You call yourselves Pirates? Over the last few days I’ve been hitting up numerous PSC Pirates – students, staff, administrators – and asking them to spit out some gruff Pirate talk for a video to promote “Talk Like a Pirate Day” on Monday, Sept. 19.
We need to step up our game, me mateys! Because though you’re all great Pirates and great Pirate ambassadors, your Pirate talk needs a bit of work.
Kayla was 16 years old when she dropped out of high school during her junior year.
“I was dealing with family issues at the time,’’ she said. “I didn’t have the best role models for parents. I had to guide myself.”
Kayla and her older brother hit the road – South Dakota, Arizona, Oklahoma – and the siblings tried to make it on their own.
Ascend Performance Materials’ Cantonment site presented Pensacola State College a $50,000 check for student scholarships on Monday, Sept. 12, at the company’s plant on Old Chemstrand Road.
The donation matches the $50,000 given by retired employees of Monsanto and Solutia in 2019 to establish an endowed scholarship. It also brings the endowment principal to $100,000.
Student composers will present original musical compositions alongside works from established regional and even European composers at Pensacola ComposerFest XVII.
Set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, in the Ashmore Auditorium on Pensacola State College’s Pensacola campus, the event is free to attend.
Two things will happen at the Pensacola State College Hartsell Arena on Sept. 27. First, the newest Pirate student-athletes will be introduced and celebrated at the annual Pirate Experience event. Then, Carla Williams, one of PSC’s greatest student-athletes and coaches, will be inducted into the Pensacola State College Athletics Hall of Fame. Williams’ is the…
Twenty-five Pensacola State administrative, faculty and staff members are on a nine-month journey to learn about the College and postsecondary education in Florida.
The 2022-2023 President’s Leadership Institute (PLI) class began in August with an organizational meeting, introductions and presentations on the history of community colleges in the United States, especially Florida.
The Pensacola State College volleyball team already has a handful of wins under its belt, but it won’t be the only Pirates team bringing home the victories this fall.
You’ll get plenty of opportunities to support your fall teams – volleyball, softball, baseball and cross-county – throughout the year.
The PSC cross-country team begins its fourth season on Friday, Sept. 2, while the Pirate baseball team kicks off its exhibition season at home with two games on Sept. 9 – at 10 a.m. against Northwest Florida State College and a 5:30 p.m. match-up against Gulf Coast State College.
If you’ve recently walked by the Charles W. Lamar Studio in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts, you’ve probably noticed the doors to the studio gallery are shuttered and lights are usually off, though every once in a while you might see a dim flicker and realize that something is going on inside.
Something hidden for now. But something that will captivate and stimulate once it is revealed on Monday, Sept. 12.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts it bluntly:
“Suicide is a serious public health problem …and is a leading cause of death” in the United States.
How bad is it? There is a suicide in the United States every 11 minutes according to the CDC. For military veterans, the statistics are grimmer – veterans have an adjusted suicide rate that is 52 percent greater than the civilian population.
Pensacola State first-year photography student Davan Royster moved slowly through the College’s Switzer Gallery, taking in every bit of the compelling artwork of Sue Havens, whose “Cull+” exhibition is now on display.
And there was a lot to take in, especially as Royster studied a large “Brick & Mortar” design, a city-grid inspired piece of art that can be deceiving, depending on one’s perspective – almost a “forest for the trees” situation.
Administrator was Career Pathways Counselor for PSC Adult Education Department
Sparkie Harrison is the new director of the Pensacola State College Century Center in the most northern part of Escambia County.
Some first-time homeowner is going to get an awesome home. So awesome that it could be the only home they’ll ever need to buy.
“This is a 200-year house with the proper maintenance and care,’’ said Tony Grahame, Pensacola State College Carpentry Program Coordinator, as he stood on the covered porch of the 600-square-foot mini-home on Tarragona Street. “It’s an exceptional example of good building-science practices and the students’ amazing work.”
Performers, vendors, volunteers, sponsors are needed for April 15, 2023 event.
How many cultures are represented at Pensacola State College? In Northwest Florida? The Gulf Coast and the American South?
