March 2016 • Upper Bucks Free Press •
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Innovative Technology Training Serving Individuals and businesses in: Quakertown Perkasie, Sellersville, Silverdale Souderton, Telford Dublin, Plumsteadville
SMART. Contact Owen at 215-968-8132 or visit: www.bucks.edu/itacademy
Dozens of Classes Added for Spring at BCCC Bucks County Community College, which has been offering flexible academic schedules for more than 50 years, is rolling out dozens of additional Spring semester courses starting March 21. Register online or in person for dozens of additional classes this semester, including English composition, Math, Business, and more. Ending dates vary from May 10 to May 17, depending on the course. Subjects include English composition, Business, Math, History, Psychology, Criminal Justice and more. In-person registration runs through
Friday, March 18, while online registration ends Saturday, March 19. Bucks is located at 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., with classes also offered at the Lower Bucks Campus in Bristol, the Upper Bucks Campus in Perkasie, and online through the Virtual Campus. With tuition just $135 a credit for Bucks County residents, many students choose Bucks County Community College to begin the first two years of their academic path while reducing student debt. To browse course offerings, visit www. bucks.edu/spring. For more information, call 215-968-8100 or admissions@bucks.edu.
Cattie Joins QNB as Exec. VP, Chief IT Officer
QNB Bank has hired Chris Cattie for the position of Executive Vice President/Chief Information Technology Officer at QNB’s Towne Bank Center. Chris is responsible for directing and managing the Departments of Information Technology, Deposit Operations, and Electronic Banking. In his role as a community banker, Chris looks forward to developing relationships with employees, business people, and vendors that live and work in the local community. Chris has been in banking for 20 years. In
his previous role at another financial institution, Chris served as Senior Vice President of Information Technology. He earned a Bachelor of Science from Lock Haven University for Accounting and Management. He then continued his education at LaSalle University where he received his MBA. Chris lives in Willow Grove with his family. He remains active in his community where he serves as a volunteer and coach for the Upper Moreland Soccer Club.
Welcome, Spring! I thought it would be appropriate for me to welcome this long-awaited season called spring (in advance) because it has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I will refrain from discussing that it is quite possible for another blizzard to exhibit its furor during the month of March. It is always ‘my desire’ for March to enter like a lion, so that the departure will be quiet and gentle like a lamb. Being a country girl, I learned to love nature, especially as it changed during the four seasons. Spring was always a time of renewal. It was a reminder of what the color green really looked like, and how full and beautiful trees were when they were clothed in leaves, and buds, and flowers. As a child, it was the time I loved walking through our woods with my mother and picking the spring flowers – Hepaticas, and Buttercups, and Violets. I would look for the Daffodils as they peeked through a bed of dead leaves, or even a thin layer of leftover snow. Spring was when the birds chirped endlessly throughout the day; it was when the bumble bees and the hummingbirds buried themselves deeply into the Hollyhock flowers as they collected nectar. Spring was the time when the grasshoppers, and the ants, and the frogs reappeared. It was the time when the wasps constructed their dwellings of mud in the eave of the roof, and Mrs. Robin Red Breast crafted her home in the corner at the far end of our porch roof. Spring was the time when I could expect my first sting of the season by a yellow jacket. It was the time I would relentlessly chase a monarch butterfly all over the yard trying to catch it Those country memories of spring are very vivid in my mind and deeply embedded in my heart. I learned that spring is comparable to my life. I know that periodically, I need to renew my mind, body, and soul, and I have found that the first day of spring, March 20th, is a perfect revival time for me. Not only do
I get to welcome spring and renew my being, but I also get to celebrate the day I was born. Yes, I was a spring baby. In elementary school I learned that spring was always on March 20th. Much later in life, I read that it could be either March 20th or March 21st, depending on the vernal equinox. Now it has so happened, per the Earth’s Equinoxes & Solstices (Infographic), that “the vernal equinox landed on March 21st only 36 out of 100 years.” That is all I need to know to maintain that spring (and my birthday) is March 20th – every year. When I moved from the country to “Uptown,” I found that spring was a bit different. Oh, the grass still turned a brilliant color of green, and the leaves on the trees, along with the buds and flowers, were a striking and welcomed sight to behold. Each morning the birds would serenade me with their cheerful tweeting outside my bedroom window. There were an army of bumble bees, but no Hollyhocks from which they could extract nectar; and, I found that there were no monarch butterflies, nor hummingbirds “Uptown.” What I missed most was being able to take a walk through the woods to enjoy the wildflowers. Even after my mother passed away, I would return to the homestead each spring and reflect on my childhood, as I would walk through the woods picking Buttercups, Hepaticas, Violets, and looking for Daffodils. Over the decades, I have adjusted to life “Uptown”, but springtime in the country will always be a part of me. “Spring stimulates the innermost parts of my soul.” JMH Jacque Holliday, a lifelong resident of Quakertown, spends her retired time writing and volunteering. She enjoys taking photographs of nature. Additionally, she writes a blog, Jacque’s Patchwork Journal, at: jacquespatchworkjournal.weebly.com