The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
May 13, 2021
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Pensacola State College’s Jason King is back in uniform nearly a quarter century after leaving the United States Coast Guard.
But in the 1990s, King was an active duty Coast Guard seaman.
Now, the 51-year-old King, who is PSC’s web administrator, is wearing the uniform of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. There are a few differences in uniform – buttons and some color differences – and a few changes in duty.
But for the most part, King feels the same sense of mission and teamwork that he did while an active duty seaman.
“The real reason I joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary was to go back and do missions and have the same camaraderie and job satisfaction I felt then," King said. “When you’re part of a team – a well-trained team – and you have an opportunity to save a life, or even someone’s boat, it’s a great feeling.”
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There was clapping, cheering, praising and just overall celebrating as approximately 500 Pensacola State College graduates took part in live commencement exercises on Sunday, May 9.
Held in the Pensacola Bay Center, the ceremony was livestreamed for Fall 2020, Spring 2021 and Summer 2021 graduates who could not attend the event.
Husband-and-wife team Cyrus and Raleigh Gharbi, as well as father and son Anthony and Wayne Hurd, were among the graduates who walked across the Bay Center stage to receive their degrees.
“Flash” Gordon Sprague, a businessman, philanthropist, farmer and former NASCAR driver, was the graduation’s keynote speaker. A member of the PSC Foundation Board of Governors, Sprague also is the chairman of the College’s “Your Community Your Legacy” comprehensive campaign.
Anita Spicer, the College’s events coordinator, described the event as festive from start to finish.
“When the Hurds announced they were father-and-son, the entire crowd went wild. The same thing happened with the Gharbis, there were even a few people blowing air horns,” she recalled.
Spicer said the commencement was still a COVID-19 event – graduates were spaced out on the Bay Center floor; all attendees wore masks; and there was no processional – but the pomp-and-circumstance tradition was obvious at the event.
“We even had some May 2020 and Summer 2020 graduates to take part in the ceremony. I think the graduates and their family members were very excited to come back and walk across the stage,” she added.
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Anthony Hurd, Marissa Brown, Lois Hurd and Wayne Hurd |
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On Thursday, May 6, 27 PSC student nurses received their nursing pins and nursing lamps and recited the nursing pledge at a service on the Warrington campus.
The nurses also received their Nursing RN Associate in Science Degrees during the PSC commencement ceremony held Sunday, May 9, at the Pensacola Bay Center. Eighty-seven in the nursing cohort qualified to graduate, but only 27 attended the pinning event.
At the pinning ceremony, PSC President Ed Meadows commended the nursing students for finishing during a tumultuous period which included a pandemic and a nationwide shutdown.
“I really don’t understand what it took for you to get here, but I do know it had to be extremely difficult," Meadows said. “You entered (the nursing program) right before the pandemic and weathered through the pandemic. I want to congratulate you on completing a most unusual and amazing journey.”
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Just three days before they would graduate, a cohort of 10 Pensacola State College Veterinary Technology Program students received vocational pins and recited an oath that would make them part of a noble profession sworn to care for animals, large and small, slithering or walking, pet or beast of burden.
“We focus not on one species," said Sarah Meyer-Paterson, Veterinary Technician Program director, at the Thursday, May 6, pinning and oath service at the Warrington campus. “If it is not human, we provide medical and surgical nursing care for them… Our patients rely on our ability to not only assess physiologic data, but also their body language, interpret clinical data and use critical thinking. Our patients have voices because we know how to listen.”
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The Pensacola State College Stitchin’ To Serve group recently donated a hand-crocheted twin-size blanket to Sleep In Heavenly Peace, a non-profit that provides beds and bedding to children in need. Pictured are from left, Buffy Loveday with Sleep in Heavenly Peace; Evelyn Gutknecht, PSC senior computer systems analyst; Dr. Liz Moseley, director of the PSC Student Resource Center for ADA Services; and Kevin Loveday, president of the Pensacola Sleep in Heavenly Peace chapter. |
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Pensacola State College’s Stitchin’ to Serve Group recently donated a handmade blanket to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national nonprofit that provides beds and bedding to children in need.
On Tuesday, May 11, Dr. Liz Moseley and Evelyn Gutknecht presented the crocheted twin-size blanket to Kevin and Buffy Loveday with the Pensacola chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
Crocheted by Gutknecht, a PSC senior computer systems analyst, and Darlene Mosely, an associate professor, the multi-colored blanket will be used to complete the bedding for a child in need.
