The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College
May 20, 2021
Left to right: Patrick Dawson, Capt. Tim Kinsella, Julian MacQueen, Andrea Krieger, Wesley Hudgens, Sandy Sims, Rick Byars, Mike Spoor, Ed Meadows, Sarah Gatewood, Scott Luth, Margie Moore, Ed Moore and Troy Tippett.
Pensacola State College plans to open a dual-enrollment charter school at the Warrington campus that will target military dependents and at-risk students.

The proposed opening date for the Pensacola State College Charter School (PSCCS) is August 2022.

PSC President Ed Meadows made the announcement on Tuesday, May 18, during a press conference on the Pensacola campus.

At the press conference, the Gulf Power Foundation presented the College with a $100,000 leadership gift that will fund a state-of-the-art Technology Innovation Center at PSCCS, which will be open to 10th through 12th grade students.

The charter school will offer both precollegiate and collegiate classes, giving students the opportunity to graduate with both a high school diploma and/or an associate degree. It will be based in existing facilities at the Warrington campus.

“We are honored to celebrate Gulf Power Foundation’s investment in the heart of our community,” Meadows said. “I think we’re on the right path. The charter school is going to be very beneficial to the military and it’s certainly going to be beneficial to our community.”
Spring Graduation 2021
On Thursday, May 13, 44 PSC Adult Education students received a GED diploma, the equivalent of a high school diploma, at a graduation ceremony in the Pensacola campus student center.

Friends and family members attended the ceremony, many presenting congratulatory balloons and bouquets to the graduates.

PSC President Ed Meadows urged the Adult Education graduates to consider continuing their education at the College, whether its seeking an associate or bachelor’s degree or enrolling in a career technical education program such as welding, carpentry or HVAC.

“Education is lifelong,” Meadows told the graduates. “I hope you’ll pick Pensacola State College for your future educational needs. I’m so proud that you realize the necessity of getting your GED. It will open doors for you for the rest of your life.”
Southern Appalachia meets academia in new folk-pottery art exhibit
The styles are similar, but the journey to the finished product is far removed.

Well-known potters such as Peter Lenzo, Steven Dark, Ashan Pridgon and Pensacola State College ceramics instructor Micah Cain are academically-trained artists. Yet their works share themes, styles and gallery exhibit space with pieces by self-taught artists from the hill-and-mountain folk of Southern Appalachia.

Many of these pottery pieces are now on display at the Pensacola State College Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts. The exhibit, “Legacy of Earth: An Exploration of Traditional Southern Pottery,” runs through July 15.

“I’m really happy with the way this exhibit has turned out,” said Michelle Schulte, Gallery Director/Chief Curator of the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts. “We have a great mixture of contemporary artists who have been academically trained and artists who learned from family members who passed it down or taught themselves.”

One of the surnames consistently seen in the exhibit is one of the most celebrated names in Southeastern folk art circles: Meaders.

The Meaders family out of North Georgia is known as perhaps the most influential family in the history of Southern Appalachian folk pottery. The family’s artistic legacy dates to the late 1800s when the Meaders began using the rich clay near their struggling North Georgia farm to produce and sell handcrafted jugs.

Best-known among the Meaders was and is third-generation potter Lanier Meaders, who was best known for his face jugs, which are celebrated and sought-after today. His work is exhibited in the Smithsonian and numerous museums across the world. In 1981, Smithsonian Folklife Studies published the book “The Meaders Family – North Georgia Potters.” Lanier Meaders died in 1998 at age 80.

His “Green Face Jug” is included in the “Legacy of Earth” exhibit as are pottery pieces by more than a dozen other Meaders family members. Two dozen other folk artists are represented in the exhibit.

The pottery pieces are on loan from the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art at Georgia Southern University.

The Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. There is no admission fee.


--Troy Moon
Some of the best high school drama students in Northwest Florida are expected to audition and perform in Pensacola State College’s 30th annual Summer High School Onstage Workshop. 

The students will perform the Disney Musical “Freaky Friday” on July 23-25 and July 30-Aug. 1 at the PSC Ashmore Auditorium. Auditions are at 8 a.m. on June 14-15, also at the Ashmore Auditorium.

“It’s like having an all-star baseball or softball team,” said PSC Director of Theater Rodney Whatley, who is directing the production. “You get all the best high school drama students and they get a chance to work together and put on an all-star show.”

A message from PSC President Ed Meadows
On May 13, 2021, the CDC provided updated guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Under the new guidance, fully vaccinated people may now resume normal activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by local rules. Pensacola State College currently has rules in place that require masking and distancing, and there will be no immediate change to those requirements because unvaccinated people must continue to mask and distance as they have for the past year (see attached chart).  

We cannot make a partial change to our requirements applicable only to vaccinated people because we have no practical way of determining the vaccination status of every person. If we can’t easily identify which people should or should not be wearing a mask at any given time, it will be functionally impossible to effectively enforce safety requirements for those who haven’t been vaccinated. Such a lack of enforcement could lead to exposures and an increase in COVID cases. Therefore, until there is a further relaxation of CDC guidelines, we will continue requiring masking and distancing for all employees and students during the Summer semester. To state this another way, we must adhere to CDC guidelines for the safety of every person, and relaxing standards that make it difficult to enforce protections in place for the unvaccinated is not acceptable at this time.

We want to remind everyone once again that vaccinations are free and readily available, and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated in anticipation of further relaxation of CDC guidelines. Sign up for one today at www.vaccines.gov. Changes are coming from the CDC regularly now, and at some point we anticipate that the collective efforts of the many to protect the few will become a risk that must be assumed by each individual. We will continue to monitor CDC guidance for changes, and we will communicate those changes to everyone.  

For the time being, please continue to report the following COVID matters to Tom Gilliam:

  • Positive cases of COVID;
  • Exposure to a confirmed case of COVID by an unvaccinated person;
  • COVID symptoms being experienced by any person regardless of vaccination status.

On a positive note, the number of COVID cases at the College continues to fall as vaccinations become more widespread. We have had only one case each week for the past two weeks. These numbers show that our safety measures continue to be successful.

Ed Meadows
President
Did you reserve a virtual seat for the 2020 and 2021 Spring Commencement Ceremony? Here’s YOUR complete virtual ceremony, with your reserved seat and appearances by our guest speakers and dignitaries. Find it at PensacolaState.edu/Graduation beginning 6 p.m. Friday, May 21.