NEWS & CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

A Tusculum College class recently learned about poverty in the local area and the importance of helping others through their experiences in community service in Greene County.

Projects for ARCH (the Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness), Greene County Habitat for Humanity and Plaza Towers have served as the classroom for the students in the “Service-Learning in East Tennessee” course, which had for its focus, “Greeneville Now - and a Vision for the Future.”

“This class has allowed us to learn from each other, gain a greater understanding of the affects of poverty and different aspects of community service,” said Glenn Vicary, one of the students in the class. “I think it has affected everyone in a positive way.”

At the beginning of the course, which began in mid-March, the students heard from Randy Harrell, president of the Greene County Partnership.  Harrell spoke to the group about the current state of the community and addressed the current economic conditions, which have caused hardships on some families in the county.

Harrell also discussed the Partnership as an organization, its role in economic development, tourism, education and environmental issues and told the group about several upcoming projects. He also discussed the Partnership’s many volunteers and opportunities to serve the community through its programs and activities.

In preparing to go out into the community, the students read a text about the different economic classes and generational poverty. The students then picked a community issue of interest and wrote a policy paper about that issue. The students also interviewed community service providers to learn about the issues facing Greeneville and Greene County.

The students’ service in the community began with helping prepare a Greene County Habitat for Humanity home for occupation. Students did minor repairs and painting in the home as well as landscaping around the home. Some students also helped inside the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, sorting donated clothes and helping with storage of donated items.

Painting, sanding, caulking and even the installation of bathroom fixtures were among the many tasks completed by the students who helped rehab a house on Snapps Ferry Road, which will be used as a transitional home by ARCH. The students also helped landscape around the home, which had been donated to ARCH by Habitat for Humanity. The house had been gutted by a Tusculum College service-learning class late last fall.

Helping senior citizens and having a positive impact on the environment was the focus of the students’ next project. The students distributed and helped install compact light bulbs to residents of Plaza Towers. The light bulbs were donated by the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Mosheim.

During the class, the students also completed journals, writing their reflections about their experiences in serving others and concluded the class with a presentation attended by representatives of some of the organizations they assisted and other community representatives.

Through their service, the students said they were humbled by their experience and learned how much difference one person’s efforts can make in helping improve someone else’s life. They said they also gained a great appreciation of what they have and a greater awareness of the need to help others in the community.

John Gregory said that he had not thought much about homelessness, considering it a problem mostly found in large cities. “Through this class, we have realized there is a huge need that is hidden.” Gregory said he also learned it was easy to get involved in service and helping others through organizations and agencies.

Calvin Britt said he had also not thought that much about community service prior to the class, but he learned its importance. “When you see the impact of your efforts on someone’s face, it makes you want to do more.”

Tweet This Post

The music and theology of Handel’s “Messiah” will be explored in a lecture Sunday, April 19, at Tusculum College.

Dr. David Hendricksen, adjunct professor of music and a former Theologian-in-Residence at Tusculum College, will present the lecture, “The Music and Theology of Handel’s ‘Messiah’” at 2 p.m. in Room 46 on the lower level of the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building on the Tusculum College campus. (The classroom is reached using the side entrance to the building - the parking lot side.)

Handel’s great oratorio, “Messiah,” ranks along with Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9″and Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” as one of the greatest musical masterworks of all time and is certainly the most frequently performed of all choral/orchestral repertoires.  In this lecture, Hendricksen will examine the theological intentions of Handel and his textual partner, Charles Jennens, and the way in which the composer’s dramatic musical skills carry out those intentions.

This lecture is a special offering of Tusculum College Arts Outreach’s Acts, Arts, Academia program. Admission is $6 per person.

Selected choruses from the “Messiah” will be part of the spring concert by the Tusculum College Community Chorus on Monday, May 4. During the first part of the performance, the chorus will be joined by Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra in presenting selections from parts II and III of the “Messiah.” The concert, which will be in the auditorium of the Annie Hogan Byrd building, will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public. Admission is free to the concert.

For more information about the lecture or the concert, please call Tusculum College Arts Outreach at 423-798-1620 or e-mail jhollowell@tusculum.edu.

Acts, Arts, Academia is a program of Tusculum College Arts Outreach and is supported by Dr. Sam Miller in memory of Mary Agnes Ault Miller, Hearts for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Society of Cicero, and Arts Outreach.

Tweet This Post

Representatives of the Athletics Department staff turned out late Tuesday evening to serve Tusculum College students a finals breakfast.  Traditional fare was prepared by Sodexo staff that included eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy and pancakes.  The pre-exam meal was provided to students to sustain them as they put in one last night of studies for their final test for the block.