Nicolas Salazar just graduated from Pace High School a few months back, but he’s already made an impact in making Northwest Florida a better place.
Salazar, an incoming Pensacola State College freshman, was named by WEAR-TV Channel 3 as a community “Angel in Our Midst” in November 2021 for his work to help needy animals in the community.
Gulnaz Okumus speaks Turkish, English, Russian and Tatar. If numbers are a language, she speaks that too.
Okumus, a native of Turkey, is an accounting specialist for the Pensacola State College Foundation, joining the Foundation team in June. She only arrived in the United States a year ago, but said she feels that her new hometown is “a piece of heaven.”
Pensacola State College is bringing a little old-school fun and a little new-school pizazz to the Pensacola campus this fall.
The inaugural PSC Pirates esports team will start competition in October and has already signed two student players with more expected to join in the coming weeks.
Also coming this fall is the PSC game room, which will have a pool table, air hockey, arcade games and foosball. The game room will be in the PSC Delaino Student Center – Building 5 and located in the large room that was formerly Academic Advising. A rear portion of the room is being remodeled to be the PSC esports arena where the esports team will compete.
Pensacola firefighter Blane Coomer has already delivered a baby this year after responding to a call. That’s even before he received his nursing pin.
On Aug. 5, Coomer made it official. He was one of 65 Pensacola State College Associate of Science in Nursing students who received their nursing pins during a Pinning Ceremony at First Pentecostal Church in Pensacola.
The work of artist Sue Havens has been exhibited in New York City, Germany and Sweden, and featured in the pages of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and the New American Painting magazine.
Beginning Aug. 15, Havens’ work will be on display in the Switzer Gallery in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts on Pensacola State College’s Pensacola campus. The exhibition titled, “Cull+,” showcases Havens’ work in a variety of media from painting to sculpture and collage.
The exhibition runs through Sept. 23. An Opening Reception is set for 5:30 p.m. Aug. 25, preceded by an Artist Lecture at 3 p.m.
A lot of the faces are different. There’s new construction and some buildings are long gone.
Still, Pensacola State College’s Pensacola campus feels familiar to Kim Cooper, who joined the police force in late June. Actually, she rejoined the College police force.
There was no ribbon. Instead, Pensacola State College Carpentry Program Coordinator Tony Grahame cut a yellow stretch of construction site tape to mark the completion of a mini-home built by the program’s students.
“The students have built a high-performance home,’’ said Grahame, a Certified Master Builder, during the small ceremony held Thursday, July 21. “It’s energy efficient and built to last. It’s very resistant to storms and even hurricanes.”
Located on Tarragona Street in Pensacola, the 600-square-foot home was built in collaboration with the Escambia County Housing Finance Authority and its Urban Infill program, which targets development of vacant urban properties and construction of affordable homes to first-time homebuyers.
Scott Brumfeld isn’t a runway model by trade. But there he was on stage at a July 26 Pirate Path New Student Orientation in the Hagler Auditorium, performing a catwalk full turn to show off all angles of the flashy new Pensacola State College esports jerseys.
These orientation sessions aren’t just about making sure students are registered for classes and getting their schedules in hand – though that’s surely a big part of the sessions. No, they’re also about introducing new and prospective students to all aspects of the College and its culture, from clubs and organizations to athletics and intramurals and much more.
Julie Olmedo had the club cart – oversized golf cart – in reverse and was ready to go.
The cart wasn’t ready to go though.
That’s when PSC student Connor Wooden reached inside and turned the ignition all the way to the start position. Olmedo didn’t have it turned all the way.
But Olmedo is an incoming Pensacola State College Student Ambassador. Wooden is a second-year Ambassador, so he knows the ropes. Olmedo is going to learn them too.
April Huffman has been a Pensacola State College Culinary Program student for three years. She’s received scholarships since her second semester. If she didn’t, Huffman admits she probably wouldn’t still be a student.
Huffman was one the talented PSC students who prepared scrumptious and elegantly designed small dishes for friends and supporters of the College at the annual Garde Manger Celebration held Wednesday, July 20, in the Pensacola campus Delaino Student Center.
