Author: Mary Margaret Busby

Arnetra O. Pleas, an English instructor on the Ridgeland Campus, has been named Holmes Community College’s 2016 Humanities Teacher of the Year.

On Thursday, Oct. 11, the Holmes Community College Mortuary Science Department’s Merchandising and Management Class was privileged to tour Batesville Casket Company’s Panola Plant in Batesville, followed by Garner-Harper Funeral Home in Grenada. The students were accompanied by instructor David R. Jones.

The Holmes Community College Electrical Lineman Field Day is set for Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 9 a.m. at the Electrical Lineman Training Facility on Highway 14 (just before you get to the Goodman Campus).

The Holmes Community College’s practical nursing (PN) programs on all three campuses had a 100 percent pass rate on the National NCLEX exam.

Holmes Community College will host a Mississippi Community Financial Access Coalition (MCFAC) financial education training boot camp on Tuesday, Oct. 4, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the Vocational-Technology Building on the Goodman Campus.

Three Holmes Community College instructors will be honored at the prestigious Lamplighters Conference Oct. 6-7 in Brookhaven. Gwen Graham, English instructor on the Grenada Campus; NaTunya Johnson, district department chair of the Business and Office Technology (BOT) Department and BOT instructor on the Ridgeland Campus, and Heather Jones, chemistry instructor and head cheerleading coach on the Goodman Campus will attend the three-day professional development conference hosted by Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Holmes Community College was recently ranked as the No. 2 college in the state of Mississippi by OnlineColleges.com. The rankings are based on a variety of factors, including affordability, student services and the availability of online programs.

Director of Career-Technical Education (CTE) at the Ridgeland Campus Amy Whittington has been promoted to District Director of Career-Technical Education. In addition to her new role, she will continue her duties as director of CTE for the Ridgeland Campus specifically.

The Madison County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., is the recipient of several awards of distinction presented during the sorority’s 90th Southern Regional Conference in Kissimmee, Florida. During the Southern Regional Conference, more than 3000 Delta women gathered to celebrate their sisterhood, service, and scholarship. The Madison County Alumnae Chapter received five awards and one of those was a Distinguished Service Award for the World AIDS Day observance held on the Ridgeland Campus of Holmes Community College on Dec. 1, 2015.

Khidari Barksdale of Madison has come a long way from his days as a shy homeschooled student. When his parents told him they wanted him to either finish his high school diploma at a public school or earn his General Educational Development Test (GED), the soft-spoken teenager decided the latter was the best choice for him. Since that day, Barksdale has gone through the GED readiness courses, passed all four tests, and enrolled as a freshman, all at Holmes Community College on the Ridgeland Campus.