Second Annual A-B Tech Foundation Invitational Golf Tournament A Success
The A-B Tech Foundation held its second annual Invitational Golf Classic June 3 at Mount Mitchell despite foreboding, rainy weather.
A full field of 35 foursomes competed, with six teams on a waiting list. Team members were treated to lunch, dinner and each golfer received a goody bag with plenty of A-B Tech giveaways.
The Office Environments team consisting of Chris Young, Mike Kasey, Bob Pegram and Dalton Coker, won first place in low gross, while the Bowers, Ellis &Watson team with John Ellis, Mike Watson, A-B Tech President K. Ray Bailey, and Bill McElrath, won first place in low net.
Individual winners were Joe Damore of Mission Hospitals, putting contest; John Dowden of Fletcher BMW, longest drive men; Carole Clark of A-B Tech's women's team, longest drive women. Closest to pin winners were Bill Plant of his own team (hole #2), Alan Sizemore of Arby's (#6), Dan Anderson of WRESA (#11) and Steve Jones of the Title Company (#15).
A-B Tech was well-represented by the Mechanical Systems and Services team, Women's team and Continuing Education team. Vice President of Administrative Services Dick Mauney played on the Southern Concrete team with his son John, while President Bailey played for the Bowers, Ellis and Watson team.
Some teams have already made reservations for the 2006 tournament, proving the popularity and success of this fundraiser. The final amount raised will be announced in the August issue of Tech Talk after the volunteer luncheon.
The Continuing Education team members are Ken O'Connor, director of Focused Industrial and New and Expanding Industry Training; Russ Yelton, director of the Small Business Center; Dave White, director of Research and Planning; and Max Queen, vice president of Continuing Education.
The A-B Tech Women's team consisted of Julia Williamson, Continuing Education adjunct instructor; Diane Sharrits, Fran McDonald, retired secretary in Allied Health and Public Service Education; and Carole Clark.
A-B Tech's Mechanical Systems and Services team, from left, Don Kent, coordinator of custodial services; Lee Pack, coordinator of maintenance operations; Steve McDonald, representative of the Mechanical Systems and Services; and David Carter, HVAC Technician.
President K. Ray Bailey prepares to putt during the Foundation's second annual Invitational Golf Classic
Even the rainy weather couldn't keep the golf course at Mount Mitchell from looking beautiful.
Artist, Historian, LRC Director Leaving A-B Tech
Shirley McLaughlin, retiring Director of the LRC, admires the gift she received from her friends at A-B Tech at a reception honoring her June 17.
It was June 1969, and a former librarian and art instructor from West Henderson High School stepped into a 6,500-volume library in the Birch Building to assume her new position as head librarian.
She cultivated the library, watching it grow, move to its own building, and grow some more to 32,000-square-feet and a 50,000-volume collection, making it one of the finest Learning Resources Centers in the North Carolina Community College System. Now, after 36 years, LRC Director Shirley McLaughlin is retiring.
"It's been wonderful here. I already miss it, just the idea of not going to work every day," McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin has been a key in the growth of the LRC. A-B Tech's library started in the Azalea Building in 1961 with nearly 700 square feet of space and 300 volumes. By 1965, the library had grown, and when plans for the D (Birch) Building were drawn up, there was a space for the library on the first floor.
The new library was described by A-B Tech's yearbook, the 1969 Mountain Tech. "A wealth of six thousand volumes now occupies the library shelves and are utilized by the student body for study, research and reading. Someday it will be a learning lab, a resource center, an audiovisual room, and a study area."
The library worked for a while in that space near the double glass doors of the Birch Building, but it kept expanding and taking over classrooms. In October 1977, the first phase of the LRC was completed, occupying 12,000 square feet. Shortly after that, McLaughlin was named the Director of the Learning Resources Center. She was responsible for the Library, Audiovisual Services, the Learning Lab and GED testing. McLaughlin also developed the Guided Studies program (now Developmental Studies), which was housed in the LRC for a number of years before being moved to the Arts & Sciences Division. In 1990, the Learning Lab and GED were moved to the Continuing Education Division.
In 1988, plans were drawn by the architects for a 20,000-square-foot addition to the LRC and construction began in February l994, with completion in the summer of l995. The expanded LRC significantly increased the shelving and seating capacity of the library and provided more adequate space for Audiovisual Services and all staff functions.
Maretta Pinson, Bookstore Manager, first worked for McLaughlin as a work-study student while she was pursuing her AAS degree in Business Administration. After she graduated, she was hired as a library technical assistant in 1974. "We had a really good time back then. We had a really good staff," Pinson said. "I learned a lot from her."
"The thing that stands out is her artistic abilities. She sews very well. She can design a dress, and sew it together and make it look beautiful," Pinson said. McLaughlin also is known for her stained glass, and of course, the photography that adorns many of A-B Tech's buildings.
In addition to her artistic abilities, McLaughlin is known as a resident historian. "She knows everything about the history of A-B Tech and the Township of Victoria," said Terry Wyszynski, librarian. "We all think she's phenomenal."
Wyszynski started at A-B Tech two years ago in her first job as a librarian. "There is not anything luckier than working with (McLaughlin) as my first librarian job. She knows everything about everything.
"She has built this one into a special library. She puts the library first and does what's right. She never does anything for her own personal power. Librarians all over the country know and respect her," Wyszynski said.
"It's been a good career really good. I cannot think of anything that would have been more suitable and gratifying. Not everyone can say that. I think it's wonderful," McLaughlin said.
An art show, In Retrospect: From Carving Tools and Cameras to Computers 45 Years of Art by Shirley B. McLaughlin, is on display in the LRC through Sept. 2.
The exhibit is comprised of 120 artworks, mostly photography with several large format pieces, a number of stained glass works, and other two- and three-dimensional media as well. As a retrospective exhibit, the artwork ranges from McLaughlin's high school and college years to a digital photo illustration completed in just the last few months for publication in Victoria Press. This is the largest art show to date for the LRC gallery and is extensive for a one-person show.
NISOD Conference
Chris Tibbetts, Chair of English/Communications, and Heather Vaughn, English/Communications Instructor, model the attention-getting head wear they wore when they attended the 27th Annual NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, Texas, June 1-4. Vaughn presented two sessions titled "Now Where Did I Put my Imagination?" and "Teaching Leadership." She also received an Excellence Award. Her session on imagination was standing room only, according to Tibbetts and everyone stayed for the entire hour. "Perhaps the funny hats helped. I wore a bright red lobster-claw hat and stood out in the common area and shamelessly lured people into Heather's session. For the duration of the conference and even at the Austin airport on the way home, attendees approached us and told us how much they got from Heather's session," Tibbetts said. Highlights of the trip included addresses by Henry Winkler (Fonzie) and Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) about inspirational teachers and educational experiences they had had. And every evening at dusk, Tibbetts and Vaughn went to the river bridge to wait for the bats belonging to the largest colony in Texas to fly out en masse.