“I started on the blanket last fall, and we completed it just before spring break,” Gutknecht said. “Just having that feeling of completing something is wonderful but knowing that this will go on the bed of a child who may have never had one gives me such a warm feeling.”
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PSC History Professor Brian Rucker key figure in Escambia County 200th |
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Brian Rucker is a funny guy. You know, for a historian.
Talking about the doomed 1559 Spanish settlement that Tristan de Luna established, briefly, near Emmanuel Point – in the neighborhood of present-day Jerry’s Drive-In ─ the Pensacola State College history professor couldn’t help taking a dig at the maligned explorer:
“If Jerry’s Drive-In had been there, maybe they wouldn’t have starved,” Rucker said with a laugh. “Can you imagine Luna – you’ve got mullet jumping but they have nothing to eat. You probably could have walked on seafood between here and Gulf Breeze back then.”
Rucker will share his vast historical perspective on Northwest Florida during a July 13 Pensacola Archaeology Society Lecture Series presentation. The virtual presentation will be from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom.
The event is one of many that make up the Escambia County 200th anniversary celebration. Rucker is part of the Escambia County 200th Anniversary Committee. Events are ongoing and culminate with an anniversary celebration on July 17 that will feature a blessing from the Santa Rosa Creek Tribe, and all-day performances by Spanish musicians and dancers of African descent. There will be a military re-enactment and other events throughout the day.
Already, Rucker and other historians have started the commemoration with a series of historical essays and reports on local media, including the Pensacola News Journal and WUWF-FM radio.
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A full-time PSC professor since 1996, Rucker started as an adjunct at the College in 1990. He is the author and editor of numerous books on Northwest Florida history including “Mine Eyes Have Seen: Firsthand Reminiscences of the Civil War in West Florida.” He was inducted into the College’s Academy of Teaching Excellence in 2000.
Escambia and St. Johns County were established in July 1821 just after the Spanish ceded control of the region to the United States because occupation of Northwest Florida had become a burden to Spain. They are Florida’s oldest counties, though their borders are much smaller now than when originally established – Escambia covered nearly all of Northwest Florida, with its eastern border reaching the Suwannee River east of Tallahassee.
“Spain just didn’t have the resources at the time to control Florida,” Rucker said. “The country’s empire was crumbling and there was nothing the Spanish could do here. So they just said, ‘Let’s cut our losses.’”
Rucker said Escambia County – and the county seat of Pensacola – were invaluable to many parties not only in the 1800s, but in the centuries preceding.
“Few people knew this was a place of borderland intrigue,” Rucker said. “The British were after this place. The Spanish were trying to keep this place. You have the Native Americans involved. It’s fascinating that all this intrigue was focused here. Countries fought after Pensacola.”
Want to participate?
Pensacola State College history professor Brian Rucker will give a Zoom presentation on the historical context of Pensacola in 1821 at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 13. Online registration for the event is not yet open. Check the Pensacola Archaeology Society website for updates and registration information at pasfl.org/meetings.
--Troy Moon
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Everyone's a winner in our 2021 Graduation Cap Decorating Contest! |
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Congratulations to all our recent PSC Graduates!
And congratulations to Carrissa Jackson, winner of our 2021 Graduation Cap Decorating Contest! Her cap, seen above, was selected over more than three dozen entries, all heartfelt and fun. For winning, Carrissa will receive a diploma frame and a selection of nice PSC goodies.
ALL entrants will receive a prize for participating, a lovely PSC tumbler. To get their prize, entrants should send their name and mailing address to marketing@pensacolastatecollege.edu.
Thanks to all who participated in our contest! See some of the other entrants below.
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The Choral Society of Pensacola will perform "Love Songs: The Liebelieder Waltzes of Johannes Brahms" at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 15, on the patio behind Building 1 at the Pensacola State College Pensacola campus. The Liebelieder Waltzes are a set of songs in 3/4 time for mixed chorus and piano four-hands, under the direction of Peter Steenblik, who assumes the position of artistic director at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season. The program features pianists Isabelle Areola and Hyunjoo Kim, as well as the women’s ensemble, conducted by Isabelle Peterson. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Pandemic protocols will be observed, with singing in masks and standing six feet apart. Audience members are asked to wear masks, bring their own seating, and maintain social distancing.
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WARNING: Lone Star is intended for mature audiences only. This show contains strong language and mature themes. |
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