Category: Press Release

ELLISVILLE – Alumni and Foundation representatives from the state’s 15 community colleges gathered on the campus of Jones College for the annual Mississippi Inter-Alumni Association Conference. The group toured historic downtown Laurel before delving into topics of concern for the college’s alumni and foundation offices. Jones College President, Dr. Jesse Smith shared some of the President Association’s legislative agenda for the upcoming year including the financial health of the state’s community colleges and how the alumni and foundation associations can help. A list of recommendations was shared with the group after analyzing a socioeconomic report of the nation’s oldest community college system.

“Your college needs you more now, in what I would call a tumultuous time in higher education.  Everything that was up is now down and whoever comes out on the other side is going to be the winners in the future. It’s imperative we build upon our alumni support if we’re going to make these changes,” said Smith.

Alumni and Foundation representatives also heard from William Carey University’s Director of Alumni Relations, Pam Shearer and Magnolia Bank’s Foundation Investments representative, Will Johnson. Jones College’s Digital Media Coordinator, Megan Clark shared social media statistics and tips on how to use the communication medium effectively in her presentation.

ELLISVILLE – The World-Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps, the Blue Stars spent a couple of days at Jones College to prepare for a competition in Hattiesburg.  The La Crosse, Wisconsin based group is touring the nation in preparation for an opportunity to compete and to show off the talents of about one-hundred, mostly college-aged musicians. The group travels more than 12,000 miles to perform in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and New York, before ending their summer in Indiana.

The JC band leadership and band directors had the opportunity to see the Blue Stars practice. Director of Bands at JC, Dr. Ben Burge said, “Watching DCI groups perform is amazing but to also have the opportunity to see how these world-class musicians prepare for a physically demanding show is inspiring for my students.”

In the marching band world, this group is in the “Major Leagues.” The Blue Stars is one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International will be competing with seven other groups at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.

ELLISVILLE – Every journalist dreams of having their story being picked up by the Associated Press Newswire. Ironically, some journalism students at Jones College discovered the national press-wire featured their newspaper, the Radionian after it earned a national award.  The college’s student newspaper advisor, Kelly Atwood said she’s very proud of her students for accomplishing what seemed to be an impossible honor to attain, especially since this was the first year to enter the newspaper in the national competition.

“We’ve attended the conference for a couple of years to make contacts, tour companies and bring back ideas, but this year I decided to enter our newspaper in their competition. It was a pleasant surprise to find out we won, and now I honestly wish I’d been entering since we began attending. I have some talented students who deserve recognition. It takes all the staff members and editors working as a team to accomplish something like this. I’m very proud of them,” said Atwood.

Only part of the team of budding journalists attended the Spring National College Media Convention in New York. They had departed for Mississippi when they learned they won the David L. Adams Apple Award.

“It was the first time we entered this national competition and I didn’t expect to win!” said Atwood. “We didn’t stay for the awards ceremony so we could catch an early flight home.”

The Jones newspaper was entered in the best of show contest for two-year colleges which competed against institutions like the Spokane Falls Community College which earned second place and third place winner, Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York. A total of 150 two-year colleges and universities were present for the New York conference and awards, such as California State University, Columbia University, Georgia State University, Manchester Community College, Miami Dade College, Missouri Western State University, Mt. San Antonio College, Northwest Arkansas Community College, Pepperdine University, Rutgers University and Westchester Community College.  The convention offered more than 250 sessions, special events and activities for students and advisors in print, online and broadcast. Also offered were tours to places such as Bloomberg, Democracy Now, Good Morning America, Fox News, Sirius XM, Vice and Yahoo Finance.

“Attending this conference is an incredible learning experience for students. Being in New York is a unique opportunity to tour places like magazine headquarters for ‘Marie Claire’ and Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, ‘O’ which are part of Hearst Magazines, as well as news agencies. The students were given the chance to ask magazine editors from different departments, questions about the company which publishes 25 U.S. magazines and 300 international publications. Hearst Magazines is also part of Hearst Communications, which is located in the Hearst Tower in Midtown, Manhattan. Not only were students impressed by the publications, but they were also awestruck by the building itself. The wallpaper was made of linen and the art on the walls were from museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art,” said Atwood.

At the state level, the student news publication has won twelve, consecutive years as the top two-year college newspaper. The Radionian received 27 total awards and the first place General Excellence Award for two-year colleges at the O. C. McDavid Journalism Conference and the 2018-2019 Better Newspaper Contest, Student Division, of the Mississippi Press Association. Jones students earned eight, first-place awards. The Radionian also swept several categories, winning first, second and third place for General News Story, Feature Photo, General Interest Column, and in the Investigative Package categories.

ELLISVILLE – Jones College’s Clarke County Center in Stonewall is offering Career & Technical Education and non-credit day and night courses this fall. Tuition costs can be found on the JC website, http://www.jcjc.edu along with registration information at https://www.jcjc.edu/registration/

CTE classes beginning on Monday, August 26, include Welding, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. until noon and Entry Level Petroleum Trainee, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

Workforce Welding, a non-credit class will begin on Monday, August 26, with classes meeting Monday through Friday, 5 p.m. until 9 p.m.

For more information, call Rachel Harris at 601-659-0622 or email her at rachel.harris@jcjc.edu.

 

ELLISVILLE – Mississippi’s 42^nd State Auditor, Shad White will be returning to his home county to be the keynote speaker at both of Jones College’s Spring Commencement Ceremonies on Friday, May 3.  The morning ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. for students whose last names begin with the letters “A” through “L” in the A.B. Howard/Bobcat Gymnasium. The second ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. for those students whose last names begin with letters “M” through “Z”.  Both ceremonies can be viewed live on the JC web page, http://www.jcjc.edu/, and the Jones College Facebook page.  Doors will open in the M.P. Bush Fine Arts Auditorium for overflow seating at 8:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.  All guests will be screened for safety purposes with the gymnasium doors closing at 9:55 a.m. and 1:25 p.m., or when capacity is reached.

About 670 students will participate in the ceremonies receiving either, an Associate in Arts degree, Associate in Applied Science degree, a Technical Certificate or a Career Certificate.

Graduates and guests will hear from the Sandersville native who was appointed by Governor Phil Bryant to serve as State Auditor, last July.  Previously, White has served as Director of Policy to then, Lt. Governor, Phil Bryant in 2011. He later practiced law in the private sector and served as a special prosecutor in Rankin County. While serving as the Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, White filed and led cases against public officials when they violated Mississippi’s open government and ethics laws.  The Jones County native continues to serve the state as State Auditor with the mission of protecting the public’s trust by verifying the funds provided by taxpayers to state and local governments are used in a legal and efficient manner for their intended purpose.

White said he is looking forward to participating in Jones College’s commencement exercises and hopes to inspire students with his speech, “Leading the Way to Mississippi’s Future.”

“I’m thrilled to participate in this important day for the students and families of Jones College. It’s an honor to be invited to share in this milestone in their lives, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts about the future of our state and some lessons I learned on the road from being a college student to becoming State Auditor,” said White.

The Northeast Jones High School graduate continued his education at the University of Mississippi, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science, where he was selected for the prestigious, national, Truman Scholarship. As a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, White earned his Master’s in economic and social history before earning his Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School.  Additionally, White has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

White and his wife, Rina and their daughter, Zara live in Rankin County and are members of St. Richard Church.