Shaun Garner is a retired U.S. Navy Diving Medical Technician. He’s trained to come to the rescue in life and death situations.
Garner made a rescue at Pensacola State College in August, but it wasn’t of the life and death variety. It was pretty important though.
Garner is the new PSC Carpentry Program coordinator, replacing former Tony Grahame who left this summer to pursue an opportunity with his son.
Of the dozens of Santa Rosa School District high school counselors who visited the Pensacola State College South Santa Rosa Center on Tuesday, Nov. 8, only a few had been on the campus.
But by the time they left, the counselors and school administrators knew plenty about not only the South Santa Rosa Center off Gulf Breeze Parkway, but all that PSC has to offer students.
Pensacola State supporter and advocate Mary Hoxeng was bestowed an honorary Bachelor of Arts in Humane Letters degree from the College in October.
The College’s District Board Trustees Chairman Dr. Troy Tippett and President Ed Meadows presented Hoxeng with the honorary degree and a proclamation during the Oct. 18, board meeting on the Warrington campus.
The Pensacola State College Outdoor Gallery has four new – new to the College, at least – masterpieces for all to see.
Large vinyl reproductions produced by Lamar Advertising of acclaimed artworks now adorn the exteriors of buildings on the Pensacola campus.
Pensacola State College business students who want to earn a master’s degree after earning a Bachelor of Applied Science degree now have an easier path to continue their education.
The College and the University of West Florida entered into a new PSC2UWF MBA Articulation agreement that will expedite admission of PSC students graduating with a BAS degree in Business Management into the Master of Business Administration program at the university.
The agreement was signed Thursday, Nov. 3, by PSC President Ed Meadows and UWF President Martha Saunders during a ceremony in the Dona and Milton Usry Board Room at the PSC Pensacola campus.
Heather Harvill has kids of her own – young adults, actually – in college. She definitely wasn’t expecting a scholarship for herself.
Yet Harvill is one of two Pensacola State College Culinary Management students who are the latest recipients of scholarships provided by the Cantonment Rotary Club.
Harvill and fellow scholarship recipient Savannah Barwick met with members of the Cantonment Rotary Club at a luncheon Tuesday, Nov. 2, in the Molly McGuire Culinary Arts Dining Room on the Pensacola campus.
Congrats to Pensacola State College students Madeleine Graybeal and Alexandra Kasel.
They’re the winners of the PSC Priority Registration iPad giveaway. The two students were selected randomly from more than 3,000 Pirates who registered for the spring term.
The Pensacola State College volleyball teams didn’t lose a match in October and rides a 14-game winning streak into the postseason, which begins today for the Pirates squad.
Head Coach Patricia Gandolfo is thrilled with the team’s improvement and dominance as the season continues but realizes the NJCAA Region 8 Division II tournament is a season in itself.
“It was a great way to finish,’’ Gandolfo said. “You want to peak at the right time, but I don’t think we have yet. But right now, we haven’t won a postseason match. It’s 0-0. We haven’t won anything yet. It’s a clean slate and anything can happen in the postseason.”
Check out November’s events presented by Pensacola State College Visual Arts, Pensacola State College Performing Arts Department, the Lyceum Series Committee, The Choral Society of Pensacola, and Pensacola Civic Band.
It was another reminder that their beloved Carla Williams was gone.
Still, the family of the Pensacola State College Pirate legend knew they had to walk through the pain. After all, they and so many others were walking to raise awareness about the trauma and tragedy of domestic violence and raise scholarship funds in Williams’ name.
You don’t have to be a Pensacola State College math major to know that 50 percent off any price equals big savings.
The third annual PSC/J.C. Penney “Suit-Up” event will be held 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, at the JC Penney in University Town Plaza at 7171 N. Davis Highway.
You still have one more day to check out the awesome and inspiring art created by Pensacola State College Visual Arts department faculty members that is now on display at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for the Visual Arts on the Pensacola campus.
The exhibition, titled “Show & Tell” debuted Oct. 10. An opening reception and art lectures took place on Oct. 20.
“Show & Tell” features the artwork of 11 PSC Visual Arts Department faculty and adjunct faculty members, including Department Head Brian Weaver and Gallery Coordinator Jason Pinckard.
Pensacola State College will host an artist presentation by Lara Sophie Benjamin ─ the Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival Invited International Artist for 2022 ─ at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2.
A 2022 Foo Foo Festival event, Benjamin’s presentation will be held in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts, Building 15, Room 1513. The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is set for Nov. 4-6 in Seville Square in downtown Pensacola.
Dozens of Pensacola State College Cosmetology students filled a room in the Delaino Student Center and, well, their hair looked fantastic.
But of course, it would.