Garde Manger is an annual celebration when the College gives thanks to those who help fund scholarships, support faculty professional development and contribute financial support and services for infrastructure.
The cultural flame lit by Elvis Presley has never been extinguished, even 45 years after his death. Still, that flame hasn’t burned this bright for years.
A new generation has discovered the music of the heralded “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” largely due to the new acclaimed Baz Luhrmann film, “Elvis.” Some talented members of this young generation will perform some of Presley’s best-known music in the jukebox musical “All Shook Up,’’ which is the 2022 PSC Summer High School Onstage Workshop Production, July 22-24 and July 29-31 in the Ashmore Auditorium on the Pensacola campus.
It’s more than a five-hour drive from Huntsville, Alabama – Rocket City, USA – to Pensacola State College’s Warrington campus, a small but serene and welcoming site nestling the Jones Swamp Wetland Preserve and Nature Trail.
But the drive was worth it for Huntsville resident Lily Berg and her mother, Cate Berg, who made the trip to attend the PSC Pirate Open House at the Warrington campus on Tuesday, July 19. (Lily even won a swanky PSC beach towel for making the longest journey to attend the Open House).
SouthState Bank strives to help and support the residents and the communities it serves.
Furthering that commitment, SouthState Bank’s donated $2,500 to Pensacola State College Foundation’s Nonprofit Center for Excellence and Philanthropy on Thursday, July 14.
Pensacola State College adjunct music instructor Michael Coleman wowed judges in Vienna with his piano composition “Room 857.”
But he might have put a little scare into a PSC public safety officer or two back in the day when he was composing the moody, sometimes jarring piece in Room 857 of Building 8 – Ashmore Fine Arts Center, a building which has a reputation of being a little spooky. There have been reports of apparitions. There have been eerie sounds heard late at night on occasion. (We don’t want to scare away potential students. It’s just stories. But…)
Pensacola State College celebrated the generosity of two donors – the family of Sharen Siefert and the Highpointe Hotel Corp. ─ who contributed significantly to student scholarships and institutional growth at a press conference on Tuesday, July 19, in the Dona and Milton Usry Board Room on the Pensacola campus.
Tuesday’s event was attended by numerous PSC officials as well as members of the Siefert Family and Highpointe Hotel Corp. CEO/President Darryl Lapointe.
Horace “Ed” Hartsell, the third and longest-serving president in the history of Pensacola Junior College/Pensacola State College, died Wednesday, June 29. He was 86 years old.
Hartsell was named president of then-Pensacola Junior College in 1980, serving in the position until 1997. Pensacola Junior College became Pensacola State College in 2010.
Larry Bracken advocated for Pensacola State College and Pensacola Junior College at the highest levels. He pushed and promoted the institution’s interests at the local, state and federal levels as the Executive Director of Government Relations.
Bracken passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, July 3. He was 78 years old.
When Zack Potts was a Pensacola State College student, he didn’t really know that much about all the financial aid opportunities available to students.
Now it’s his job to let PSC students and prospective students know about the many ways to receive financial assistance to attend the College.
Pensacola State College Spanish instructor Scott Schackmann will still teach after becoming head of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department on Tuesday, July 5.
Not as much as before, but it was crucial to Schackmann to still have time to do what he loves – teaching and impacting students in the classroom.
“That was really important to me,’’ he said about being able to teach even after taking up the department reins. “It’s the job I started in and it’s one of the areas where you can have the greatest impact on students.”
They came from far and they came from near, but it was a full house as Pensacola State College kicked off its Pirate Path New Student Orientation on Thursday, July 7, on the Pensacola campus.
Marnia Thomas was among the nearly 70 new students to attend the two-hour orientation session which began in Building 2, Room 251.
“I’m here because I want to learn about the College and not be stumbling around trying to find everything on my first day,” said Thomas, a Booker T. Washington High School graduate who plans to pursue a sonography degree.
It’s “Taco Thursday” at Pensacola Co:Lab and workers from more than a dozen different companies are sitting in a common area munching on tacos, and between bites, talking about their businesses.
Company leaders from each of the small businesses get up and offer updates on how things are going – their recent “wins,” their “needs” and other aspects of the business.
