Author: Teresa McCreery

ELLISVILLE – During a recent episode of HGTV’s Home Town, featuring the renovation of Jones College’s Old President’s House on the Ellisville campus by two of JC’s famous alumni, Ben and Erin Napier of Laurel, Jones College President, Dr. Jesse Smith announced a new program to be named in the couple’s honor. An old factory building, which currently houses maintenance and housekeeping departments, along with storage will be transformed into a centralized home for training future craftsmen to help rebuild hometowns across the country, called the Erin and Ben Napier School of Design and Building Construction.

“Watching them and seeing the growth that happens in the towns where their show goes, it’s impressive to see and we’ve learned a lot,” said Smith. “Those trades and those craftsmen’s skill sets are art and a craft that’s been lost. We want to reemphasize and teach those skills in a centralized location.”

Napier’s emotional response to the announcement during their show sparked support for the facility with donations through the Jones College Foundation. Smith anticipates the 14-million-dollar project will be partially funded through federal and state money, with private donations driving the project. The Napier’s emphasized the difficulty in finding local craftsmen while renovating houses in the Laurel area, during the announcement of this project.

“We are about 564 jobs short in our district in the construction trades industry, which consists of Clarke, Covington, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Perry, Smith, and Wayne Counties,” Smith explained. “Some people might not think construction trades make a great career but most of these entrepreneurs do very well and it’s a great life. We are very dependent on these craftsmen and artisans here, to keep the college going. We’re building for the future.”

Programs included in the new Napier’s school include Computerized Design, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Painting, Foundations, Plumbing, Framing, Roofing, Electrical, Masonry, HVAC, Carpentry, Metalworking, Plastering, and Stonework. Many of these programs are currently available for students, however, Smith said having the programs in a centralized location encourages students to collaborate on projects.

“We want to rebuild hometowns all over America. Small towns help make America great,” said Smith. “We are so grateful to Ben and Erin because they are restoring hope that we can rebuild our hometowns that are so near and dear to us. They are making a difference.”

Classes in the new building are expected to begin in the fall of 2026 when the 35,435 square foot facility is anticipated to be completed. An additional 18,500 square feet will be added to the current 19,000-square-foot former factory building to create the new Napier’s School.

“We are so honored,” said Erin Napier during the college’s “Live Viewing” of the episode when the announcement was made on their show. “We love Jones so much and to know this is going to be in the future plans for Jones, thank you! This is critically important because the trades are vital to us. We struggle to find great, talented people who do things like plaster work for example.”

To learn more about the Erin and Ben Napier School of Building and Design and to make donations go to the website, https://www.jcjc.edu/alumni_foundation/the-erin-ben-napier-school-of-design-building-arts/

ELLISVILLE – Twelve of the thirteen Jones College students that competed in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State competition in Senatobia, Mississippi, came home winners. They all placed first or second in their competitive events, qualifying them for national competition in June, in Orlando, Florida. During the three-day conference, each student competed in two business-related events. The events ranged from Fundamentals of Accounting and Economics to Foundations of Technology and Public Speaking.

“Twelve of the students will be going to the four-day national conference and competition in Orlando,” said Jones College’s FBLA Advisor, David Ray.  “These students worked very hard, and we are excited to see what they can do at the national level this summer”.

Matthew Taylor of Richland earned first place honors in Foundations of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition. Rebecca Parker of Laurel, placed first in Future Business Executive. Rebecca also partnered with Jaythan Comegys of Laurel to earn second place in the State of Chapter event showcasing Jones FBLA clubs’ accomplishments for the year. Jaythan added a first place in Impromptu Speech and he and Barbara Ahlvin of Vicksburg placed first in Emerging Business Issues. Ahlvin also placed third in the Job Interview category. Seminary’s Ethan Noffke took home first place in Foundations of Technology and also teamed up with Ethan Hammons of Raleigh and Logan Ingram of Raleigh to earn first place in the Technology and Computer Science Case Study. Noffke also placed first in Foundations of Computer Science. Lance Hamilton of Waynesboro placed first in Public Speaking. Laurel’s Raegan Drummer received first place in Retail Management and second place in Foundations of Computer Science. Walker Dear of Florence placed second in Foundations of Entrepreneurship. Laurel’s Deja Baskin placed second in Computer Applications. Quitman’s Terry Rogers placed second in Public Speaking and Impromptu Speaking. 

