelor’s degree in political science and of Pulaski Technical College.
Stovall.
Fifth annual GLAMS conference coming up About 275 eighth-grade girls from 16 schools spread over seven counties will be on SouthArk’s West Campus on May 12 for the annual Girls Learning About Math and Science conference. Roughly another 100 volunteers, including session speakers, also will be in attendance for what in its fifth year has grown to be an event that has received state and regional attention. GLAMS aims to introduce eighth-grade female students to the possibilities of science, engineering and mathematics fields that they might not otherwise consider. Female professionals in these fields hold sessions that include visual demonstrations. The day also is marked by challenging experiments and teambuilding exercises. The conference is a partnership effort between Participants in last year’s GLAMS event work on building SouthArk and the El Dorado Education Foundation, a tower out of index cards. supported by a host of donors and in-kind contributors.
Spring is a time for closure, new beginnings— and appreciation for a life in higher education As the end of the spring semester comes to a close, college life is a bevy of culminating activities. Arts in April showcased student talents and accomplishments with music recitals, chorale performances, art exhibits, literary readings and publications and film showings. The Phi Beta Lambda student business organization has successfully competed at the state level and is preparing for national competition this summer. Student and employee recognition ceremonies, health-science program pinning ceremonies, and spring commencement all celebrate accomplishments, endings and new beginnings for our students, graduates and our faculty and staff. Our newsletter highlights the Mahony. many activities in the life of South Arkansas Community College. As the academic year closes, we also pause to recognize the significant contribution of two faculty members: Dr. Carolyn Langston and Ms. Bettie Ann Mahony. These two faculty icons of higher education in Arkansas began their teaching careers 40 years ago at the inception of Southern State Langston. College-El Dorado, which eventually became SouthArk. Ms. Mahony’s grammar, English composition and literature courses; and Dr. Langston’s business, accounting and economics courses
FROM THE
PRESIDENT have contributed to the lives of so many students and graduates of SouthArk. They not only taught, but have contributed to the very fabric of the college history, traditions and infrastructure. They have left a legacy in south Arkansas through the thousands of students who they have taught, encouraged, touched and prepared for their future professions and lives. Many area business owners, managers, accountants, health-care workers and others sing the praises of these faculty members. Not only have they conveyed knowledge and stimulated learning, but they also have left a legacy through giving by establishing endowed scholarships, which will give future students the opportunity to pursue their goals and dreams— both for careers and improved quality of life. I hope that you will join with the SouthArk family in thanking Dr. Carolyn Langston and Ms. Bettie Ann Mahony for 40 years of dedicated service to the college, to the community and especially to our students. Words cannot express our deep appreciation and thanks for your many years of dedicated service. Thank you!
New facility This is architectural rendering of the Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, which will be located on the East Campus. The SouthArk Board approved construction of the new facility in an April meeting. The building will house portions of SouthArk’s existing manufacturing programs as well as non-credit corporate training. The project still is in its early stages.
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Love...and therapy Both halves of SouthArk couple find their calling in rigorous health-science programs For Jay and Whitney Brown, the month of May is a celebration of old and new. Six years ago as high-school sophomores, they began dating. This month, she is graduating from SouthArk’s physical therapist assistant program. Husband Jay will graduate from SouthArk’s occupational therapy assistant program in August. Whitney Brown—then Thurmon—and Jay Brown began school at SouthArk in the fall of 2011. In the beginning, the duo had only vague ideas of what they wanted out of their college experiences. After completing a few nursing observations, though, both realized that helping others was their passion. It wasn’t long before both found the programs best suited for them, Jay Brown said. He added that the rewards for him are great. “I help clients do something that they haven’t done for years due to an injury,” he said. “I teach them how to use equipment and learn how to do something they never thought they would do again.” His wife echoed his sentiments about patient relationships. “I like to see their progress. I like to see from day to day how much better people are and to know that I am actually doing that,” she said. “I am changing someone’s life for the better.” The OTA and PTA programs are in fact considered among SouthArk’s most rewarding, in terms of experiences and financial gains of employment. But they also are among the most challenging. Both are competitive programs and require many hours of education, training, observations and internship time. Just being accepted into the programs is a high hurdle to jump. And while both were wrapping up prerequisites and prepping program applications last spring, they added wedding planning to their to-do list. They married in March of 2014. Both received good news and were accepted into their respective programs a year ago, and then faced all of the rigors of exhausting hours in class, difficult examinations and study time. When clinical internships got underway, the newlyweds also learned what it is like to live apart: While Whitney was able to stay CONNECT
Jay Brown, left, and bride Whitney Brown.
in El Dorado, Jay had to move to Little Rock for a rotation. “He has a way of always picking me up,” she said. “I am a worrier. He is my rock. He just keeps me going.” Whitney Brown recently passed the state board for licensure. Her husband is in his final clinical rotation. Both now are applying for jobs and determining their next move as a couple. After August, for the first time since they started dating, neither will be in school. “We have been together all the way through,” Jay Brown said. “We have been doing all this work that we knew it would be worth it in the end.” SPRING 2015 PAGE 3
Exercise shows potential value of a paper clip Imagine that you have to procure an item of great value within an hour, but have no money with which to obtain it—instead, you have to barter, but at the start you have only one item of miniscule worth. That is exactly where students of Gabbie Williams’ SouthArk Success course found themselves recently. They were separated into two groups, and each group was given only one paper clip with which to start trading. “I have done this activity before and I wanted them to experience it,” Williams said. “There really are good people still in the world. I kept telling them you will be surprised at what you get. They didn’t believe me.” As a team-building exercise, each group had to take its paper clip and trade it in for something of greater value, then trade that new item for something else of even greater value. The goal was to have the team with the highest-valued item, but the students couldn’t use money in any way—bartering only. “It helps students with critical thinking. They have to think outside the box,” Williams said. One group started with a paper clip and ended with mosquito repellant and a high-intensity light (valued at $50). The other group came riding back to SouthArk on an El Dorado Fire Department fire truck. When they got back, proud of their accomplishment, the members of that group walked into the classroom and said “you need you to come outside to
Students in Gabbie Williams’ SouthArk Success class, along with the El Dorado firefighters and the fire truck received as part of the paper-clip challenge.
see it,” Williams said. “As soon as I walked outside the fire truck pulled up honking its horn,” she said. “I was thinking ‘No way they pulled this off,’ but they did.” SAS challenges students to grow, build their community and learn how to succeed in college and the workforce, Williams said. “I want them to grow. I want to see them grow,” the instructor said. “I don’t want them to be the same person they were when they started this class.”
Totally Mozart
Employee Fund Drive From left, Employee Fund Drive captains Lesley Drummond, Val Lewis and Gabbie Williams draw names from among all SouthArk employees who donated money to the SouthArk Foundation in the annual campaign. Several gift cards were given as prizes.
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Music professor Victoria Harden, center, is surrounded by well-wishers in a reception following the Choral Society’s Totally Mozart concert at First Presbyterian Church, part of Arts in April. The reception was hosted by the Foundation.
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