It’s almost as if Christine O’Donnell’s vocation was written for her. Of course, whatever was written, O’Donnell would have been happy to identify all the parts of speech and diagram the sentences.
“I was the student who enjoyed diagramming sentences,’’ she said, chuckling. “I’ve always been interested in English, even in high school.”
Today, O’Donnell is Assistant Department Head of the PSC English and Communications Department, a job she was promoted to in May. O’Donnell has been at PSC since January 2000, serving as adjunct instructor, Reading and Writing Lab supervisor and as Associate Professor.
Brian Weaver considers himself fortunate that he found Pensacola State College. He wasn’t really aware of PSC – he’s from Oil City, Pennsylvania after all – until applying for the position of Visual Arts Department head.
Now that he’s here in the Department head position, Weaver wants to help ensure that more people find out about PSC and particularly the Visual Arts Department, which, he said, is one of the finest he’s ever been affiliated with.
Tyra Henderson started out at Pensacola State College as an EKG student, earning her certificate in the health care field in 2016.
She worked in health care for a few years, but when the pandemic hit, she said she just “couldn’t take it anymore.”
“I was steered into health care because of the job market,’’ Henderson said. “But it wasn’t for me. I always wanted to be in academics.”
If it’s hard for companies to find employees in these trying days, it’s even harder to find good, dependable workers who are knowledgeable and well-trained in their crafts.
It’s no different when it comes to the construction industry.
James Reeves was named a Pensacola State College Foundation Fellow on Monday in honor and appreciation of his significant and steadfast support of the College.
There have only been nine Foundation Fellows named since the College’s inception in 1948. A portrait of Reeves was unveiled and is now enshrined along with portraits of the other Foundation Fellows in the PSC Hall of Honor outside the Milton and Dona Usry Board Room in Building 7. The Usrys were named Foundation Fellows in 2019.
A PSC Foundation Fellow is an honorary title bestowed on individuals and families who have worked to strengthen PSC through their influence and significant financial contributions.
John Solet, a Pensacola State College recruiter, made a presentation to youth attending the Poarch Creek Tribe’s Summer Youth Leadership Program Camp on Monday, June 13.
The three-week camp includes sessions on Job Skills, Leadership Skills, Teamwork, and Cultural Education. It was held in Atmore, Alabama.
Two civil rights pioneers ─ Lynda Blackmon Lowery, a Bloody Sunday marcher, and Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter ─ will headline Pensacola State College’s Juneteenth celebration this year.
Set for 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, June 18, on the Pensacola campus, the event commemorating the emancipation of enslaved black Americans in Texas also will include music, storytelling, poetry, folk dances, food and more.
“This is our second year to hold a Juneteenth celebration at the College. Last year’s event started off with severe storms, but the day turned out to be beautiful with a great turnout from the College and Pensacola communities,” said Tonie Anderson-Steele, a PSC professor and event organizer.
The critically-acclaimed musical, “Henry Box Brown: A Musical Journey,” is coming to the WSRE Jean and Paul Amos Performance Studio thanks to a grant awarded to Equity Project Alliance through The Hive social responsibility program of Innisfree Hotels.
Sponsored in part by WSRE PBS, performances are at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, June 17–18. Tickets are $40 plus fee and for sale at henryboxbrownthemusical.com.
OK gamers. Haven’t you been sitting in your bedroom playing “Call of Duty” long enough?
Maybe it’s time to come to Pensacola State College instead. Don’t worry, you can still play “Call of Duty” and maybe even compete on a true college team.
Pensacola State is launching a competitive esports team this fall, and the College is currently accepting applications for the PSC Pirates esports team. PSC also will launch an “Esports Club.”
The five honorees recognized at the Pensacola State College Distinguished Alumni Association Awards Gala on Saturday, June 11, have not only made the College better. They have improved their communities as well.
“This event celebrated the achievement of outstanding individuals,” said Hailey Lotz, PSC Executive Director or Development, Alumni and Athletics. “It was about our heritage and history. We gathered to recognize greatness and honor individuals who have shown dedication to a higher purpose.”
Tragedy and heartbreak have come again to Pensacola State College.
