EMS Student Gone But Not Forgotten
Deborah and Nick Giardina are presented an honorary EMS degree from President Bailey for their son Johnathan, who passed away this past October.
Johnathan Giardina, just one semester away from completing his studies at A-B Tech, started making plans for the future. Among those plans were a move to Portland, OR, with his girlfriend and attending graduation so he could receive his degree in Emergency Medical Science.
Unfortunately, Giardina passed away Oct. 16, but his family received an honorary degree on his behalf Jan. 29 before a full house of supporters in the Hemlock Building.
"We, as a college, wanted to recognize Johnathan and offer our condolences to his parents," said Ned Fowler, Dean of Allied Health and Public Service Education, which houses the EMS program. "Johnathan touched a large number of people here. He was just a tremendously outgoing young man."
Giardina initially started work toward his degree by taking a full class load, but began suffering serious bouts of kidney stones, which forced him to slow his pace for several semesters. But through hard work and determination, he was able to make up that lost ground and get within that final semester of attaining his degree.
"On this campus, we take degrees very seriously. And although this is a very solemn occasion for me to posthumously present this to Johnathan, it is certainly well deserved," A-B Tech President K. Ray Bailey stated before conferring the degree and presenting it to Johnathan's parents, Nick and Deborah.
"I am filled with so much emotion right now," said Nick Giardina. "We value this ceremony not only because we value education in our family, but because you all valued Johnathan's contributions to this college and this family."
Giardina met his girlfriend, Lindsay Jellison, in the EMS program and her dream is that the memory of Johnathan continues to inspire and motivate her fellow classmates. "He helped everyone in some way, so don't let Johnathan's fire burn out," she said. "Keep the fire lit."
Decorative Restoration Graduates Anticipate Gilded Futures
Decorative Restoration graduate Melissa England applys gold leaf to a wall.
Imagine two days after graduating from the Decorative Restoration program, the paint still wet on your brushes, the glaze not yet hardened on your faux finished wall, and you get a call saying there's a ticket to Miami waiting for you, you'll start working in two days.
That's exactly what happened to A-B Tech graduate Melissa England. Employed by EverGreene Painting Studios, England is helping to restore a downtown theater while basking in the warm glow of the Florida sunshine, as well as the knowledge she has a viable career in a field she loves.
EverGreene Painting Studios, based out of New York and Chicago, isn't the only company that employs decorative painters, but it is one of the largest. With a staff of over 125 working on more than 150 job sites all over the country, the company restores cathedrals, theaters, museums, libraries, courthouses, commercial and residential buildings. Decorative Restoration Instructor Derick Tickle estimates that 15% of the company's craftspeople are made up of A-B Tech graduates. In the final days of the program, EverGreene representatives will call Tickle and tell him how many graduates they will need for upcoming projects. Tickle then alerts his students and lets them complete the application process. "They (EverGreene) know they don't have to train our students, and they all come with fresh ideas. They usually don't even interview the students. They just tell them where the job site is and when they'll start working."
Willingness to travel is vital to being a working decorative painter, says Tickle. Not only an instructor, but also a working professional, he tells of an experience he had during the summer break when he went to work on a theater in Kansas. Ten of his former students, living in various parts of the United States, were on the same job site. "It was like a reunion," he says. The only non A-B Tech graduate on that entire site was the theater owner's son.
Recent graduate Jewel Edney is being flown to Hawaii to create trompe l'oeil of bamboo in a private residence. Commonly translated as "fool the eye," trompe l'oeil is a highly specialized style of painting in which objects are depicted with photographically realistic detail. Fellow classmate Jill Houser is creating intricate gildings and stencils at the Catherine Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Iowa, while Tokyo native Yuki Murata is planning to return to her homeland and start her own painting business. Through research, Murata discovered there were no programs in all of Japan such as the one offered at A-B Tech. In a few years, she hopes to start a school and help introduce the art to her country.
"I look for people with enthusiasm, attention to detail and a hunger to be challenged," writes Jeff Greene, founder and president of EverGreene Painting Studios.