ELLISVILLE – Jones College’s community-wide spring blood drive will be held on Monday, February 26, at the Industrial Services Center Building parking lot and the Allied Health Center’s parking lot from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.  The Blood Mobile Units will also be available for donations on Tuesday, February 27, from 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. in the Allied Health Center parking lot and on Dan Jones Memorial Drive, between the C.L. Neill Student Center and the A.B. Howard Gymnasium and Student Union. The Mobile Blood Units will be used for blood product donations because campus renovations have limited the available space to hold the blood drive. Therefore, appointments are highly encouraged because of the limited space in each mobile unit but walk-ins are welcome. Visit the website, https://donors.vitalant.org/ to schedule an appointment or learn more about the blood drive on the JC Ellisville campus.

The overall goal for the two-day blood drive is 86 units of blood stated Benji Sessums, Jones College Blood Drive Coordinator, and EMT instructor. To encourage donations, T-shirts will be given to all donors and Door Prizes will be available both days for donors during random drawings.

Jones College student, Krista Adamick donated blood during the fall blood drive on campus. 

ELLISVILLE –Jones College Social Sciences instructor, Kathryn Davis has been selected as the Jones College 2023-2024 Mississippi Humanities Teacher of the Year. She will be honored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the college on Thursday, February 29, at 10 a.m. in the Home & Health Services Auditorium. The public is invited to see her free presentation, “The Feature Film: A Cinematic Journey of Emerging Adulthood,” before the MHC honors her and 29 other faculty members statewide in Jackson, on March 22.  

“This presentation will focus on the theme of emerging adulthood as portrayed in cinema. These are students we see every day. They are in a transition period trying to figure out who they are and it’s big. They are exploring their career options, friends, their identity outside of what their parents have probably told them that they need to do, and social aspects. It’s a growing field in human growth and development right now,” said Davis.

Initially, Davis planned to become a psychometrist. She got sidetracked while taking retired Jones College psychology instructor, Randy Vinzant’s human growth and development and psychology classes as a dual-enrolled high school student. While at the University of Southern Mississippi earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology, the university hired Davis as a recruiter in 2004. After she earned her degree in 2006, she was hired as a full-time admissions counselor in 2007 for USM. “Psychology” sat “on the shelf” for several more years while Davis earned her master’s in education in College Student Personnel from USM in 2011.

“It’s all because of Vinzant’s class that I love psychology so much. I just didn’t know what I was going to do with it because I dabbled in testing and learning disabilities, but I wasn’t sure. Then, I just fell into recruiting,” Davis shared.

After getting married, she left the USM recruiting department and helped launch the Jones College Office of Recruitment with a group of other JC alumni in 2008. She went on to become the Student Success Center Advisement Specialist, Scholarship Coordinator, and Advisor to the Jones Ambassadors at JC. In 2012, Davis was named the Director of Recruitment, Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit Liaison and Bobcat Advisor. With her second child on the way in 2016, Davis felt like it was a good time to make a career move and became an adjunct psychology instructor.

“I remember calling my husband Matthew saying, I got to go back to school. He was like, ‘We have a newborn you know.’ Yes, we have a brand-new baby, but I signed up to get my additional hours because I already had my master’s, but I had to go back and get my 18 hours in psychology to teach. So, I took classes at William Carey University,” said Davis.

The 2004 Jones College graduate and Laurel native also credits retired Humanities Division Chair, Dr. Ronald Bishop for allowing her to see if switching from recruiting to becoming a psychology instructor in 2017, was truly where she wanted to be.

“I knew right away that she would make a great teacher because of her exuberant personality, and she proved it was a correct decision,” said Bishop. “She taught part-time for several semesters and became an immediate favorite of students. When an opportunity for full-time employment arose, I was happy that she was able to make the move to that faculty position. She did a good job at everything that I asked her to do and was always cheerful and cooperative. It is teachers like Kathryn that students remember fondly. I’m very happy to see that she is this year’s Mississippi Humanities Council Teacher of the Year.”

Likewise, after teaching full-time for seven years and working at Jones College for 16 years, Davis said being selected as the MHC Humanities Teacher of the Year is a bit surreal.