Longtime PSC adjunct instructor and Performing Arts Technical Director Robert Gandrup died unexpectedly Monday, June 13, from cardiac arrest. He was 58 years old.
“For over 20 years, Bob designed, built, and painted sets, and designed lighting and sound, not only for the Performing Arts Department but also for special events at the College,’’ said PSC President Ed Meadows.
There were tears, laughter and sweet memories shared during a memorial service to honor Carla E. Williams on Wednesday in Hartsell Arena.
“You raised someone who was very special and there is no one in this room who does not know that. And if there is anyone here who came because, you didn’t really know Carla but came because you wanted to celebrate her life, you know it now that she was a very special person,” Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows told Williams’ parents, James B. and Clara Mae Williams, and siblings, Ben Williams and Pam Williams, at the memorial service.
Williams, a former PSC women’s basketball player, assistant basketball coach and math professor, died on May 24 due to domestic violence. Described as a leader, a friend, a teacher, a mentor, Williams’ death has left quite a void at the College and in the community.
Ground was broken Wednesday, June 8, on Phase II of Pensacola State College’s STEM facility ─ the Bear, Jones, Moore, and Reeves Center for Math and Advanced Technology.
Site work on the 46,133-square-foot facility ─ estimated to cost between $22 million to $25 million ─ began in January. The building is tentatively scheduled for completion by December 2023.
“The long-awaited groundbreaking for Phase II has finally arrived,’’ said PSC President Ed Meadows. “This facility will not only provide instructional space for our math department but will also allow us to expand our facilities for cybersecurity.”
Retired Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Kent Helfert spent 20 years in the military, including three tours of Iraq and saw combat in Fallujah, where some of the deadliest fighting of the Iraq War took place.
Helfert, as a senior enlisted non-commissioned officer, trained Marines and led Marines to battle. Yet, when the disabled veteran went to the Veterans Administration for help in planning his future, he was told his military experience did match with one civilian profession.
“I was told I match up as a human resources type of guy,’’ Helfert said. “I said ‘Huh, I never thought about that’.”
Jon Stephenson is just a few days into his job as Pensacola State College Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, but he’s already admitted to being a few moments late for a meeting or two because he was helping students find where they needed to go.
He’s still learning the Pensacola campus, but Stephenson already has his priorities in order.
“I think everything depends on student services and having a student-first philosophy,’’ he said. “If you’re not displaying customer service and putting the student first, you’re not going to be successful.”
Just because you’re a serious worker doing serious work doesn’t mean that you have to be dry, boring or reserved.
Because Dr. Marcia Williams, former Provost of the Warrington campus, could be either the “life or the party,’’ as she was described in her obituary, or the lifeblood of a department, program or campus.
Williams passed away unexpectedly on May 25 after suffering a stroke. She was 71.
Just outside the White House Oval Office on Memorial Day, WSRE-TV General Manager Jill Hubbs joined President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and members of three other Gold Star families to plant a magnolia tree on the South Lawn.
The sapling ─ grown from a seed of a magnolia tree planted at the White House by President Andrew Jackson in 1835 ─ is a memorial to Gold Star families
The artist statement for Pensacola State College sculpture instructor Jimmy Rhea’s upcoming art exhibition tells us “I am fascinated with finding the evidence of existence by drawing from the lines of our past. Objects that have absorbed a previous life or history visually attract me.”
It’s not too late for rising high school juniors and seniors to enroll in the new Pensacola State College Charter Academy, which begins classes on Aug. 8.
The College will host PSC Charter Academy information sessions from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on June 2 and June 7 in Room 3204, Building 3200, on the Warrington campus.
Karen Young already had more than 10 years of nursing experience when she joined the U.S. Navy Reserve as a commissioned officer in 1994.
By the time Young joined Pensacola State College’s nursing faculty in 2007, she had already served in numerous leadership positions in the Navy Reserve. Still, her greatest professional achievements wouldn’t come until she was well-entrenched at PSC.
What’s the most important number in existence? Some will default to Pi, others to Euler’s number and maybe a few might even go with 137, a number some smart folks have theorized could help physicists unravel the grail-like grand unified theory long sought.
