The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
March 31, 2022
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Kyle Lowrey was just three courses shy of earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas when he decided to trade a university learning environment for a real-world, adventure-fueled learning environment.
It was 2014 and Kyle, who had graduated cum laude from then-Pensacola Junior College just a few years earlier, wanted something else, something more.
He had seen the world before and had left his mark. He had traveled twice to Belize as an engineering student, working as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders and again with Peacework, an international humanitarian organization.
This time, Kyle was seeking adventure and to propel his own personal growth and discovery. He became a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, where he worked on the famed Appalachian Trail. Then, he was off to Colorado where he worked as a ski lift operator. Later, he worked as a whitewater rafting guide in Tennessee and Idaho and became a certified Wilderness First Responder and a Class 4 Swiftwater. He was young. He was energetic. He was experiencing life with gusto and taking on new challenges and new adventures.
Kyle Lowrey passed away on May 29, 2017, in Pensacola after a short illness. The handsome, kind, intelligent and promising young man was only 26 years old.
The Lowrey Family established the Kyle Alden Lowrey Memorial Endowed Scholarship in 2017 to honor Kyle and to follow through with one of his own goals and desires – to help Pensacola State College and its students.
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Principal Karen McCabe is eager to welcome up to 150 high school juniors and seniors to the new Pensacola State College Charter Academy on Aug. 8.
“There’s still a lot to do to get ready, but we’re excited,’’ said McCabe, who was selected to lead the new academy after nearly five years as director of the College’s South Santa Rosa Center.
“It’s going to be more technology-based and interactive than many other high schools and will allow these students to pursue their high school diploma and associate degree at the same time.”
The Charter Academy will be located on the bottom floor of Building 3400 on the Warrington campus. Security doors and a glass partition will separate the Charter Academy from the rest of the building to ensure student safety, McCabe explained.
The Charter Academy will accept 75 high school juniors and 75 high school seniors for the first two years of operation. Beginning in fall 2024, the Charter Academy will accept sophomore students. There will be no tuition, fees, or charges for textbooks at the Charter Academy.
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On the set of "Pensacola State Today," from left to right: PSC President Ed Meadows, host Dr. Rameca Vincent Leary, Andrea Krieger of PSC Foundation, and Dr. Tonie Anderson-Steele. |
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Pensacola State College’s “100 for 100” program volunteers have raised $16,120 during the current campaign to raise money for student scholarships.
If history is any indication – and it is, or we probably wouldn’t teach it here – that figure will rise after the WSRE-TV program “Pensacola State Today” features a segment on the African American Memorial Endowment Scholarship and the Dr. Garrett T. Wiggins “Live Your Dream” scholarship and its recipients.
The one-hour episode will air at 3 p.m. April 2 and at 1 p.m. April 3 on WSRE-TV. Three scholarship winners – Shantora Grant, Shelby Witherspoon and Jaisiah Rivera – will appear on the program.
PSC held a special ceremony on March 4 to honor the scholarship recipients.
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From the March 4 ceremony, the 2022 AAMES-Wiggins Scholarship Recipients (front row, l-r): Agatha Wilkes, Ramonda Coles, Rose Witherspoon, Briana Chahine, Shantora Grant, Shelby Witherspoon, Dr. Rameca Vincent Leary; (middle row, l-r) Joey Avant, Dr. Tonie Anderson-Steele, Gregory Posey, Jaisiah Rivera, Marissa Greene, Kennethia Corpuz, Sharlene Blackmon; (top row, l-r) Portia Keith, Shauna Stoute, Amelia Nichols, Alexandra Samuel, Sandra Savage, Chef Darrell Nelson, Dr. Ed Meadows. Not pictured: Avery Johnson, Janieya Ephriam, Darrell Howard, Jasmine Lewis, Dominque McWaine, Haley Pratt, Shamekia Sigler, Jessica Spencer. |
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Two Pensacola State College music students finish toward top
of Jazz Pensacola’s Student Jazz Competition
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Two of the top four spots in the 12th annual Student Jazz Competition’s Collegiate Instrumental category were claimed by Pensacola State College music students.
Alto saxophone player Pierre Baldwin finished in second place and won $300. Guitarist Rory Swanson placed third and won $150.
The competition, hosted by Jazz Pensacola, took place March 21 at Seville Quarter.
Baldwin is a first-year PSC student who has been playing saxophone since sixth grade.
“I heard jazz music when I was young and it just clicked,” he said, adding that he loves old school jazz artists, including favorites like Cannonball Adderly and early Miles Davis. “I want to cover the world in old school jazz music.”
Swanson had been playing bass for more than a decade when he had what he calls “an epiphany.”
“I was playing chords and stuff on bass and thought ‘Why not just play guitar?’”
He said he picked up bass years ago because his father had a bass.
“I started playing bass because it was there,” he said. “But I’m more of a guitarist at heart.”
Both Baldwin and Swanson are members of the PSC Jazz Band.
