The SGA Holiday Party Dec. 6 was a great success. One hundred children from the Head Start Program received Big Wheels from contributions made by A-B Tech students and employees, including an annonymous donor who has given $100 a year for the past 10 years.Return to top

A-B Tech HRD Instructor Teaches Choices To Women At Correctional Center

Elizabeth Saunders prepares materials for her class at Black Mountain Correctional Center For Women.

At least twice a week, A-B Tech HRD Instructor Elizabeth Saunders is sent to prison.

At the Black Mountain Correctional Center for Women (BMCCW), Saunders teaches choices and ethics - both foreign concepts to inmates who found themselves on the streets with only one choice - survival.

The BMCCW is filled with stories of lost hope, struggles to survive, forced choices and about 80 non-violent offenders - as young as 18 and as old as 62 but mostly middle-aged - at the last leg of their sentence and possibly a new beginning.

"These are women who are at the end of their sentence in a minimum-security prison. There's not even a fence around it. Many of them are on a work-release program and all of them have earned the right to be there," Saunders said.

The class is titled 'Ethics and Choices: Decision-Making for Career and Life' and its goal is to make inmates into future productive workers who make better choices. Saunders said the class has a wider impact on its participants, however.

"The thing that struck me so ... one student said I've never even hear the word ethics. It's not something you hear on the streets," said Saunders, adding that woman was 16 when she was imprisoned for drugs and prostitution. She will be released Dec. 3 and hopefully will forge a new path, following Saunders' step-by-step guide to sound decision-making.

"It brings a whole new level to their lives." Saunders still keeps in touch with many graduates who have already been released. "One woman told me how she faced an ethical dilemma and how she solved it using what she learned in the class." Inmates can sign up for the program though some are required to attend. "Several of them have recruited other women into the program."

Saunders is an ethical fitness trainer certified by the Institute of Global Ethics (IGE). The program is endorsed by IGE and sponsored by the North Carolina Community College System Office, the Department of Corrections and A-B Tech.Return to top

campus connection

BLET graduate Alan Taylor, now with the Buncombe Sheriff Department, learns how to fingerprint from A-B Tech graduate Jerame Walker, a rookie police officer with the Asheville Police Department.

Program: Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET)

Director: Scott Bissinger

Established: 1971

Location: Hemlock

Mission: To offer quality law enforcement training that helps students serve the entire community.

Highlights: Although BLET is housed in Hemlock, instructors use the obstacle course near Fernihurst, the parking lots on Sundays for high-speed chases and emergency driving training, the firing range on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate and the gym for physical fitness. The program began as a continuing education class in 1971 and was added to curriculum in 1986. Graduates receive their certificate in BLET, offered three times annually both day (for 14 weeks) and night (for 30 weeks), and are eligible to become sworn law enforcement officers in the state of North Carolina. Over the past decade, the program has had a 100% pass rate (with the exception of one year) compared to the state average of 82%. Students range in age from 20-65 and almost 35% are female, a growing number. About half of the class is dedicated to physical fitness. The program has graduated most of the chiefs of police and sheriffs within the WNC region, including U.S. Air and Federal Marshals and Secret Service agents. "We are the main server," Bissinger said.

Sidebar: The BLET program's strength lies in its instructors, according to Bissinger, who said each student has as many as 30 different certified instructors with expertise/field experience in governing law enforcement agencies, undercover and narcotics investigations, homicide, medicine and law. Return to top

Off With His Mustache!

Dennis King, Vice President of Student Services and Hospice Foundation and Corporate board member, donned women's clothing and got up on stage during a Celebrity Luncheon to benefit Mountain Area Hospice. Dr. King took bids to shave off his mustache of 30 years, raising over $400 as he lowered the razor.

Give Me a Biscuit and Skip The Cream Cheese

Former A-B Tech English Department Chairperson Celia Miles wrote an article proclaiming the attributes of biscuits over bagels in the very first edition of Western North Carolina Woman. After retiring from A-B Tech, Celia has continued her writing and has been featured in many literary journals and magazines.

Someone's In The Kitchen

Several A-B Tech students and Hospitality Education Chair Sheila Tillman attended the Women Chefs and Restaurateurs' annual conference in November in Cambridge, Mass. More than 300 culinary students, veteran chefs and restaurateurs - women and a handful of men - gathered for workshops, panel discussions, camaraderie and, of course, cooking.."Indeed, it was the most inspiring event I have ever attended," Sheila Tillman said, adding it helped shape the lives of A-B Tech culinary students Ashley Ware and Jitra Neal. "It helped me think about the long term. All I have been thinking about is the past five years," Ware said, adding many of the women shared life experiences juggling family and work. "It gave me more options."Return to top