Tusculum College follows a “focused calendar” and is one of only four colleges in the nation utilizing a block system where students take one course at a time. Therefore, students experience the demands of finals eight times each year, said Dean of Students David McMahan.  “For this reason, the extra support from the staff in the form of the food and especially the kind words of support they impart help the students to face the challenge,” he said.

While the breakfast in underway, the Tusculum College Tutoring Center also staffs the dining area with content area tutors to assist students with their finals preparations. And despite the unseasonably cold weather, many students came out to take advantage of the assistance and noted their appreciation for both the educational assistance and the “study fuel” as they completed their studies.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

Tusculum College students visited Tusculum View Elementary School this week to share experiences of their recent service learning trip to the country of Belize. This is their second visit to the school, the group met with the elementary students prior to the trip to collect items to take with them.

Tusculum View students collected school and art supplies to be delivered by the Tusculum College students as well and prepared art work to describe their life in the United States to be exchanged with the Belizean students.

“With your help, we were able to take two suitcases full of school supplies and materials to the students in Belize,” said Kathryn Seiferth, a Tusculum College student who led the discussion at the elementary school.

The college students delivered art work from the Belize students to Tusculum View and also shared with them many of the cultural differences they found in this Central American country from what they might find living in the United States and talked about the service projects they worked on while on their trip.

Working with ProBelize, part of the international ProWorld service organization, the Tusculum College students volunteered at St. Joseph Roman Catholic School, where they taught students about malaria and its prevention as well as delivered the artwork from the Tusculum View students. Malaria prevention was also the focus of another service effort of the students while they were in Belize, a trash collection day.

On one of the first days of the trip, the students went out into the village of Cotton Tree and distributed trash bags, announcing the trash collection would be two days later. The trash collection was important because the villagers do not have a way to dispose of items such as plastics that cannot be burned. The villagers had been dumping trash into a creek, blocking it which provided a breeding ground for mosquitoes that in turn has resulted in an increase in malaria.

The Tusculum College students also participated in a health check clinic in a marketplace and educated citizens about diabetes and how to prevent and treat it, talked to local citizens about prevention of malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses as well as participated in a trash collection day.

During their trip to Tusculum View, the college students shared items they had brought back from Belize, many of which were purchased in the Belize Free Market. Items included musical instruments, baskets and jewelry.

The college students shared photographs of the schools they visited and talked about the differences in those and Tusculum View, pointing out the open walls and roofs, the small spaces and lack of supplies.  They also encouraged the elementary school students to do service work on their own and with their schools and churches as a way to give back.

The students learned many lessons during their trip. “We learned patience very quickly,” said Megan Hart. “In Belize, they have their own concept of time.” The students also learned to be resourceful. “We learned to work with what we had,” she said.

One of the barriers the students had to learn to overcome was communication. While English is the official language of Belize, some of the people groups speak other languages. In the Cotton Tree village, they found that many of the elderly could only speak Spanish.

“We also learned to look at the bigger picture,” Hart said. “We worked to make a difference while we were there, and we know that efforts will continue through other students or groups that ProBelize will bring to the community.”

“I would tell other students that if they have the opportunity to take t
his class, to do it. It will impact you in a way you have not been impacted before,” she said.

The college students’ connection with Belize continues as they are working to raise money for a copier needed at the St. Joseph Roman Catholic School.

Tweet This Post

Tusculum College Athletic Trainer Sarah Brooks will soon have the opportunity to work with athletes seeking to make their marks on the national and international stage.

Brooks has been selected to be a volunteer service provider for two weeks at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co.

Assignments for athletic trainers are not made until they arrive at the training center, so Brooks will not know the scope of her duties until she reaches Colorado Springs later this month. Her duties may include care for athletes during practices and competitions, assisting in the Sports Medicine Clinic at the Training Center and maintaining daily treatment logs or other required documentation.

To be eligible for a volunteer service provider position, an athletic trainer must be certified for at least five years. Those who apply and are approved for a position enter a pool, from which the volunteer service providers are chosen. Brooks applied for a position and waited to hear the result.

And recently, a call came. “They called and I all heard was Olympic Training Center,” said. “I am thoroughly excited about going.”

The evaluation of Brooks’ performance at the Olympic Training Center will determine if she will be chosen to further serve Olympic athletes. Volunteer service providers can serve at four levels.

Service at the Olympic Training Centers is the initial level. Those who receive good evaluations at that level are eligible for the second level, which involves national and international competitions. The third level also involves high-level competition and the fourth level is the Olympic Games.

While she is at the Olympic Training Center, her food and accommodations will be provided. Travel expenses are not covered, but Brooks has received a scholarship for her travel from the Watauga Orthopaedics Foundation.