After all, the students wanted to look the best and show off their own fancy hairstyles when meeting prospective employers at the PSC Cosmetology Arts Program Job Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 26. Fifteen area salons sent representatives to meet students and accept job applications.
A half million dollars is a bunch of money. And at Pensacola State College, one of the consistently affordable colleges in the nation, that $500,000 goes a long way.
Pensacola business icon Sandy Sansing has donated over $500,000 in scholarships to more than 1,100 PSC students since starting a scholarship at the College in 2002.
Beth and Will Stern just moved to Santa Rosa County from Wisconsin earlier this year.
“We heard about the Lumberjack Festival here and had to come out to see,’’ Beth Stern said as she and her husband walked the grounds of the Pensacola State College Milton campus on Saturday, Oct. 8, for the 33rd Annual Lumberjack Festival and Northwest Florida Forestry Conclave. “Where we’re from is real lumberjack territory.”
Pensacola State College Theater Director Rodney Whatley hadn’t been using a textbook for his Acting I class because they were all so expensive.
The less expensive ones were $75 to $150. One of the most favored and acclaimed acting textbooks cost close to $250.
What did Whatley do? He wrote his own.
Whatley’s recently released “Acting: Year One” is published by Waveland Press Inc.
“Mine is only 25 bucks,’’ Whatley said. Now, that’s the book he uses in the Acting I class. It is available through Amazon.
Christina Hamburg just turned 19 in July, but she’s already earned an Associate in Arts – Psychology degree from Pensacola State College and will soon finish her Associate of Science RN degree.
Still, she doesn’t officially complete high school until December, even though she completed most of her high school courses by the time she was 13 years old. Or was it earlier?
“I got all my credits finished by the time I was 12 or 13,’’ Hamburg said of her high school requirements. “But I’m still technically a dual enrollment high school.”
Bill Davis’ brisket is so good he doesn’t fancy it up with much.
“Just salt and pepper” and then cook low and slow for about 13 hours.
Not everything that Davis serves in his Texan B’s BBQ food truck is so simple and minimalistic. His pork has a more involved rub.
His barbecue sauce? It’s a scrumptious blueberry chipotle sauce that he developed while a Pensacola State College Culinary Arts Program student about three years ago.
Just one year after then-Sen. John. F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Profiles in Courage” was published, a true real-life profile in courage would emerge in the form of a teenage girl who faced violence and threats of death for just trying to go to school.
The photo of 15-year-old African American Elizabeth Eckford being yelled at and followed by a mob of angry white students on the first day of school at Little Rock Central High School in 1957 is shocking, uncomfortable and outrageous still.
Check out October’s events presented by Pensacola State College Visual Arts, Pensacola State College Performing Arts Department, the Lyceum Series Committee, The Choral Society of Pensacola, and Pensacola Civic Band.
Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows and a cadre of administrators barnstormed through the three PSC campuses – Warrington, Milton and Pensacola – to meet casually with students, answer questions and, most popular, share a pizza lunch with the students.
It was the fall 2022 Pizza with the President Week, with Meadows and administrators meeting with students at Warrington on (Monday, Oct. 3), Milton (Wednesday, Oct. 5) and Pensacola (Thursday, Oct. 6).
Legendary Pensacola restauranteur McGuire Martin wasn’t at Pensacola State College on Wednesday, Oct. 5, to hire anyone for his popular restaurants – McGuire’s Irish Pub, Flounders, Crabs. But how could he resist the three PSC culinary students he met?
After all, they must be great students with promising culinary careers since they are attending the College on a scholarship honoring Martin’s late wife, Molly McGuire Martin, who died in August 2014.
“I want you want to know I offered all three (students) a job,’’ Martin told the crowd gathered in the Molly McGuire Culinary Arts Dining Room to celebrate a scholarship landmark.
When Pensacola State College’s longtime Performing Arts Technical Director Bob Gandrup died just a month before the annual PSC Summer High School Onstage Workshop, the theater department had to mourn the loss of a valued and respected colleague and friend.
Yet, as Gandrup himself knew, the show must go on.
Though grieving, PSC Theatre Director Rodney Whatley still needed to find a person to complete Gandrup’s stage design for the late July performance of the Elvis-inspired jukebox musical, “All Shook Up.”
Longtime Pensacola theater and performance persona Lance Brannon was brought in and stayed true to Gandrup’s design.
The biggest takeaway from the awesome and exciting 2022 Pirate Experience, Pensacola State College’s annual athletics showcase?
Future Pirate Experiences are going to be even more awesome and exciting.
PSC President Ed Meadows and PSC Athletics Hall of Fame member Doug Bates announced the first Athletics Campaign in modern PSC history at the Pirate Experience on Tuesday, Sept. 27, in the Hartsell Arena.
