Bobcat Bulletin

e-Newsletter  bobcat  


       A publication of the JCJC Alumni Association & JCJC Foundation

                                    October 2015 - Vol 6, Issue 2
Web Services Links to Giving & Event Registration
In This Issue

Honor Alumni

Homecoming Activities

Fishing Tournament

Cooley Scholarship

Humanities Teacher of the Year

Nurse Instructor Honored

Health Grant

Tap Grant

Calendar of Events

Wedding Announcements

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Quick Links
Greetings Alumni and Friends!
  Homecoming is just around the corner, and we hope you are making plans to return to campus to reconnect with old friends! We welcome you in advance, and hope you have a great time. 
   As usual we have a day full of activities on Saturday, October 10. We will start out with the annual Homecoming Brunch at 9 a.m. in the Terrell Tisdale Library. All other events will follow. A schedule is below. The brunch will be FAN-tastic as usual, so make plans to attend!!
  Tonight, October 1, is Military and First Responder Appreciation Night during the JCJC vs. East Miss football game.   We hope to see you there too!  
   Also, we are making great progress on our Bronze Bobcat project. Many of you have already contributed and to you we are truly grateful! If you have not contributed and would like to, please send a check to -JCJC Alumni Association, 900 S. Court St. Ellisville, MS, 39437.
  Also, the first JCJC Inshore Fishing Classic is just around the corner. Saturday, October 24th is the date for that event. It is already shaping up to be a great day! For more information, contact our office at 601-477-4145, check us out on Facebook, or log on the website.
  As you can see, October is going to be a busy month for us. We still have several home football games, so come on out and support our Bobcats!
 
Until next time......Go Bobcats!!

