The Eagle Northeast Texas Community College
Volume 34, Issue 6
ntcceagleonline.com
Thursday, February 23, 2017
CELEBRATING
BLACK HISTORY MONTH “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
“All great achievements require time.” Maya Angelou
“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” Frederick Douglass
Student Services opens new center
By Kenzie Messer Managing Editor
courtesy photos
The images above are part of the four-panel mural that artist John Biggers painted in 1955. The mural will be displayed in a special space in the remoldeled Learning Resource Center.
While renovations took place in the former administration building, student services temporarily operated from the multipurpose room in the Humanities building. With the recent completion of the design improvements, student services and advising has moved back to their original location. The Business Office, Testing Center, and Continuing Education will also move into the redesigned space to create a one-stop student service center. After visiting several office intensive operations in the Dallas area, Northeast administration developed
the idea of having an open office concept. The idea is for students to benefit from the one-stop center by conveniently providing students with maximum services in one location. “I think things are going to be a lot more efficient for the students,” Vice President of Student and Outreach Services Dr. Josh Stewart said. “With the addition of the testing center, there’s a lot more resources in that building for a student.” While the setup will be completely different, Stewart said the floor plan will also feature aesthetic elements. “It’s not similar to what we had, it’s going to be completely different,”
Voices from the past rise again Adult Education Northeast to display the mural of Dr. John Biggers
“One beautiful fall Saturday morning in 1985, I was searching for some audio-visual equipment for my class,” Theisen said. “I was not looking for a missing mural. But there, leaning against a wall, was a large mural painting that certainly looked like an early John Biggers work.” -An excerpt from Dr. Ollie Theison “Walls That Speak: The Murals of John Thomas Biggers (2010)
After years of being on display in the Paul Pewitt Elementary School library, internationally recognized African American artist John Biggers’ original mural the History of Negro Education in Morris County, Texas will now be displayed on the Northeast campus in the newly redesigned Learning Resource Center. Paul Pewitt School District generously loaned the mural to the college to be displayed for a minimum of 20 years. “I think we are very fortunate to have this piece,” Northeast Vice President for Advancement Dr. Jonathan
receives awards Special to The Eagle
By Kenzie Messer Managing Editor
staff photo
| mandy smith
Fine art movers prepare to remove the Biggers mural from its frame. The painting was been hanging in the Paul Pewitt Elementary School library. McCullough said. “Because this is going to be so visible, I have a feeling that we will have visitors on campus that would have never been here for any other reason except to see that art.” The story of the unique piece begins in 1955 when Biggers was commissioned to paint the mural. The artwork depicts the struggles that
African Americans faced in the early 20th century while trying to obtain an education. After the painting was completed, it was displayed for several years in what was once Carver High School, the See Learning on pg. 3
See Student on pg. 2
The Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education recently lauded a Northeast Texas Community College Adult Education Student, Jose Martinez, and an instructor Jaudon Wilhite, with two separate but distinctive honors. Martinez, an NTCC ESL (English as a Second Language) student from Mount Pleasant has received the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE) ESL Persistence Award. This statewide honor is awarded to students who exhibit personal accountability and commitment to pursuing their education while maintaining their family and civic responsibilities. A cash award of $500 was given to Martinez during the TALAE Awards Dinner in San Antonio earlier
this month. Martinez was nominated by Freda Duncan, Community Resource Center Coordinator. He is currently pursuing his GED. ESL (English as a Second Language) instructor, Jaudon Wilhite, of Mount Vernon, has received the Texas Association for Literacy and Adult Education (TALAE) Adult Education Teacher of the Year Award. Wilhite, who has taught adult education ESL since 2004, was nominated for this honor by colleagues and students. She received the award and $1,000 at the annual TALAE Awards Dinner on February 3 in San Antonio. “We were so thrilled to hear that Jaudon was being honored with this award. Her hard work and dedication to the cause of adult literacy has made a difference in See Instructor on pg. 2
Spreading faith and education By Vanessa Navarro and Yami Zuniga Staff Writers
also located in the Jefferson area. While it’s hard to imagine balancing being a professor and preaching, McCowan has There are those who believe that science always been able to devote his time and and religion are mutually exclusive. Dr. efforts to both. Winston McCowan is not one of those people. “A teacher is a skill, it’s a trait and preaching During the workweek, McCowan spends his is a calling,” he said. days in pursuit of science. More specifically, And despite the fact that he instructs in the he teaches biology and anatomy and field of science, McCowan’s strong Christian physiology to the next generation of scientists beliefs have never interfered with his teaching. and nurses at Northeast Texas Community The question that may be running around in College. On the everyone’s minds, weekends, he trades is what was it about “He’s more than a professor, the field of biology in his lab coat for a suit and tie and steps he’s a true teacher in the highest that appealed to a into the very different man with such strong sense of the word.” role of pastor and religious views? spiritual leader for “I was curious three congregations within the area. about science as a child,” McCowan said. McCowan, who was the first African “I always wanted to know how something American hired by the college when it opened worked and why. Therefore, I became in 1985, has spent 31 of his 44 years teaching interested in science.” at NTCC. Before coming to Northeast, Despite what some may see as a contrast McCowan taught at Trinity Valley College in between biology and religion, facts and Henderson County. beliefs, McCowan never really let any The professor, who has been in the ministry obstacles as a student stop him from becoming for close to 35 years, serves as a full time an educator. As a matter of fact, McCowan pastor at the United Methodist Church in said he believes that religion and education Jefferson and also preaches sermons on are equally important to a person’s life. alternating Sundays to the congregations at “Once a minister came out, one of my Logan Chapel and Louis Chapel churches, students was his parishioner, and had told him
staff photo
| mandy smith
Dr. Winston McCowan, center, work with students from left, Nikki Martin and Estefania Flores during one of his biology classes. about my class. He was confused because he had always taught that a female had more ribs than a male. The Bible says that God took a rib from Adam and made Eve. I ended up giving him a lesson on theology and anatomy,” he said. McCowan acknowledged that he sometimes uses his knowledge of science in his sermons. He said there is a connection between the two that explains why certain things are the way they are.
“Always, there are a lot of times I reference back in sermons,” he said. “In one sermon, I preached about the anatomy of a Christian, referencing back to a topic called “Your Body, God’s Temple” that defines the differences of the two.” Northeast Mathematics Professor Dr. Paula Wilhite has grown to know McCowan over the past 31 years. See Professor on pg. 3