(And, of course, there’s 42 for all the fans of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”)
Pensacola State College political science instructor Robert Thead goes in a different direction. But don’t doubt his alternative, because Thead is one of the smart folks too.
You might be barbecuing. You might be beaching, golfing or just chillaxing at home.
Just please take a minute at 3 p.m. to pause and focus on the price of freedom and those who paid that price. It truly is the very least we can do for those sacrificed their lives in war.
Monday, May 30, is Memorial Day. Pensacola State College is closed for the federal holiday which honors those military service members who have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces.
The Pensacola State College Veterinary Technology Program has sent another 11 graduates out into the workforce. They’ll help care for our pets and animals in communities for years to come.
The students earned their Veterinary Technology Vocational Pins at a ceremony on May 5 and graduated with Associate of Science in Veterinary Technology degrees during PSC’s commencement ceremony on May 8.
Workday Student is doing just what its name suggests. The new enterprise resource planning system is making registration easier, streamlining financial aid processes and ensuring that every student gets an academic adviser before classes even begin.
More than 800 students have already used Workday Student to register for the fall semester, said Michael Johnston, PSC Associate Vice President Research and Management.
On your mark, get set – paint! Or is it lights, camera – tumble?
OK, we’re getting our kids camp activities mixed up. It’s easy to do. Because there are plenty of great and varying camp sessions still available for the 32nd Pensacola State College Kids College, which begins Monday, June 6.
For most of their lives, sisters Brittany Burleson and Alicia Stephens have been best friends who did many things together.
On Sunday, May 8, the two graduated from Pensacola State College with their Associate of Science degrees in Dental Hygiene.
The Pensacola State College softball team’s season ended Sunday, May 8, when it lost 3-2 to Florida Southwestern State College in the Division I FCSAA State/NJCAA South Atlantic District Tournament in Longwood.
Pensacola State won two games and lost two in the double-elimination tournament. The College of Central Florida, the team that would eventually win the state tournament, handed the Lady Pirates their first loss, beating PSC 6-1 on May 7.
The tournament was held May 6-9.
Pensacola State College business instructor Michael Payne’s Strategic Management capstone course is pretty much fun and games.
The fun comes from being successful in an endeavor that will bring students a step closer to earning a Dr. Marjan Mazza Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Business and Management.
There were supposed to be 95 Pensacola State College students walking up to have their nursing pins pinned upon them at the Thursday, May 5, ceremony.
Yet in the seat where Jessica Cornelius should have been, there was only her framed portrait. When during his remarks, PSC President Ed Meadows told the students to look back toward their family and friends in the audience who had supported them during their academic journey, there was no sweet face that smiled and waved in gratitude to Jessica’s family.
This is the way it’s supposed to be. This is the grand plan fulfilled.
Sixteen Pensacola State College student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent on Friday, April 29, committing to play and study at colleges and universities that range from NAIA schools to Division 1 programs.
The signing ceremony was held in a packed Donn Peery Room at Hartsell Arena on the Pensacola campus, attended by teammates, family members, PSC coaches and coaches and representatives from the various schools the student-athletes will attend.
Nursing pinning ceremony to be held May 5
Pensacola State College will hold Spring 2022 nursing pinning and graduation on Thursday, May 5, and Sunday, May 8, respectively.
Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and Associate of Science degree in Nursing graduates will be pinned during a 3 p.m. ceremony on Thursday at First Pentecostal Church, 6485 Pensacola Blvd., Pensacola.
Jermel Kidd has been practicing his classical piano chops for hours each day preparing for an audition that will propel him forward.
On Friday, May 5, Kidd, a Pensacola State College piano student, will audition for faculty from the University of West Florida Dr. Grier Williams School of Music. Kidd, 38, is hoping to earn acceptance and a scholarship.
“I’ve been practicing for about eight hours a day,’’ said Kidd, a former police officer who is the music director for Transformation Church on Mobile Highway. “I play gospel and jazz. But (the audition) is all classical and it was a little out of my element. It’s been nonstop practice and study.”