Charlie Garretson
Vice President of Advancement
Executive Director of Alumni and Foundation
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    The 2015 Homecoming Court is comprised of Queen, Molly McCool (seated in the center) of Magee, with Freshman Maids, Carsyn Arender (left) of Raleigh and Kayte Avera (right) of Laurel. Standing is Sophomore Maid, Jae Elizabeth Hinton (left) of Soso, Student Body Maid, Lindsey Walker (middle) of Waynesboro and Sophomore Maid, Alden Swindle of Ellisville. To read more about these ladies and their escorts, click on the link: Homecoming Court 2015   
Honor Alumni
  Congratulations  to this year's Honor Alumni: 2006 JCJC graduate, Chris Hill of Laurel and current Charlotte, North Carolina resident; 1962 JCJC graduate, Mike McClellan of Heidelberg and current Hattiesburg resident; JCJC 1956 graduate and instructor, Anne Forde Strickland of Ellisville. 
  Chris Hill is often remembered as the non-traditional student who led on and off the football field as Student Government Association President, Secretary of Phi Beta Lambda honor society and the student worker of the late, Dr. Paul Hollomon in the Computer Information Systems Technology department.  He served in the Marine Corps prior to becoming a Bobcat, earning a National Defense Service Medal, the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement medal and the Marine Corps Good Conduct medal.  The JCJC Hall of Fame inductee and PTK member blazed a trail after leaving Jones by continuing his football career with a scholarship at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina while also earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Networking. Hill is a Thurgood Marshall Scholar which helped further launch his career and several internships, including Corporate BMW, Intel Corporation, eBay, Inc., the Department of Defense and a National Science Foundation-GERT internship at Texas Tech University. 
  After earning his masters degree in Information Systems Management from Drexel University, Hill started working at Microsoft in North Carolina in 2012 as a consultant for the Private Cloud division and is now managing several multi-million dollar projects. He is currently the Project Manager leading the Microsoft Surface project with the National Football League.  Hill also owns, Venture Scholarship Consulting, which assists high school and college students in locating, applying and securing scholarships, internships and fellowships. He personally helped endow his JCJC mentor and instructor, Dr. Paul Hollomon's memorial scholarship fund and Microsoft matched his gift.  Also at JCJC, Hill is currently developing partnerships between the college and Microsoft to help local school districts, community-based organizations and local businesses in educational Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) initiatives through million dollar grants sponsored through the National Science Foundation.
   Chris' family consists of, 11-year old daughter, Briana Hill, his older sisters, Victoria Buchanan, Dr. Shantwania Buchanan and Hope Buchanan, and his mother,Clementine Buchanan.
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   Mike McClellan first landed on the JCJC campus in 1962 as a standout football  player and track star from Heidelberg. The 1963 football team he led as quarterback just missed claiming the South Division title, however McClellan's efforts earned him numerous post-season honors including Most Valuable Back in the League and he was named All-State, All-Region and JC Grid-Wire All-American as a quarterback. He continued his education at USM, where he held a long-standing record for the lowest percentage interceptions for over 100 passes and lettered in football and baseball.
  The 2013 Mississippi Community and Junior College Sports Hall of Fame recipient taught and coached for eight years before working in pharmaceutical sales.  Since its beginnings in 1977, McClellan has been working at Magnolia State Bank for 38 years, serving as a branch manager and president, in Heidelberg and Hattiesburg. In honor of McClellan's many contributions to the college and business community, Magnolia Bank established and endowed a scholarship in his name.
   McClellan's post-college contributions to JCJC include serving on the JCJC Board of Trustees for 25 years.  Six of his years on the Board of Trustees include being Chairman of the Board. During his tenure on the JCJC Board of Trustees, JCJC President, Dr. Ronald Whitehead nominated McClellan to serve as the President of the State Board of Community & Junior Colleges.  McClellan was called on to speak before State Legislators each year and discuss funding for community colleges, among other responsibilities. When his son Scotty enrolled at Jones, McClellan helped re-start the golf program at JCJC.  Mike and his wife Margie have been married for 52 years with two children and four grandchildren.
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  After graduating from JCJC in 1956 Anne Forde Strickland earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Education and her Master's in Adult Education with a teacher certification in English from USM. She started working at JCJC in 1980 in the Related Studies Department and has helped hundreds of students gain the confidence and skills they needed to succeed in getting a college degree.  She later began working in the Single Parent-Displaced Homemaker Program as federal funding became available to help students prepare academically and socially for college and work.  
  In all, Strickland spent 21 years teaching at JCJC and 10 years in area high schools.  Some of her honors and awards include being the 1989 South Mississippi Teacher of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Adult and Continuing Education department; Soroptimist International of America's 1994 recipient of the Women Helping Women Award; recognized as a Lamplighter for being an outstanding Community and Junior College instructor in 1994; being featured on WDAM-TV's Real Movers and Shakers-People Who Make a Difference Series in 1995; the 1996 recipient of the Women Helping Women Award by the City of Laurel; the 1997 South Mississippi Regional Representative for the Displaced Homemaker program; and Strickland served on the Board of Trustees for William Carey University from 2006-2009.  She is a married to Dr. Randolph Strickland and has one son and three grandchildren. 
Homecoming Activities
You are invited 
Homecoming Festivities and Celebration
 "Maroon & Gold & Rock and Roll!"
Friday and Saturday, October 9 & 10

Friday, October 9th
    *6 p.m. JCJC Honor Alumni Dinner, Advanced Technology Center
    *6 p.m. JCJC Class of 1955 Dinner, C.L. Neill Banquet Hall
    *6 p.m. JCAHS Class of 1955 Dinner, Life Church of Laurel
    *6 p.m. EHS Class of 1965 Reception/Dinner 5 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Tullos Suite-Jones Hall      
               
Saturday, October 10th 
     *9 a.m.  Alumni & Friends Brunch, Terrel Tisdale Library
   *10 a.m.  Homecoming Parade, begins at Library
*10:45 a.m.  Pep Rally, C.L. Neill Student Center
*11 a.m. 50-Year Reunion Lunches, C. L. Neill Student Center
*11:15 a.m.  Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, McClellan Hall
*11:30 a.m. Tailgating Under the Tents, Sim Cooley Field  RSVP 601-477-4145
*1:30 p.m. Pre-game band show, Bobcat Football Stadium
     *2 p.m.  Football game-East Central vs. JCJC
                  Halftime Presentation of Honor Alumni and Homecoming Court
Fishing Tournament
Mark your calendars and pray for good weather to attend the first, JCJC Foundation Inshore Classic at the Mary Walker Marina in Gautier, Saturday, October 24th.
  We'll start fishing at 6 a.m. with an optional Captain's Meeting on Friday, October 23, at the Tiki Room at 7 p.m.
The cost is $50 per person or $200 per boat with all proceeds going to benefit the JCJC Foundation Inc., Scholarship Fund.

