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Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com 

Mar 6, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_4ad6f920-401c-11e9-a078-2770209bb751.html

Enterprise High School students were bussed to Enterprise State Community College for senior visits for the first time ever.

“Being able to bring them out here is a huge benefit because they’ll be able to see where they’re going and get familiar with the campus,” said EHS Principal Brent Harrison. “Hopefully this helps a lot of our kids finalize what their plans are and—with the help from the community college—they realize what it’s going to take and what it’s going to take to go somewhere and maybe that this (ESCC) is a better place for them to start off at.”

ESCC President Matt Rodgers said he’s excited to have “family” visit ESCC.

“It’s exciting to have this larger group from Enterprise High School; they’re family,” Rodgers said. “We certainly appreciate the support of Mr. (Brent) Harrison and all that he does to support his students and try to help them advance their educational careers. We love our Enterprise High School students and certainly want them to come to Enterprise State, but at the end of the day we want them to be successful wherever life takes them.”

During their senior visit, the “Triple Threat” recruiting team spoke to students about a number of topics including the cost of attending ESCC, ESCC scholarships, transfer credits, etc.

The presentation ended with students being broken up into groups for a goose chase. The groups received clues through and app an had to submit selfies with the correct answer to prove the group solved the clue. The team to successfully finish the goose chase first received a prize.

By Josh Boutwell sports@southeastsun.com

Mar 5, 2019

The Enterprise State Boll Weevils kept their season alive on Friday, March 1, with a 76-74 win over Bevill State in a play-in game for the state tournament.

The win secured a spot in the Alabama Community College Conference Tournament for the Boll Weevils.

ESCC was able to hang tough with Bevill State despite leading scorers Kainan Pouncy and Deshunta Smith getting into early foul trouble forcing the prolific scorers to the bench for much of the first half.

“We started out slow but overall I thought we played well,” ESCC coach Jermaine Williams said. “I was proud of the way our guys fought back, especially those guys that got into foul trouble.

“The freshmen did a great job of holding on to the game until the sophomores were able to come back in. I was proud of the way our guys came together to finish off the season right.”

Despite the early foul trouble, Pouncy led the Boll Weevils with 19 points, while Smith added 12 points. Shedrick Cooper added 12 points, as well.

The win advances ESCC into the quarterfinals of the ACCC Tournament against No. 2 seed Shelton State.

Williams said that ESCC’s biggest – literally and figuratively – obstacle will be Shelton State’s 7-foot sharpshooter Ruot Monyyong. The massive forward is averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds per game.

“We have to come up with a plan to stop their 7-footer,” Williams said. “He’s their most consistent shooter. We’ll focus on trying to get him out of the game by attacking the rim and trying to get him into foul trouble.

“It will take a team effort and making sure that we’re paying attention to detail. If we can do that we have a great chance to win. Playing together will be the key.”

Freshman Ozark native Joseph Womack echoed his coach’s sentiments on the game.

“We have to keep our turnovers under 10, everybody has to do their job to the fullest, maintain the tempo of play and we have to play unselfishly,” Womack said. “When we play unselfishly we can win just about any game we play.

“We have to make sure we’re playing unselfishly and just have fun and play ball. We’ve worked hard for this.”

Pouncy – a Daleville native – agreed with his coach and teammate’s assessment.

“We have to play as a team like we have been,” Pouncy said. “We have to do the small things right and play together.”

ESCC and Shelton State played on Tuesday, March 5, in Birmingham. For information and stats on that game visit www.southeastsun.com.

By Josh Boutwell sports@southeastsun.com

Feb 21, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/article_ee05046c-35e9-11e9-ad68-fbdac20900ef.html

The Enterprise State Community College baseball team started off the 2019 season with four consecutive games against Andrew College.

The Boll Weevils (3-2) traded wins with Andrew College from Ozark’s Eagle Field on Feb. 8 in a doubleheader before picking up an 8-5 win over Andrew College on the road on Feb. 13 and then a 7-5 loss to Andrew from Dothan’s Westgate Park on Feb. 16.

In the season-opening doubleheader ESCC defeated Andrew College 10-5 in the first game before falling 7-3 in the second game.

Kyle Vogler, Austin Thrasher, Stratton Watt and Elba native Grant Akrdige each had two hits in the first game, while Wells Deloney struck out four batters and gave up just two hits in four innings from the mound.

In the second game, Jared Bartlett had three hits for the Boll Weevils.

At the Feb.13 matchup, the Boll Weevils were tied 2-2 with Andrew at the top of the fourth inning when Bartlett drove in two runs for ESCC.

Andrew College managed to tie things up 4-4 with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning before ESCC pulled away for good with four runs in the sixth inning.

ESCC’s Parker Warren gave up no runs and no hits in two innings on the mound and had one strikeout. Bartlett, Austin Thrasher and Silas Drummond each had a pair of hits in the win.

In the final rematch between the two sides, ESCC faced off with Andrew College from Dothan’s Westgate Park as a part of the city’s Hits for Heroes series.

