Category: News

ELLISVILLE- Jones College and WDAM-TV are continuing the tradition of honoring the Pine Belt’s Top of Class with daily feature segments on WDAM-TV. The Valedictorian and Salutatorians from two high schools are featured daily in a one-minute segment at 5:58 a.m. before News 7 Sunrise beginning on Monday, May 4, through June 5, 2020.

WDAM-TV and Jones College are proud to be able to continue the Top of Class tradition by honoring students with public recognition on TV, the WDAM-TV web page https://www.wdam.com/topofclass/ and local newspaper coverage.

Nearly100 high school students from 45 area schools have participated in the annual, special recognition program sponsored by WDAM-TV and Jones College, for more than 20 years.  However, in following the CDC guidelines for gatherings, the event was canceled. Congratulations to the Top of Class 2020!

ELLISVILLE –Jones College’s Kids’ College summer camp has been canceled to ensure the college follows the CDC guidelines regarding the Coronavirus. The summer camp has been held the first week of June for the last 13 years for kids in first through six grades. Kids had the opportunity to check out college “courses” exploring science, health and art topics. All applications and checks received have been shredded for privacy. For more information, email program director, Missie Meeks at missie.meeks@jcjc.edu.

ELLISVILLE– As Jones College students finish the spring semester online, college president, Dr. Jesse Smith is encouraging students to continue their education this summer by offering a tuition discount. The summer term tuition will be discounted to $75 per credit hour or 40% off the full tuition price.

“By offering courses at a discounted rate, we hope it encourages students to continue their college plans, even if those plans are being modified by the impact of COVID-19,” said Smith.

The tuition discount is open to anyone who enrolls in summer classes at Jones College. While some programs have a different charge per credit hour, all courses, including vocational, technical and academic courses will be discounted 40% off from the full tuition price. E-books will remain $35 per credit hour.

“For prospective students who are new to Jones College, we offer assistance through our Enrollment Management Office. Each student works with an Admissions Counselor to select the schedule of courses that meets their needs. To complete an admissions application, visit our website at www.jcjc.edu/apply or to contact an Admissions Counselor, call 601-477-4257,” said Jones College, Executive Vice President, Dr. Finée Ruffin. “For returning students, enrolling for summer is as easy as meeting with their academic advisor. Advisors are offering meetings virtually and through phone appointments.”

To view the summer course listing visit http://class-search.jcjc.edu/ for any of the three summer term options, including the two four-week terms. Summer Term I classes begin Tuesday, May 26, and ends Monday, June 22. Summer Term II classes begin Monday, July 6, and ends Friday, July 31. Also, Jones offers one full summer term with classes beginning Tuesday, May 26, and ending Friday, July 31.

Students should also be regularly checking their JC email for official updates and communication concerning the new Learn from Home Model, as well as any other campus updates.

 

ELLISVILLE- After winning the General Excellence Award and a total of 31 awards at the annual Student Better Newspaper Contest held with the O.C. McDavid Journalism Summit in Jackson in February, Jones College’s newspaper staff were hopeful they would do as well at the next national competition. After all, the group entered the National College Media Association’s David Adams Best of Show competition for the first time in 2019 and won. Additionally, this was the 12th consecutive year the Radionian student newspaper had earned the top award in the state. However, the Coronavirus and the college’s travel ban left JC students wondering if they could repeat as winners of the national contest because they could not attend the conference and awards banquet in NYC.

“Since this is a Best of Show competition, normally participants are required to attend the conference. However, because so many colleges enacted travel restrictions, the CMA decided to allow everyone who had registered for the conference the opportunity to compete, even if they did not attend the conference. This allowed hundreds of colleges the opportunity to compete even though they weren’t physically present,” said Kelly Atwood, JC student publications advisor and journalism instructor.

Last year, the Radionian won first place in the nation for two-year colleges in this competition. This year, the Radionian would have to settle for second place as Mercer County Community College of New Jersey beat the Radionian for first place. News editor for the Radionian, Tori Ellis of Laurel said she is still pleased with placing second place on the national stage.

“It’s so incredible that we are able to make a name for ourselves on a national level and show the important role of media. It says a lot about our state and Ellisville that we can hold our own and compete in the big leagues. I’m proud of how hard everyone worked, and I’m proud to be a part of that team,” said Ellis.

Atwood is also proud of her students and shared their competition was well-deserving of the honor.

“Their paper uses full color and the students covered controversial subjects. They definitely deserved to win. I hope we can step up our game for next year,” said Atwood.

The David Adams Best of Show contest is usually the final event held during the National Spring Convention, which typically hosts thousands of students and instructors to hear hundreds of guest speakers.

“There were some tears shed by students who’d planned to attend, and even though NYC only had a small number of cases at that time (March 10), it was the best decision the college could have made,” said Atwood. “By the final day of the conference, there were fewer than 400 attendees for a conference that normally has thousands. And for weeks after, those of us on the scheduled attendee list continued to receive email updates as students, faculty and guest speakers who attended the conference tested positive for COVID-19.”

Atwood said she was just as disappointed she would not be able to take a group of conference attendees to the Facebook headquarters in NYC and tour the Bloomberg offices because all visits were canceled due to the pandemic. The day before the JC students were scheduled to leave for the conference on March 11, Jones placed a travel ban. Hopefully, soon, Atwood plans to take students to NYC as things get back to normal to explore the numerous educational opportunities in NYC.

Students interested in joining the newspaper staff are encouraged to apply for next fall by contacting Kelly Atwood at kelly.atwood@jcjc.edu and check out the April edition of the Radionian https://issuu.com/bobcatpress/docs/combinepdf   Click the link to see the list of winners for the College Media Association David Adams Apple Awards 2020: http://www.collegemedia.org/news/article_0648d112-6540-11ea-84fc-876ed239aa17.html