Author: Mary Margaret Busby

The 89th commencement exercises are set for Friday, May 12 in Frank Branch Coliseum on the Goodman Campus. The AAS/Certificate Ceremony is set for 10 a.m. with the AA Ceremony being set for 2 p.m. This year, students will serve as keynote speakers for both ceremonies. Scotty J. Jobe, Jr. of Farmhaven will serve as speaker for the AAS/Certificate Ceremony and Taylor Vance of Grenada for the AA Ceremony.

On April 27, the Holmes Community College Alumni Association inducted six former athletes into the 2017 Sports Hall of Fame in Frank Branch Coliseum in Goodman. The six inductees included: Elizabeth Mosby Ellis, Women’s Basketball; Todd Kimble, Men’s Basketball Coach; Charles McCluskey, Football/Baseball; Phillip Sistrunk, Men’s Soccer; Derek Starling, Jr., Men’s Basketball, and Austin Taylor, Baseball.

BestColleges.com has selected Holmes Community College as one of the Best Community Colleges in Mississippi for 2017. Holmes was ranked No. 5 out the 15 community colleges in the state.

The Holmes Community College fitness center has recently changed its hours of operation. The center will be open:
Monday – Thursday: 7:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: closed

Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives Philip Gunn served as guest speaker for a paralegal assembly on Monday, April 17 in the McGowan Workforce Building on the Holmes Community College Ridgeland Campus. Gunn is over District 56 – Hinds and Madison counties. The program was organized by Paralegal Technology program coordinator/instructor Darleen Dozier.

The Holmes Community College Ridgeland Campus received an Award of Appreciation from the Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Madison, Yazoo and Holmes Counties on Tuesday, April 11. Rochelle Culp, director of the coalition, presented the award to Ridgeland Campus Vice President Dr. Don Burnham following the Honors & Awards Program held in McGowan Workforce Training Center.

The Holmes Community College Ridgeland Campus recognized its students’ achievements and honors during the 2017 Honors Day Program held April 11 in the McGowan Center.

Ridgeland Campus student Lydia Fortenberry recently placed third in the Drawing Division at the 2017 Mississippi Community College/Junior College Art Instructor’s Association (MC/JCAIA) Student Art Competition/Exhibition. Her award-winning pastel was titled, “None Will Love the Butcher.” Fortenberry’s work and that of students from colleges across Mississippi who submitted artwork for the statewide competition are on display at East Mississippi Community College’s Golden Triangle Campus in the art gallery through April 12. An awards reception for the student artists will be held April 13 at 10 a.m.

Holmes Community College, along with the other 14 community and junior colleges in Mississippi, signed an agreement with Millsaps College to enhance the opportunities for students to transfer directly from a community college campus to the Millsaps campus in Jackson. The agreement outlines coursework that aligns with the Compass Curriculum followed by all students at Millsaps.

Alice Austin, Holmes Community College’s Ridgeland Campus assistant director for the Associate Degree Nursing (AND) program, recently earned her PhD in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Her dissertation was titled, “African American Child and Adolescent Obesity: The Parent’s Perspective.”