More than 30 Pensacola State College stellar students received a share of $40,000 in Cantonment Rotary Club scholarships on Wednesday, April 27.
The total award was the largest the Cantonment Rotary Club has given to PSC students, said Ray Asherfeld, Cantonment Rotary Club Foundation chairman. Since 1991, the Rotary Club has provided $62,253.25 in scholarships to 150 to 200 PSC students.
It was a little jarring, for sure.
A small cadre of Pirates with what looked like fencing sabers in hand were following commands and lead of a fiery, auburn-haired commander.
En garde! Then an advance!
Ishan Kendall has neither a car nor a home.
But he does have a diploma.
Kendall, 35, is a current resident of the Waterfront Rescue Mission where he is in the Life Builder Recovery Program. He never received a high school diploma after his life was derailed by drugs and crime.
Nursing is a noble and honorable profession ─ but it’s not for everyone. Even nurses will tell you that.
Danny Nguyen started at Pensacola State College as a nursing student, but it just wasn’t a good fit. Instead, he enrolled in the College’s Visual Arts Program and has blossomed as a graphic design artist.
Vogue magazine would be fortunate to have a cover as striking and visually compelling as the mock cover created by Pensacola State College graphic design student Aubrey Dean.
Dean’s three digital paintings that were then transformed into a mock cover and advertisements for Vogue won “Best in Show” at the 2022 PSC Art Student Honors Exhibition Award Ceremony.
The ceremony was held on April 14 in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts. Twenty students won awards, all coming with some sort of cash, product prize or scholarship. Dean won $300 for Best in Show, which is voted on by PSC Visual Arts Department faculty.
It’s a staggering figure ─ $11 million. That was the goal of Pensacola State College’s second-in-history capital campaign. The final tally was more staggering, more tremendous ─ $12.6 million, $1.6 million over goal.
And it took 1,329 generous and visionary donors to bring that $12.6 million to PSC.
PSC President Ed Meadows toasted the donors to the College’s “Your Community-Your Legacy” Capital Campaign at a celebration on Thursday, April 20, in the Charles W. Lamar Studio Gallery.
Principal Karen McCabe is eager to welcome up to 150 high school juniors and seniors to the new Pensacola State College Charter Academy on Aug. 8.
“There’s still a lot to do to get ready, but we’re excited,’’ said McCabe, who was selected to lead the new academy after nearly five years as director of the College’s South Santa Rosa Center.
“It’s going to be more technology-based and interactive than many other high schools and will allow these students to pursue their high school diploma and associate degree at the same time.”
Lisa Payne admits that sometimes she still slips up and says “PJC” instead of “PSC,’’ even though Pensacola Junior College became Pensacola State College in 2010. You can’t really blame her.
She has worked at the College for 43 years – and for more than 30 of those years, it was PJC, so it is understandable. And before she came to work at the College as a 19-year-old, she was already a student, earning a career certificate in stenography in 1979
More than 100 Pensacola State College students were honored for achievements in academics, leadership, service and volunteerism at the 2022 PSC Student Excellence Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, April 20, in the Jean and Paul Amos Performance Studio at WSRE-TV.
The crumbs and remnants of Micah Cain’s work and toil are caked across his apron, and often, on his well-worn jeans and T-shirt.
Cain is Pensacola State College’s ceramics instructor, coming to the College in fall 2019.
They look a little like telephone booths. (Consult an elderly person or encyclopedia if you’re not sure what a phone booth is.) But instead, they’re portable study pods – places of individual academic refuge where students can study alone and use personal computers for online classes.
From the Desk of the President:
This message is to share information with everyone at the College about this year’s legislative session and to discuss enrollment trends.
There will be models sashaying and showing off spectacularly artistic and creative hair and makeup designs at the Pensacola State College “Dream On Hair Show” at 11 a.m. Thursday, April 21 at the Hagler Auditorium, Building 2A, on the Pensacola campus.
If you’re registering for summer classes at Pensacola State College, you’ll be going old school.
But students registering for fall classes will use – and are already using – Workday Student for everything from admissions and registration to financial aid and advising.