 Fish for cash prizes for the largest weighing Redfish, Trout and Flounder and get an Inshore Slam for a Grand Prize!

Register at: JCJC Foundation Inshore Classic or call, (601) 477-4145. 
Cecil Cooley Memorial Baseball Scholarship
Mason Strickland (center front row) is the first recipient of the Cecil Cooley Memorial Scholarship. Pictured in the front row, left to right: Wife and daughter of Jason Cooley, Joanna Cooley with daughter McClellan; Mother of scholarship recipient, Mason Strickland, Angela Strickland; Scholarship recipient, Mason Strickland; Widow of Cecil Cooley, Eloise Cooley; and son of Cecil Cooley, Steve Cooley. Pictured in the back row, left to right: Father of the scholarship recipient, Michael Strickland; Son of Cecil Cooley, Jason Cooley; JCJC coaches, Christian Ostrander and Chris Kirtland; and JCJC VP of Advancement and the Executive Director of the JCJC Foundation, Charlie Garretson.
  Congratulations to Mason Strickland, the recipient of the newly endowed, Cecil Cooley Memorial Baseball Scholarship. The JCJC freshman business administration major played baseball at South Jones and is currently playing infield and pitcher at Jones.  JCJC Head Baseball Coach, Christian Ostrander said Strickland was a perfect candidate to receive the scholarship by being a full-time student and maintaining a 2.5 GPA.  Ostrander also knew Cooley had a special relationship with Mason.   
  "This is a great honor to be the first recipient of this scholarship. I know Mr. Cooley loved baseball because he was at everygame," said Strickland.  
  Strickland is the middle son of Mike and Angela Strickland who said they were glad he was able to receive this baseball scholarship at Jones. 
  "It's Cecil's way of saying, 'I'm still here!'" said Mike Strickland.  "Cecil recognized Mason's baseball talents early on and looked forward to watching him play at JCJC."
   Coach Ostrander said Cooley could be found in many baseball parks in the Pine Belt.  He said Cooley knew the players and supported all of them. Eloise Cooley shared her husband loved baseball and Jones.
  "He passed in March and the family thought a scholarship in Cecil's honor would mean the world to him.  Mason was so special to Cecil.  He's smiling today seeing Mason receive the scholarship in his memory." 
  The Cooley's were married 51-years and have two sons, Steve who coaches baseball for Sumrall High School and Jason, who is a business instructor at Co-Lin Community College.  The 78-year old, Cecil Cooley succumbed to pancreatic cancer in March 2015.
Humanities Teacher of the Year
  JCJC art instructor, Mark Brown has been selected as JCJC Humanities Teacher of the Year. He will be honored by the Mississippi
Humanities Council on Wednesday, October 28, at 10:30 a.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium at JCJC.  
  The public is welcome to see Brown's presentation, "The Modern Art Movement and the World Wars."
   Brown has been teaching Drawing, Design, Computers in Art, 3-D Design/Sculpture and Art Appreciation at JCJC for eight years.  He is currently one of the PTK advisers, a General Studies faculty adviser and a member of the Student Affairs Committee.  Previously, Brown was the Curator of Education at Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel for eight years and he was a visual arts instructor for Stone County High School for two years.  As an artist, Brown has shown his work in galleries across Mississippi and has been a part of several group exhibits including the Cotton District Juried Exhibition in Starkville where he has won 1st place in Sculpture in 2014, and a Purchase Award and Merit Award in 2015.  The son of a Commander and pilot for the U.S. Coast Guard, Brown moved from the northern most state of Alaska where he was born to Miami, Florida where he was first introduced to art and artifacts at the King Tut exhibit. He landed in Mississippi after annual visits to his grandparents small farm in Lumberton. 
JCJC Nurse Instructor Honored
  JCJC 2002 alumna, Danielle Brownlee has been recognized as one of only four nurse educators in the nation with the prestigious, "Educator with the Nurse's Touch" Award. 
  The honor, which includes a plaque, an all-expenses paid trip to the 2016 ATI National Nurse Educator Summit in Nashville and her students will receive the use of the ATI Nurse's Touch program for one year.  She received the award from ATI's Regional Executive, Joseph Clark, in front of her students (pictured on the left).  
  To read the rest of the story, click on the link:JCJC Nurse educator earns prestigious "Educator with the Nurse's Touch" Award
Health Grant