“It’s a huge honor to be in that same category as what I feel are the greats, like Dr. Bishop, Wyatt Moulds, Cheryl Windham, Sarah Ishee, Dr. David Lowery, and Tim Morris. I am still in shock,” shared Davis. “I never thought I would be in a category like that. I just never thought I would. It’s just I know those faculty that taught me are the ‘greats’ and to be in that category with them is an honor. It’s a huge honor.”

Current JC Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Julie Atwood said Davis is such an asset to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and to Jones College. Through her various roles at the college as a student, recruiter, dual credit coordinator, and instructor, she has always made students feel welcome and like family.

“We are very thankful for her willingness to help students reach their academic and career goals and are very excited to honor her as this year’s Humanities Teacher of the Year for Jones College,” said Atwood.

In addition to teaching five to seven general psychology, human growth and development, and child psychology courses a semester, last fall Davis was asked to take on the new role of Advisement Coordinator by the Office of Instructional Affairs. Her background in recruiting and advisement allows her to work with all of the faculty and help streamline the admissions, business office, and financial aid process for faculty while assisting with questions and troubleshooting, as well as communicating changes in those processes.

Davis is also actively involved in her community, serving as the College and Career Sunday School teacher, Youth Committee member, and VBS teacher at First Baptist Church of Laurel, the Laurel Arts League Chairman of Day in the Park Arts and Crafts Vendors, Hospitality and Scholarships, and has served as President, 1^st and 2^nd Vice President and Chairman of the Passing of the Crown for the Laurel Junior Auxiliary. 

ELLISVILLE – Two William Carey University and Jones College graduate’s artwork is currently on display at the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery on the campus of Jones College in Ellisville through February 19, 2024. Trinity Stewart of Ellisville recently shared her creative process with JC students and on Wednesday, February 14, at 1:30 p.m. in the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery, Janna Lewis of Stonewall will be giving her “Art Talk,” which is open to the public. Both students were selected as “Emerging Artists” in 2021, by the Hattiesburg Arts Council, and each artist has unique styles, according to their Jones College Art instructor, Melanie Eubanks.

“Trinity was always creating the most intricate pieces. She would build objects that included patterns and elaborate work which were usually difficult to piece together or display. Janna also worked on a different level of creativity, pushing herself to find unique ways to show off her art like using embroidery,” said Eubanks.

Stewart explained to Jones College art students during her recent Art Talk that functional art sells more often but she really enjoys working with intricate objects and trying different mediums and styles. Despite her dislike of creating large works of art, Stewart pieced together clay strips to form a large jug, then created bright butterflies to decorate the stoneware.

“This is what I tell students especially, give everything a try, different mediums, and styles. I guess my grandmother influenced me to explore art this way,” said Stewart.

Visitors will have to look closely at some of her unique artwork. Using a six-centimeter pottery wheel, she created a diminutive display of stoneware cups, pots, and vases, which also included her grandfather’s chair. Additionally, Stewart used embroidery hoops as her canvas to display small stoneware toggles, floral fasteners, and moth medallions.

“I aim to portray these oddities or unique objects in a playful manner through an exploration of pattern, color, and surface texture,” said Stewart. “Much of my work derives inspiration from the often-overlooked obscurities within nature, incorporating an insect motif throughout.”

Lewis’s artwork on display at Jones College also combines embroidery and painting. Her specialty or favorite genre is landscape painting, however, the graphic designer uses her creativity in designing logos and graphic illustrations to incorporate landscape designs. On display at the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery, are her ocean scenes from Cozumel and the Gulf Coast.

“I wanted to have contemporary compositions with a traditional palette, like Fairfield Porter, but I use photography to begin the process. Using Adobe Illustrator, I can create a graphic illustration of a landscape scene and use graphic shapes to show off the design, creating a landscape. This process gives me full control over color and shape, illustrating the importance of leaving things out,” said Lewis.

The unique graduate’s art show by Stewart and Lewis will be on display in the Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery until February 20. For more information about upcoming JC art shows or to arrange a visit to the gallery call 601-477-8401. The Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., and by appointment only on Wednesdays. The gallery is closed during the holidays. To learn more about the Jones College Art Department, https://www.jcjc.edu/programs/finearts/ or the JC Art Department’s social media: Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/JCJCFineArts/ and on Instagram @artatjonescollege.