The Workday Student enterprise resource planning system replaces the legacy Spyglass system, which will be phased out. Students registering for summer classes will still use Spyglass, though all the information in that system is being transferred to the new Workday Student system.
The fall semester begins Aug. 15. Summer classes begin May 11.
Pensacola State College Woman’s Basketball Assistant Coach Rachel Barnes has been named World Exposure Report’s NJCAA Assistant Coach of the Year.
Two of the team’s star players, Tai’Sheka Porchia and Kristin Williams also received post-season honors. Porchia was named a Woman Basketball Coaches Association All-American, while Williams received an All-American Honorable Mention honor.
Eldon Norman began his collegiate career at then-Pensacola Junior College in the early 1960s, earning an Associate of Arts degree in 1963.
Now, many Pensacola State College students – the College changed its name in 2010 – will start their own collegiate career at the Eldon L. Norman Educational Opportunity Center.
The Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) was renamed in Norman’s honor at a ceremony attended by relatives and PSC administrators and staff on Monday, April 11.
It’s an easy trip from Pensacola State College to the University of West Florida – a few miles, a few minutes. Now, the journey from PSC to UWF is even easier.
Six of Pensacola State College’s best educators were treated like rock stars at a dinner in their honor on Tuesday, April 5.
They were feted and toasted, and their achievements celebrated at the Academy of Teaching Excellence dinner in the Molly McGuire Culinary Arts Dining Room on the Pensacola campus.
Five instructors were inducted into the 2022 PSC Academy of Teaching Excellence:
David Alexander – Adult Education
Dr. Stephen Gottschalk – Natural Sciences
Dr. Alex Ledgerwood – English and Communications
Lauren Rogers – Natural Sciences
Dr. Brian Ward – Business
Also, Humanities and Social Sciences instructor Robert Thead was named Outstanding New Faculty Member.
Just three weeks into his teaching career at Pensacola State College – and his first face-to-face teaching gig anywhere – Dr. Brian Ward underwent emergency surgery for stage 3 colon cancer just a day after being diagnosed. The cancer had advanced to that extent.
The surgery was supposed to last four hours – it took eight. He was so bad off surgeons had to stop the procedure four times to regulate Ward’s blood pressure.
Eleven days later, Ward, PSC Lead Human Resources Professor and a retired U.S. Air Force veteran, was in front of his students teaching class.
That was five years ago. Today, Ward said his doctor considers his cancer “cured,’’ though it is not in remission.
Pensacola State College student Katelyn Powell is taking seven classes this semester. Six are Math and Science-based classes – she plans on going to Medical School – and one is Music Appreciation.
“The Music Appreciation class is the hardest class for me,” Katelyn said. “I can’t hear something and just understand the difference between the noises. It’s been hard.”
Yikes, that’s going to hurt a stellar 3.9 grade point average, isn’t it?
Dr. Sueann L. Donahue is known as a teacher’s teacher. She’s retired now and in less-than-stellar health, but her passion for teaching remains.
An endowed scholarship in her name will now help the next generation of educators studying at Pensacola State College
The Dr. Sueann L. Donahue Beginning Teacher Endowed Scholarship was established in 2019. The first scholarships were awarded in spring 2021. The endowment total is $25,001.
“This was a lifetime goal for Sueann,’’ said her husband, Chuck Donahue, a former engineering technology instructor at Pensacola Junior College, which became Pensacola State College in 2010. He taught at the College from 1985 to 2002.
The best pieces from Pensacola State College’s best art students are now on display at the Switzer Gallery in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts on the Pensacola campus.
The Art Student Honors Exhibition showcases 96 artworks in a variety of media, including ceramics, drawing, painting, digital design, photography and sculpture. The exhibition opened April 4 and runs through April 22.
The reception and prize ceremony for the exhibition is set for 5-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14. The exhibition was open to all two-year visual arts students.
CONGRATULATIONS 2022 RECIPIENTS! The annual Student Excellence Awards recognizes and honors some of Pensacola State College’s many outstanding students. Over 200 students are recognized this year for their achievements and reflect the theme of a Tradition of Excellence. ALL FLORIDA ACADEMIC TEAM All-Florida Academic Team recipients are recognized by the Florida College System for their…
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