The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
June 3, 2020
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For most people, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging – to put it lightly. One Pensacola State College administrator, however, has turned to an age-old stress reliever for help.
Dr. Hikmat BC, head of the College’s Natural Sciences Department, plays the
Madal, a popular hand drum in Nepal, and shares the videos on his social media accounts. “I have played the Madal since 2018 – so about two years. I used to play it in my childhood. I just picked it up again as a way to help alleviate stress ─ a cause of many diseases,” said Dr. BC, a Nepal native who moved to the U.S. in 2005. “Playing the Madal helps me organize internally. Inner management is key these days. The peaceful music of the Madal helps me connect my mind and body in harmony.” Dr. BC said he hopes the music and videos help others. “I feel everyone in the world is dealing with fearful and stressful news and hardship. History tells us that people lose their lives mainly if they cannot manage stress especially during a pandemic. The main disease is stress these days. When I listen to this joyful music of Madal, I feel myself refreshed and peaceful,” he said.
Mary Mabins spoke with Dr. BC and learned more about the fascinating instrument.
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Pirates CARE Wellness Case Manager Jessica Johnson is #HereForYou
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Jessica Johnson
is this week's featured
Pirates CARE
Team member who is
#HereForYou.
Jessica serves as PSC's Wellness Case Manager, helping connect students to on and off campus resources. Jessica is a First-Generation College graduate from Auburn University at Montgomery with a Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, Pre-Medical Concentration. Jessica received her AA from Pensacola State in May of 2011 and returned to the Pensacola area in November 2015 to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA servicemember, where her duties included establishing the Pirates Food Pantry, promoting volunteer service opportunities to PSC students, and coordinating financial literacy workshops through the College’s Money Matter$ project. Through community and campus partnerships, Jessica also established the EscaRosa Financial Stability Coalition in July of 2017, which is now housed at the United Way of West Florida.
In addition to empowering and advocating for students at PSC, Jessica also spends a significant amount of time giving back to the community as a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., an international service organization comprised of women from every profession whose mission is to enhance the quality of life for women and their families in the U.S. and globally through community service, civil, and social action.
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Jessica’s advice for others is to create a Wellness Plan: Spend at least five minutes writing down how you feel when you’re doing great/feeling well, things that trigger an increase in positive emotions and things that trigger negative emotions, early warning signs for when you need someone to intervene, as well as what types of intervention you’d want. Once you’ve made your list, write 1-2 things that help you feel your best physically, nutritionally, emotionally, socially, spiritually, intellectually, financially, and environmentally. Keep your plan somewhere that’s easily accessible to you and edit as you see fit!
The Pirates CARE Team is a group of faculty and staff from across Pensacola State College who meet weekly to discuss students of concern, conduct threat assessments, and help in responding to crisis situations and critical events on campus. The Pirates CARE Team assists the College community in helping students who are experiencing a crisis or difficulty outside of the classroom by connecting students with both on and off campus resources. The Pirates CARE Team understand that students may face situations beyond academics where assistance is needed in order to help a student be successful. Members of the Pirates CARE Team also oversee issues related to student behavior as well as academic misconduct.
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Earn a health care vocational certificate at PSC in as little as eight weeks
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There is a program offered at Pensacola State College which will have you ready to work in a health care facility just two months after starting classes.
PSC’s
Phlebotomy Technician Program is an eight-week course that will earn a graduate a Vocational Certificate that will allow the student to collect blood. Graduates also learn basic anatomy and physiology, infection control and more.
It’s just one of the Vocational Certificate programs offered by the
PSC Allied Health Department that students can finish quickly, then move into the workforce.
“They’re pretty popular programs,’’ said
Mitzie Sowell, Allied Health Department head. “You can learn a skill and get to work fairly quickly.”
Other Vocational Certificates that can be earned quickly are:
- Electrocardiograph Technician (one semester)
- Medical coder/biller (37 credit hours)
- Medical Assisting (One year, or 1,300 clock hours)
Sowell said while some of the certificate earners will just work in that field, others will build on the certificate to advance their health care professions.
“Some will do phlebotomy or EKG because they want to be employed while pursuing another field, like nursing,’’ she said. “You can go to school and still work a good job as a phlebotomy technician or EKG technician.”
Sowell said the quality of Allied Health’s accredited programs, and its low cost make it a great opportunity for students in a health care position.
Tuition for a Vocational Certificate at PSC is $85.74 per credit hour, lower than PSC’s college credit tuition – already one of the lowest in the nation – which is $104.58. (Figures are for Florida residents.)
Sowell said the relative shortness of the programs can be beneficial to students who are not sure of their educational future.
“Sometimes you get people in those programs who go in with no kind of background,’’ she said. “This allows them to realize whether this is for them or not. They might not want to go down that road. They might want to go down a different road. But these programs help you build something and go from there. They can earn a Phlebotomy or EKG certificate and maybe go into the nursing program or something else, and work while they’re going to school.”
Marla Magaha, Medical Assisting program director, said many of her students pursue other health care educational opportunities after earning a Vocational Certificate.
“A lot of my students come in knowing they intend to further their education,’’ Magaha said. “And with the certificate, they can work in a health care profession while still continuing their education. Some go into nursing; some go into physical therapy. But this is a great introduction for them and will them find employment.”
She said students looking for a health care profession should seriously consider PSC, and not just because of the low tuition cost.
“We graduate quality students from an accredited program,’’ she said. “Our medical assisting students are trained in the front end and learn to take insurance, make appointments and how to refer (patients) to another doctor. But they also learn the back end and learn how to assist physicians, give medications and take care of patients.”
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Pensacola State GED students are now published poets, writers
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Stephen Walls
became a published poet just to get his teacher off his back.
Walls, a Pensacola State College GED student, had written a few poems for class, but when GED instructor
Linda Lewandowski
urged him to enter his poetry for publication in a literary compilation, he balked.
“She loved my poetry and encouraged me, but I didn’t really want to do it," said Walls, a single father who hopes to earn his GED within a year. “But she’s persistent with me, and I love that about her because she pushed me. So I said I’d do it just to hush her up.”
Walls is one of three Pensacola State GED students who are featured in
The Florida Literary Coalition’s “The Path Taken,"
which publishes poems and stories from adult learners from across the state. The writing of
Bussararat Chesnutt
and
Brooklyn King
also were included in the publication, which features contributions from more than 100 adult education students.
Lewandowski said this is the first time that PSC students have been featured in the publication.
“I’ve never had any other students who were published before," said Lewandowski, who submitted the three students’ works for consideration. “We’re really excited about this. So many of these students have not seen academic success, so to be published like this is awesome. For them, it’s encouragement, and proof that they can succeed academically and in life.” (Speaking of success, King recently finished her GED and will soon start classes at PSC.)
The
Florida Literary Virtual Conference
is scheduled for June 25-26, and Walls has volunteered to read his poetry during the conference.
“I’ve always been a bit poetic," said Walls, who homeschools his daughter while attending to his own academic needs. “I learned that women love poetry. But I don’t write mushy stuff. I try to stick to nature.”
Wall’s poem,
“Front Porch Friday,"
was inspired by a front porch observation of nature:
“The Mosquitoes take their last bite, while the Moths take their last flight,"
reads one part of the poem.
“The Squirrels begin to bar and the Birds to chirp, for this is a new day…”
Chesnutt’s piece, “Don’t Wait Until It’s To Late," is on page 24, while Wall’s “Front Porch Friday” and King’s “A Deep Blue Dream” are on page 186-187.
-- Troy Moon
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