The U.S. Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs is the headquarters for the U.S. Olympic Committee administration and the Olympic Training Center programs. Twelve USOC member organizations have their national headquarters in the complex, and 12 other member organizations and two international sports federations are located nearby in Colorado Springs. The complex is able to provide housing, dining, recreational facilities and other services for up to 557 coaches and athletes at one time.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

Tusculum College Counselor Connie Kretchmar-Sitz was recently awarded her Licensed Professional Counselor -Mental Health Service Provider certification, College officials announced this week.

Kretchmar-Sitz, who has a master’s of arts degree in counseling from East Tennessee State University, has been with the College since January 2007.

The LPC-MHSP is a state certification permitting Kretchmar-Sitz to diagnose from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and to operate an independent private practice as a counselor.

The certification takes approximately two years to attain (beyond a master’s degree) and the requirements include additional master’s level courses, 1,000 hours of further counseling experience and two years of supervision totaling 100 hours from a credentialed/licensed professional.

Other requirements include passing three comprehensive exams covering counseling theory and practice, diagnostic procedures and jurisprudence issues.

“We are very proud of Connie and the effort she has put forth in obtaining this certification,” said David McMahan, Tusculum College Dean of Students. “By increasing her training and education, she has by extension increase the level of service we can provide to our students, staff and faculty.”

Kretchmar-Sitz is actively involved in Tusculum College community and the Greeneville community. Through her work at the College, she has secured grants from the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services and the Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities programs to collect survey data on alcohol and other drug use on campus and implement social norms media campaign.

Such campaigns help students to understand (through advertising with posters, flyers and student newspapers) that alcohol abuse is not as common as many are led to believe.  When students have accurate information about other students’ use or nonuse of alcohol it influences their decisions about alcohol. Research has shown that when students know that most other students either do not drink or drink moderately, they abstain or lower their own high risk use of alcohol.

Kretchmar-Sitz serves as secretary of the Coalition of Healthy and Safe College Campuses and as secretary of the Watauga Counseling Association. She is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American College Counseling Association.

Tweet This Post

Kimberly Coapstick, a senior, athletic training and psychology double major and a native of Merritt Island, FL, has been recognized as “Student of the Block” at Tusculum College for her campus leadership.

The College’s Office of Student Affairs recognized Kimberly with its “Student of the Block” award for the sixth block of the fall semester during a ceremony on March 30. She was presented a plaque detailing her achievements and campus involvement by Dr. Bill Garris, assistant professor of psychology. The plaque will be displayed on the “Wall of Honor” outside of the Student Affairs Office in the Niswonger Commons.

Dr. Garris nominated Kimberly for this recognition due to her academic achievement, outstanding commitment to excellence and determination to keep going no matter the road ahead.

Kimberly is a 2004 graduate of Merritt Island High School, where she was a member of the soccer team, the German Club, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Future Business Leaders of America.

As a former Pioneer soccer player, Kimberly was highly interested in functions of the body, and chose to pursue a degree in athletic training with the hopes entering the medical field after graduation. Kimberly chose athletic training due to her personal experience in rehabilitation after a knee injury in high school and resolved to aid others through preventative and rehabilitative services.

Kimberly added psychology to her academic repertoire after completing an elective course and discovering her interest and ability in the field. She made the difficult decision to delay her graduation by one year in order to complete the second major. She has been recognized as a Psychology Department Search Committee member, an Alpha Chi Honors Society member and Executive Council member as secretary and a National Alpha Chi Honors Society member. Kimberly plans to continue her education after graduation in the physician assistant program at Nova Southeastern University in Orlando, FL.

When asked to think upon her experience a Tusculum and the memories she has collected during the past five years, Kimberly most enjoyed “being a member of the women’s soccer team, working with the Tusculum College football team as an athletic training student and having the opportunity to attend academic conferences for athletic training and psychology.”

“Sometimes life is not only the best teacher; it can also serve as a good advisor, if you’re willing to listen”, said Dr. Garris of Kimberly’s ambition. “She’s truly deserving.”

In his nomination, Dr. Garris noted Kimberly’s numerous professional associations, Tusculum College campus involvements, and awards, including the  Tusculum College Athletic Training Society,  the National Athletic Trainers Association, the Tennessee Athletic Trainers Society, the Southeast Athletic Trainers Association, the National Iota Tau Alpha Athletic Training Honors Society, the Athletic Training Student of the Year, the Charles Oliver Gray Scholar’s List, the National Dean’s List, the Pinnacle Award (which awards the student with the highest score on the annual Athletic Training comprehensive examination at Tusculum College) and the Tusculum College Community Service Award.

With all of these accomplishments behind her, Kimberly looks forward to her bright future of a rewarding and fulfilling career, establishing herself in a practice and enjoying interaction with her patients. Tusculum College will lose a wonderful student but gain an important alumnus in Kimberly, as she returns to her native Floridian roots to capture her dream.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post