First place in the college instrumental division, winning $500, was Gamaliel Harris, a trombonist from Northwest Florida State College. Fourth place, winning $150, was Patrick Bass, a University of West Florida saxophonist.
— Troy Moon
PHOTO: Pierre Baldwin, left, and Rory Swanson
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Gulf Coast Pirate Swimmers Team takes 1st place at
Auburn Masters SCY Invitational swim meet
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The Gulf Coast Pirate Swimmers Team ─ made up of adults taking swim classes at Pensacola State College ─ won first place among mid-size teams at the 2022 Auburn Masters SCY Invitational held March 19-20 at Auburn University.
Three team members also were the overall winners in their age groups.
Linda Duff was the top female overall swimmer in the 60-64 age division. Bill Evans won the 70-74 age division and Ray Ascherfeld was the top finisher in the 85-89 age division.
The team is coached by Chris Barfield. The swim classes that team members participate in are run by PSC Aquatic Center Coordinator Kay Miller.
“We were a smaller team – we only had nine swimmers compete,” Miller said. “I’m really proud. They did great.”
Each team member swam up to eight individual events, as well as team relays. The other members of the Gulf Coast Pirate Swimmers Team are Bryan Baars, Chris Barfield, James Burns, Bill Knisely, Ilia Reyes, and Debbie Simmons.
“I really didn’t start (serious swimming) until later in life,” Duff said. “I was in my 40s. But it’s so much fun, and it’s fun being part of a team.”
Evans is the long-distance specialist on the team.
“I can’t do sprints very fast,’’ he said. “But I am good at the longer events. That’s what I excel in.”
Ascherfeld said the team refers to Evans as the “Energizer Bunny” because he keeps “going and going and going.”
As for himself, Ascherfeld, the oldest member of the Gulf Coast Pirate Swim Team keeps going and going as well.
“I’ve been swimming for a long time,” he said. “It makes you feel young and it keeps your mind young. You’re tired when you get out, but if you don’t do it, you’ll feel it later in the day. Swimming energizes you.”
— Troy Moon
PHOTO: Left to right, Bill Evans, Linda Duff and Ray Ascherfeld showing off their individual first place trophies
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Members of the 2022 Pensacola Guitar Orchestra are, from left, Lincoln Marcus, Prime Guitar; Peg Barrett, Prime Guitar; Jeff Taylor, Prime Guitar; Isaac Railing, Prime Guitar; Tyler Suggs, Prime Guitar; Laws Savage, Soprano Guitar; Rory Swanson, Prime Guitar; Israel Railing, Alto Guitar; Patrick Kinnell, Prime Guitar; Ben Sane, Bass Guitar; Wayne Brouillette; Prime Guitar; Dawson Calugar, Contrabass Guitar; and Amanda Duffey, Prime Guitar. |
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Pensacola Guitar Orchestra to hold spring recital April 2 at PSC |
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Pensacola State College will present the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Joe Stallings, in its 2022 Spring Recital on Saturday, April 2.
The recital is set for 7:30 p.m. in the College’s Ashmore Fine Arts Auditorium, Building 8, on the Pensacola campus. Admission is free.
The recital will feature a guitar sextet, a guitar quartet, and the 13-member Pensacola Guitar Orchestra. This year’s soloists are all recent guitar competition winners and range in age from 11 to 17.
Pensacola Guitar Orchestra members are PSC students ─ Peg Barrett, Patrick Kinnell, Wayne Brouillette, Jeff Taylor, Amanda Duffey, Rory Swanson, Lincoln Marcus, Laws Savage, Israel Railing, and Isaac Railing, and University of West Florida students ─ Ben Sane, Tyler Suggs, and Dawson Calugar.
The recital will feature solo performances by the 2022 Pensacola Finger Style Acoustic Guitar Competition winners ─ first-place Lincoln Marcus, 17; second-place Micah Fetner, 11; and third-place Laws Savage, 17.
Other soloists will be Israel Railing, 14, first-prize winner of the 2022 Florida College System’s Music Student Artist Competition; Isaac Railing, 14, recipient of the Artistic Merit Award in Classical Guitar at the 2022 Florida College System’s Music Student Artist Competition; and 12-year-old Paloma Chaprnka, who won first prize at the 2020 Pensacola Finger Style Acoustic Guitar Competition at the age of 10
The program will include works from various composers including Johann Sebastian Bach, Enrique Granados, Fernando Sor, Matteo Carcassi, and Agustín Barrios Mangoré.
For more information about the recital, call the PSC Performing Arts Department at 850-484-1847.
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TASTY STUFF: Pensacola State College Meditation Club President Richard Owens shows off the Club’s chili at the PSC Student Veterans Association Chili Cook-off, held March 31 in the Delaino Student Center on the Pensacola campus. The Cook-off featured various PSC clubs showing off their best chili. And, as it turned out, the Culinary Club won the event! Congratulations!
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