A-B Tech Foundation Scholarship Recipients
Ingrid Freeman's first scholarship was one she won during a drawing at the 2002 Bele Chere festival, and that 'luck of the draw' allowed her to fulfill a dream of attending college nearly 20 years out of high school. Freeman, studying Business Administration, is now the recipient of a Foundation Scholarship and she has another dream - owning a small business.
Jessica Jones, recipient of the Grace Love Schneider endowed scholarship, is one of the youngest students in the College's Nursing curriculum, but she has a work ethic and level of compassion well beyond her years. She plans on attending Western Carolina University after completing her studies at A-B Tech and has a career goal of becoming an RN.
Heath Smathers, awarded the Jessie Copp Kramer endowed scholarship, is working toward an Associate in Science degree with plans to eventually earn a four-year degree in Computer Engineering. A member of the Dean's List, Smathers also serves as a work-study student in the College's Financial Aid Office.
Miles Recounts Some of the Many Changes at A-B Tech
Celia Miles, retired Chair of English, has published several works of fiction in addition to two textbooks she wrote for technical English classes while she was a long-time instructor at A-B Tech. Photography from her frequent travels is also shown in the area.
When Celia Miles came to teach at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Institute in 1971, it was an instant fit. She'd taught other places, but here she found her interests ideally suited to providing students with the language and writing skills they would need for the vocations they were pursuing.
Yet, even with the focus on a technical curriculum, the school had extracurricular and athletic activities uncommon at community colleges. The 1974 yearbook, which Miles worked with, boasted a basketball team, the Atomics, that had a season record of 22 wins and 5 losses and averaged 92.5 points a game that year. The college also had golf and tennis teams, cheerleaders, and a homecoming court‹the typical trappings of a four-year school.
Academic programs, Miles pointed out, were those that would benefit students in certificate, diploma, and A.S. programs. Three standard English courses were offered for the two-year programs: 101 (grammar), 102 (composition), and 103 (report writing). Students in the culinary program took a class in letter writing, and the Business Education Department taught the classes for those who would be working in an office.
Three presidents and over thirty years later, she looks back on her experiences with satisfaction. "A-B Tech did and continues to fulfill its role as it provides the education and training the citizens of our region and the business community need and want. It has always been responsive in that way, and it was a joy to have been a part of it."
Earning a Ph.D. in English in 1980, Miles chaired the English Department from 1975 through its exploding growth in the late '90s, as a dozen or more courses were added to the curriculum and the number of full-time English and Communications faculty more than doubled. This growth was attributed in part to the fact that tuition for a quality education at A-B Tech was much lower than a university. But at the same time, "Our students were being prepared as well for the junior year in college as students on state university campuses. When the public realized that we offered freshman and sophomore courses that would transfer with full credit to North Carolina senior colleges, we experienced a sharp increase in enrollment." Today the college offers 18 different English and Communications courses and will have over 100 sections listed in the catalog for the fall semester.
In her retirement, Miles and her husband, Louis, spend two or three months of the year traveling to Europe, Great Britain, and around the United States. She devotes considerable time to photography and writing during her trips and has published collections of short stories, a novel set in Jackson County, poems, and articles. She wrote Effective Communication Skills for A-B Tech's English 102 course and co-authored Writing Technical Reports for English 104, which was marketed nationally by McGraw-Hill. She still contributes to and serves on the advisory board of Victoria Press, the faculty literary magazine.
Farmer's Love for Surf Fishing Lands a National Champion
Welding instructor Charlie Farmer loves his job, but it's surf fishing he's really hooked on. And he's responsible for getting the new national surf casting champion hooked on the sport as well.
Farmer, who taught a Surf Fishing course this past month through the Division of Continuing Education, competed against about 55 others in the national surf casting championship May 23 in Crisfield, MD. And while he didn't come home with the title, he was able to lay claim to teaching the champ – his brother, Tommy – nearly everything he knows.
"My daddy took me fishing Jan. 8, 1952. I remember it because it was my birthday, I was six, and I've been doing it ever since," said Charlie, who grew up in Southport at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.
Charlie taught Tommy to fish about 20 years ago, but it wasn't until 2002 that Tommy began to compete. He won the national championship with a cast of 783 feet – a distance Charlie kept in mind when he scouted a location on campus for Tommy's June 19 visit to his Surf Fishing class. "I'm teaching the class on the softball field, because I have to be careful with cars (in parking lots) with Tommy throwing."
Living in Wilmington and having a great teacher may have given Tommy a slight advantage in the competition, said Charlie. But then, with a laugh, he added, "That's not the only reason he won, he's that much better than I am."
Still, Charlie figures he's qualified to teach students how to tie knots, maintain their reels and make their own fishing rigs. "After all, I taught the national champion," he said.
College Hosts Medical Marvels and TechConnect Camps
A-B Tech hosted two summer camps in June, the Medical Marvels Camp and the TechConnect Camp.
In the photo above, TechConnect participant Porsche Johnson (right), with some help from A-B Tech student Justin Morgan, makes a presentation to Kathy Toler's marketing class. The campers created fliers and developed a marketing strategy to sell their ideas of a 'Dream Vacation' to students in Toler's class.
TechConnect is designed for rising ninth-graders and provides hands-on technology training in an academic environment.
In the photo above, Medical Marvel campers visit the Nursing department and learn how to listen for different heart rhythms and lung sounds, such as asthma or bronchitis.
Medical Marvels focuses on careers in health care, and participants were introduced to Emergency Medicine, Nursing, Medical Imaging, Medical Lab, Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting. Students also learned CPR and basic first aid.