The “Game Plan” capital campaign will feature three “buckets” targeting various goals and initiatives:
General Support
Facilities and new construction
Endowments
Cera Boyle arrived just moments before the ceremony was set to start – an event where she was one of the honorees.
But Boyle, a first-generation college student studying pre-med at Pensacola State College, has a lot on her plate.
The mother of three had to drop her oldest son off at choir practice before arriving at the event to recognize the College’s most-accomplished students – Presidential Scholars, Student Ambassadors and Robinson Honors Program officers.
The event was held Thursday, Sept. 30, in the Charles W. Lamar Studio in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts.
Pensacola State College along with Harvesters Credit Union and HCA Florida Healthcare were sponsors of the 2022 Salute to First Responders luncheon held Sept. 21 at the Pensacola Bay Center.
PSC President Ed Meadows, Dr. Mark Stavros with HCA Florida West Hospital and Keith Golden of Harvesters Credit Union saluted the 13 award recipients at the event.
Pensacola State College Athletic Director Bryan Lewallyn said Carla E. Williams might be “the best ever Pirate to come through our halls.”
Now, the late Carla E. Williams is permanently enshrined in the College’s Athletics Hall of Fame. A gifted basketball player, coach, scholar, educator and mentor, Williams was the only Pirate inducted in the 2022 Hall of Fame class during a ceremony held following the Pirate Experience on Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Hartsell Arena where she enjoyed some of her greatest athletic moments.
Pensacola State College officially cut the ribbon on its newest site – the Truck Driver Training Facility – on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Located at 5957 Jeff Ates Road in the Santa Rosa Industrial Park East in Milton, the $7.8 million Truck Driver Training Facility will be home to the College’s Commercial Vehicle Driver Vocational Certificate…
PSC alumna Kristian Breeze During spring break 2018, Kristian Breeze and her partner took a road trip to New Mexico. One of the must-see stops for Breeze, a Pensacola State College graphic design student at the time, was the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. The museum celebrates one of the country’s most significant artists,…
Let’s just hope that by Oct. 8, it feels like lumberjack weather. Because that’s when the Lumberjack Festival returns to the Milton campus for a day of outdoor fun and competition. The 33rd annual Northwest Florida Forestry Conclave Lumberjack Festival takes place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. near the track on Pensacola State College’s Milton campus.…
More American women die because of domestic violence than from breast cancer. This was only one of the facts that Marsha Travis with FavorHouse of Northwest Florida shared with the Lady Pirates basketball team on Friday, Sept. 16. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Travis mentioned both to the team…
A CareerSource ESCAROSA representative speaks to an attendee at a 2020 job fair. More than 30 Northwest Florida employers will be at Pensacola State Fall Job Fair set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 21 in the College’s Student Center. More than 30 Northwest Florida employers are looking to hire at the Pensacola State College Fall…
Tra Bouscaren’s “Test Pattern” art exhibition will look different the next time you see it. How could it not?
Though crafted from the remnants of the “waste culture” society has created as well as the tools of the ever-growing and maturing surveillance world, “Test Pattern” seems organic, and, in a sense it is.
The site-responsive multimedia installation fills all aspects of the spacious Charles W. Lamar Studio in the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts on the Pensacola State College Pensacola campus.
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?
We hope the first week of the fall 2022 semester went well. But we also know that sometimes things happen. Dogs eat homework all the time. There’s not much we at Pensacola State College can do about that. Still, there are problems and concerns that students might face that PSC can help overcome. There are…
Art instructor Paula Work talks to students on Aug. 15, the first day of the fall 2022 semester. Ashanti East wasn’t taking any chances on Monday, Aug. 15, the first day of the 2022 Pensacola State College fall term. A full 15 minutes before her second class of the day – a humanities course –…
Play guitar? Want to earn college credits for playing guitar? Well, the Pensacola State College Jazz Ensemble sure could use your shredding. (Not sure if musicians “shred” in jazz but go with it.) PSC Band Director Doug Holsworth is seeking musicians of all types to fill the rosters of the College’s two bands – the…
By day, Brett Patterson helps some of our community’s most vulnerable folks attend Pensacola State College. By night, Patterson jams with his wife Lee Patterson as the musical duo Snake and the Rabbit ─ a well-seasoned outfit that will likely find a way into regional music venues once the couple is a bit settled in Pensacola. Patterson is the new director of the PSC Eldon L. Norman Education Opportunity Center (EOC) and is only three weeks into the job. A TRIO program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the EOC assists low- and modest-income and/or first-generation college students enroll in a postsecondary institution or to return after a period away.
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
Pensacola State College’s new women’s soccer program recently received a boost from the NJCAA Foundation.
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.
PirateQ 