Category: News

ELLISVILLE –The Foundation for the Mid South’s $46,000 grant has helped Jones College’s commercial truck driving program go into “overdrive.”  One of the goals of the Foundation for the Mid South grant is to help fill the demand for more truck drivers.

“According to the Foundation for the Mid South, more than 11,000 truck driver jobs are available in Mississippi. Their intent is to bridge the gap between our programs and the areas of need in the state,” said Jones College’s Grant Coordinator, Dr. Mike Cole.

The majority of the grant has been used to help the Jones commercial truck driving program in various ways said Jones commercial truck driving instructor, Billy Miller.

“This grant has provided much needed maintenance for our aging fleet of trucks, four trailers and a dump truck. Tires alone cost several thousand dollars and we’ve purchased other equipment for the five commercial trucks used to train the regions’ future truckers.”

Jones will also be offering commercial truck driving in all four of the college’s county centers located in Bay Springs, Leakesville, Stonewall and Waynesboro, as well as the main campus in Ellisville. Additionally, some of the grant money will be used to support students and other skills-pathway options for students at Jones.

 ELLISVILLE – Twenty four of Jones College’s engineering majors toured one of the state’s renowned engineering facilities at Mississippi State University.  In addition to being able to tour the Bagley College of Engineering, students toured the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) and the High  Voltage Lab at MSU.  Exposing students to their future professors and university facilities helps them find the best college to fit their needs.

“This is a great opportunity for students to see the academic setting and the applications of the engineering courses they will take in the future,” said Jones engineering and physics instructor, Mary Boleware. “It is very helpful for the students to ‘see themselves’ at the next level before they transfer.”

This is 19^th-year Boleware has taken Jones students to tour the college of engineering at MSU. Students met with faculty and MSU students in various areas of engineering. At the CAVS, they were introduced to areas of research including the Eco Car and the Car of the Future, a 3D metals “printer”, and the virtual reality labs. While at the High Voltage Lab, Jones students enjoyed demonstrations of lightning strikes and other electrical engineering displays.

ELLISVILLE – Mississippi Economic Council COO, Cathy Northington spent a morning at Jones College recently sharing how Jones College students can be leaders who make a difference as the guest speaker for the college’s annual Black History Leadership program. Despite the many obstacles in her way, like leaving college to have a child and being raised by her grandmother, Northington discovered a way to be a leader in her field.

“I remember complaining to my grandmother, ‘I’m tired and I want to stop working. I don’t feel like my voice is being heard the way I wanted it to be heard,’” explained Northington to Jones students. “My no-nonsense grandma in her meek and mild manner told me, ‘It’s not about you. It’s about what you can do for others.’ That was the gut punch I needed.  At that moment I knew that I needed to lead to make a difference.”

The Jackson native studied marketing at Mississippi College and graduated from the Institute for Organization Management, an intensive four-year nonprofit leadership training program conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the University of Georgia. She was able to rise to the top as Chief Operating Officer of the MEC, Mississippi’s leading and largest broad-based business organization, working part-time before becoming MEC’s Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer and current COO, because of that “defining moment” with her grandmother.  She decided to become a leader who is teachable, compassionate and empathetic. As the, Our Mississippi Magazine’s and the Women’s Fund, 2018 Business Woman of the Year, Northington applied her grandmother’s wisdom to become a successful leader.

“Being a leader is one of the hardest jobs and it’s also one of the most rewarding…. In order to be teachable, you have to understand you’re never too old to learn. You have to care about those that you’re leading to being compassionate. If you are empathetic, it’s not always easy, but you have to allow yourself to be vulnerable. To whom much is given, much is required. Serve, even when you’re not getting paid to serve.”

She challenged the audience to consider the “pearls” of wisdom they can leave and collect, as well as what kind of blessings they can leave behind. Coordinator of the event and Jones College’s assistant to the president for corporate training, Dr. Samuel Jones, added we can all learn from each other, but we also have to discover our purpose in life to impact our surroundings.

“There is a purpose for everything. I encourage you students to find the purpose in all of your challenges, in all of your struggles and in everything you face in this thing called life, because this is what leading to make a difference is all about,” said Dr. Jones.

Northington also urged students to get out of their comfort zones and be disciplined to make the soundtrack of their lives what they want it to be; positive or negative.