   Jones County Junior College has offered opportunities to improve health and fitness through the Bobcat Fitness Center for several years.  That health initiative is now being expanded as the college has been awarded a $272,800 grant from the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation.  The grant will now enable the college to expand health initiatives while also ensuring more individual health and fitness levels will increase.     
  "We certainly applaud the efforts of JCJC in implementing health and wellness initiatives with the focus on healthy eating and exercise," said Sheila Grogan, Executive Director of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation. "(We've) designed a list of best practices for achieving health and wellness cultures on campus that extend into the surrounding communities and schools. Jones County Junior College submitted their best practices they plan to implement this year based on (our) model and the Foundation is pleased to support those efforts." 
  To read more of the story, click on the link:Health Grant 
TAP Grant Creates Pedestrian Corridor
MDOT Southern District Commissioner Tom King presented the Transportation Alternative Project grant check to JCJC officials recently. (Pictured left to right) Pictured receiving the grant check are Neill Schaeffer consultant Russ Bryan, Jones County Junior College President Dr. Jesse Smith, MDOT Southern District Commissioner Tom King and JCJC Director of Campus Operations, Michael Bradshaw. 
   JCJC was the recipient of more than $416,000 in a Transportation Alternative Project (TAP) Grant from the Mississippi Transportation Commission to create a Pedestrian Corridor on the JCJC campus.  The money will be used to convert an area of College Drive, in front of the C.L. Neill Student Center into a pedestrian corridor.
  "It's a campus beautification project connected with enhancing the
safety of one of the main drives through campus," said JCJC President, Dr. Jesse
Smith. "The purpose of this project is to create a pedestrian plaza where students can go in between classes and not be put in harm's way crossing a busy street. Additionally, it's an area we're able to access some federal funds with Commissioner King's guidance through the TAP program."
  To read the entire story, click on the link:TAP Grant Creates Pedestrian Corridor 
NJCAA Honors Dew and Holifield
  For the second year in a row, JCJC graduate from Quitman, Tori Dew earned the NJCAA Marucci Elite Hitting Awards.  She and teammate, Lauren Holifield of New Hope both received the Marucci Elite Hitting Awards last spring.  The two former Bobcats were honored at the JCJC football game and were awarded their trophy bats during halftime with their JCJC coaches, Bob Herrington and Chris Robinson.
  The award honor the top batter from each district in all three divisions based on the highest batting average in each district, made by each division's respective sport committee chair. Student-athletes eligible for the award must have been a member of their respective all-region team and were nominated for All-America consideration.
   Holifield was named a first-team All-American and Dew was named to the second-team.  Both were All-Region 23 selections. Holifield batted .503 with 28 home runs, 82 RBIs, a team-leading 20 doubles and a 1.174 slugging percentage. She ended up leading the nation in home runs and slugging percentage and was fifth in RBIs. She was chosen as the MACJC Player of the Year.
  Dew hit .474 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs. She had a .932 slugging percentage. Dew, the 2014 NJCAA Division II Player of the Year, has signed with Southern Miss. They were the only players from the MACJC and Region 23 to receive the awards. 
Calendar of Events

Mark your calendars for these upcoming Events
 
October 10, All Day
Homecoming
 
October 10, 11:15 a.m.
McClellan Hall Open House

October 14, 1:30 p.m.
JCJC Foundation Awards Day

October 24, 6 a.m.
Inshore Classic-Fishing Tournament 

For more information call the Alumni Office at 601-477-4145 or email: jcjcalumniinfo@gmail.com 

Wedding Announcements
Congratulations!!!
to the following JCJC alumni who recently married or are engaged:

* Rachel Reynolds of Waynesboro and Justin Brewer of Clara were married in September. Rachel and Justin are JCJC graduates.

(The above couples' wedding announcements were found in local newspapers. We would love to hear from everyone. Please email your news and announcements to jcjcalumniinfo@jcjc.edu)

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 Remember When...   

        in 1914 when two military companies had been organized?  The Hubbard Guards and the AHS Riflemen were new student organizations.  The students furnished their uniforms and the school furnished their rifles.       

 

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Sincerely,

JoAnna Newcomb 
JCJC Alumni Coordinator 
 
The Bobcat Bulletin is produced and written by the JCJC Marketing Team.