In a defensive battle, ESCC outhit Andrew 9-5 but walks cost the Boll Weevils the game. Jacob Callaway and Tye Whatley each had two hits in the loss.

ESCC closed out the week with a 5-0 shutout win over Wallace-Dothan on the road.

Deloney struck out four batters on the mound and allowed just two hits in six and 2/3 innings. Drummond had two hits including a double, while Akridge had two RBIs in the win.

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com

Feb 20, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_9e16ba38-351a-11e9-bef8-a31b646ea112.html

The Enterprise State Community College Circle K club held a “Pie a Teacher” fundraiser on Jan. 29 in the Student Center.

Students could buy tickets for $2 a piece for a chance to pie their choice of ESCC Student Services Specialist Jennifer Olsen, ESCC President Matt Rodgers, ESCC Biology Instructor Ashley Snellgrove, ESCC Chair of the Fine Arts Division Ken Thomas or Dean of Instruction Danny Long.

The goal for the fundraiser was $100, which the group exceeded by raising $230.

Just under half the funds came from Thomas who donated $50 to avoid getting pied, but ESCC student Quest Hatchett counter donated $50 for the exclusive right to pie Thomas.

“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” ESCC Circle K Club sponsor Snellgrove said. “It was just the most fun event, and I think everyone had a really great time.”

All of the money that was raised will go to the Circle K International Alabama District’s Reading is Fundamental campaign.

Reading is Fundamental is a group that promotes child literacy by donating books to at-risk children, according to the KCI Alabama District website. Reading is Fundamental has donated to over 25,000 children a year with about 2,000 of those children being local to Alabama.

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com 

Feb 20, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_cc6fcf6a-3519-11e9-9500-ab322f916194.html

Over 150 guests from Wiregrass businesses, industries, schools and government filled Enterprise State Community College’s multipurpose room for the first-ever Workforce Development Summit on Feb. 6.

ESCC President Matt Rodgers opened the summit by welcoming all the guests to ESCC and discussing some of the upcoming projects ESCC is planning. These included a new performing arts center, a center for advanced technology, renovations to both Ozark and Enterprise campuses as well as new programs such as industrial maintenance.

“We understand your needs, and we’re trying to create curriculum that is going to serve you,” Rodgers said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here for.”

New Brockton native and Alabama Community College System Chancellor Jimmy Baker spoke about the Wiregrass’ economic potential if all the audience members worked together.

“This is probably the first time—that I’m aware of—that this kind of community has been pulled together,” Baker said. “You would be unbelievably surprised if we can find a way to work together to make sure that we are ready to accommodate the requests of any industry that comes to this area. Let’s all come together, figure out what we can do and then let’s do it and let’s make this part of the state a booming job producing environment that we need in the state.”

ACCS Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development Jeff Lynn said that the state is going through a severe shortage in a qualified workforce for middle-skill jobs. He said that the ACCS and ESCC are focusing on creating programs and pathways to train a workforce to fill these open positions.

“Our job, in essence, is to create this pool of qualified applicants to select from,” Lynn said. “We need to work with these companies and find out what their criteria is and—based on our curriculum, teachers and schedules—recruit those students, get them prepared and have those companies be successful.”

ESCC Dean of Instruction Danny Long highlighted some of the programs that are offered by ESCC and its Alabama Aviation College to create a trained  workforce, including the airframe technology program, the power plant technology program, the CDL program, the upcoming industrial maintenance program, the medical assistant technology program, the new IT auditing and assurance program, SWIFT app development program, and machine tooling program.

ESCC Director of Workforce Development Ian Campbell touched on the noncredit training options. These programs give businesses and industries another option to continue the training and education of their employees. He said that these programs show ESCC’s commitment to developing and continued development of a skilled workforce.

“You (local businesses and industries) are the engine to our economy,” Campbell said. “If your operations fail, our vehicle goes nowhere. We want to be responsive to your workforce demands and we want to lead the way in filling the skills gap that you are experiencing now.”

The event ended with a Q&A session with Campbell, Lynn, Baker, Long and Rodgers.

Campbell said he felt that the summit was a success and that ESCC will continue to hold these summits as long as the workforce demands it.

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com 

Feb 13, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_00c76734-2f9b-11e9-8761-b3ec3ebc21a9.html

Ensemble Mélange held a music workshop for students at Enterprise State Community College on Jan. 17.

The New York based sextet performed later that night at Enterprise High School as part of a concert organized by the Coffee County Arts Alliance and Center Drugs Home & Health, and decided to stop by ESCC to perform and talk to students.

“The group began in 2010 and the idea was basically, ‘Why can’t concerts be more fun?’” clarinetist Moran Katz said. “’Why can’t we look at our audience, talk to our audience, see what they want, have them ask us questions and break that wall?’ Also, for us, since most of our concerts we know what we’re going to play, it’s not necessarily bad, but it is predictable. Here, we have a concept where we show up as prepared as we can be but we have no idea what we’re about to play.”

During workshop each member would tell the audience a little bit about as life as a musician and how they became part of the group. After that, the audience would vote on two different compositions to see which could be played.

This was a slightly different take on the “menu” that the ensemble uses during their performances where picked audience members are allowed to choose any piece off the “menu.”

At the end of the performances, the group asked the audience members to introduce themselves and tell what they wanted their careers to be. The different members provided career advice to every member they could before opening up the floor for questions.

Ensemble Mélange’s soprano vocalist Ariadne Grief said that she hopes the workshop will help motivate students to start on their own dreams.

“It seems like a lot of people were worried that—as they said—they’re somewhere rural so they can’t get started on something if they have big or medium dreams,” Grief said. “I really just hope people will take action and start things themselves. All of our institutions that we care about and that we think are big and important were all started as a dream by somebody, somewhere. I just hope it felt possible after this.”

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com

Feb 6, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_cd7673f2-2a1d-11e9-900b-9f7afcfa81b4.html

Enterprise State Community College held its club day on Jan. 15. Many of ESCC’s clubs filled the student center, recruiting new members with each passing student.

“We want our students to be involved and club day is a way to let them know there are areas to be involved in—especially our new students who maybe haven’t found their friend group,” said ESCC Coordinator of Special Events Jennifer Olson. “It’s a great day to come and socialize and get to know people and what ESCC has to offer.”

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com

Feb 6, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_7f1dbf00-2a1b-11e9-8325-8fad2502036a.html

Enterprise State Community College announced that free tutoring and advising sessions are being offered in the library.

“We’re expanding our mission to provide services to students, who, in the past, were not able to receive these types of services in the form of tutoring and advising, which are critical,” ESCC President Matt Rodgers said. “I think it’s critical that we serve our students but also provide the support they need to be successful.”

The decision to provide these services and space for them was made in November of 2018 and the services are already available for students to use in the library.

Rodgers said that the amount of work everyone put in to have Boll Weevil Central ready has been gratifying.

“It’s the right thing to do for our students, but from my perspective to see 15 or 20 of our faculty and students come together to move furniture and move books in a short amount of time is really rewarding; it shows that we’re working as a team and putting our students first,” Rodgers said.

The space, called Boll Weevil Central in the library, will eventually be renovated to include new study rooms as well as more chairs and tables.

ESCC English Instructor DaNean Pound is heading the tutoring portion of the Boll Weevil Circle and said she’s excited to see this dream of hers finally come true.

“I’ve been a huge advocate for this for many years and just to see it come to fruition and to see how excited students are makes my heart warm,” Pound said.

Boll Weevil Central currently has three professional tutors and four peer tutors, which can help students in subjects such as math, English, music, chemistry, etc., according to Pound.

ESCC Director of Counselling and Student Success Dr. Felisha Ford heads up the advising portion of Boll Weevil Central, which also includes transfer and career assistance. She said that the program is a long-time coming.

“I am elated,” Ford said. “This is a program that we have desired—as an institution—to provide for our students for quite some time. I am excited to see it take shape.”

The school has hired two part-time success coaches to help students.

“They (the success coaches) are going to be assigned certain groups who we want to make sure are armed with the best information to help them decide whether they want to transfer to a four-year institution before completing their degree or complete their degree here,” Ford said.

She made sure to stress that the advising is not just for students who are looking to transfer.

“Our success advisors are also going to target students who may be at academic risk—those who have declining GPAs, run into financial aid problems, those sort of things—and use the proactive advising model,” Ford said. “We’re going to identify the individual needs of those students and create a success plan for them and help them to work that plan until they graduate or transfer.”

Any student wishing to use any of these services just needs to go to the library, where they will be directed to Boll Weevil Central.

Although there isn’t a set date for the final renovations to be done, work has already started with the final goal of making Boll Weevil Circle a one-stop shop for student needs.

Justin Blowers jblowers@southeastsun.com 

Feb 6, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/daleville/article_eeb3ddc2-2a20-11e9-928c-ef02eb1cd1a1.html

Special to The Sun 

Jan 30, 2019

http://www.southeastsun.com/home/article_9a315bf6-24b4-11e9-bf83-63c5ca26a06a.html

Macie Sarah Holsonback was crowned the Enterprise State Community College homecoming queen during the Men’s Boll Weevil game against Bishop State Community College.

Holsonback, who is from Westville, Fla., represented the Student Support Services Advisory Board and is an active member of the advisory board CMI: Revive and the ESCC Power Performers.

She enjoys working as a student and dance instructor, playing with her nieces and skeet shooting with friends.

Holsonback led the homecoming court of 10 ESCC students picked by the student body including: Stacy Louise Brand, Deja Craig, Holsonback, Bailey Kennington, Alyssa Kyles, Fantasia Miller, Heather Strickland, Alaura Sutherland, Taylor Jordan and Alex Watson.

The Boll Weevils went on to win 81-77 against Bishop State with the Lady Weevils losing 82-77.

The beginning of the week was filled with homecoming activities and competitions.

Student Support Services won the banner competition held on Jan. 22 and Dava Foster won the faculty dip-off on Jan. 23.

The morning before the homecoming game, the faculty beat the students in the faculty/staff vs students basketball game 33-28.