actionThe Magazine of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Alumni Association • Summer 2014 ScholarshipsThe Perfect Graduation Gift Meet alumna Sarah Rhea and other top scholarship winners from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. MGCCC.EDU action INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT and OFFICE OF ALUMNI/DEVELOPMENT Dr. Susan Scaggs Michael Sewell Jenifer Freridge Vice President for Student Services & Coordinator of Multimedia/ Interim Director of Foundation & Alumni Enrollment Management Graphics Projects Dee Dee Hatten Brenda Davis Jennifer Collier Tinnin Foundation Office Secretary Institutional Relations Director Graphic Services Assistant Rachel Graves Kathy McAdams Kimberly Jones Alumni Office Secretary Public Information Coordinator Editor/Writer Bill Snyder Richard Kopp Sports Information Director District Photographer COMMENTS, NEWS & UPDATES/ CONTRIBUTORS CHANGE OF ADDRESS Charles L. Sullivan, College Archivist Melissa Ladner, Archives Assistant [email protected] • 601-928-6288 Allison Cook, Pascagoula Refinery/ Alumni Office • P.O. Box 99 • Perkinston, MS 39573-0099 Chevron Products Company Ashley Smith Executive Director & Business Development Coordinator KA Management Cathy and Grace Catherine Cary Action is published three times a year by MGCCC Institutional Relations. This issue was published in June 2014. “In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972 of the Higher Education Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and other applicable Federal and State Acts, the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College hereby adopts a policy assuring that no one shall, on the grounds of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age or qualified disability be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination in any program or activity of the College. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes students and employees without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age or qualified disability.” Compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II of the Age Discrimination Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is coordinated by Dr. Michael Heindl, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Perkinston Campus, P. O. Box 609, Perkinston, Mississippi 39573, telephone number 601-928-5211, email address [email protected]. SUMMER 2014 INSIDE Letter from the President • 4 Prentiss and Dolores Havens donate $25,000 to scholarships • 5 Scholarship Gala • 6-9 Ed Manis Memorial Scholarship • 10 6 Coca-Cola Scholarship/ Patricia Doyle Reynolds donation/Halls of Fame & Hall of Honor call for nominations • 11 12 Commencement 2014 • 12-13 12 COVER STORY: Scholarships awarded to MGCCC graduates • 14-15 College News • 16-19 Sports • 20-22 Alumni News/In Remembrance • 23 action Funds and Scholarships • 24-25 Jonathan Aldridge • 26 Alumni Relations/Board Members • 27 14 20 26 4 Action Magazine l SUMMER 2014 A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Alumni and Friends... On behalf of the MGCCC Alumni/Foundation Office, I am pleased to present the summer 2014 edition of Action magazine. This edition will feature the remarkable achievements of MGCCC students, alumni and faculty. At MGCCC, we are committed to teaching and learning and student success, and our exceptional faculty members play a large part in our fulfillment of those commitments. On March 18, the 44th Annual Spring Reception honoring Instructors of the Year and Difference Makers was held at the Hospitality and Resort Management building at the Jefferson Davis Campus, with employees, friends and family celebrating the success of these MGCCC employees. Congratulations to our outstanding instructors: Dr. Kelly Rouse, Jefferson Davis Campus; Marc Poole, Jackson County Campus; Robin Lyons, Perkinston Campus. The Difference Maker honorees recognized were David Newbill, District Office; Betty Stringfellow; Jackson County Campus; June Bounds, Jefferson Davis Campus; and Trey Robertson, Perkinston Campus. Scholarships that ease the financial burden of college are also contributors to student success. The MGCCC Foundation hosted its 2014 Annual Scholarship Gala on April 14 to generate funds for much- needed scholarships. The Gala, silent auction and roast of Mississippi Tourism Director Malcolm White produced more than $115,000 in proceeds—a record year! The largest donation for the gala was given by alumnus Prentiss Havens, whose scholarship fund is featured in the magazine. On May 8 we celebrated our graduates at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum during the 2014 Commencement Ceremony. This year we conferred more than 3,000 degrees, reflecting a 37.9 percent increase! I hope all of our recent graduates stay connected through the MGCCC Alumni Association and Foundation. If you are not a member of the Alumni Association, I encourage you to join. Also, please contact our MGCCC Foundation to learn more about establishing a scholarship and/or planned giving options. Best wishes for an enjoyable summer, and thank you for your support. Sincerely, Mary S. Graham, Ph.D. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Making a Positive difference... MGCCC.EDU MGCCC.EDU Action Magazine l SUMMER 2014 5 Scholarship Gala Platinum Sponsors Prentiss and Dolores Havens continue paying it forward ABOVE: Prentiss Havens as Cutest Boy in the 1948 Perkolator. AT LEFT: The Havenses in 1983 in Algiers (New Orleans) at one of their former historic homes. They have renovated several historic homes during their marriage. Prentiss Havens, a 1948 alumnus of Perkinston Junior College, Havens knows how helpful scholarships can be. A native of had dreams of going to college beyond Perk. To help pay for his Vestry (near Vancleave) and a graduate of Broome Memorial, future education, he found summer work at Delta Exploration he received a basketball scholarship while at Perk. A starting Company, a seismic acquisition company in Jackson, Mississippi. forward on the team by 1948, Havens also made his mark at the Shortly after he began working for Delta Exploration college in other ways – he was in the P Club, Wesley Foundation Company, the president, Mr. Gaby, talked with Havens as they and YMCA and was voted Cutest Boy the two years he was at were working on a quarter boat in South Louisiana. Perk, which he says was “a neat place. You knew everyone by Havens, who was already pursuing pre-civil engineering courses, first and last names.” remembers the owner saying to him, “I’m not trying to talk you His life changed again when he met Dolores, a Lucedale native. out of anything, but I’d like for you to stay and go full time with us.” “She was a very attractive lady,” he recalls fondly. “She sold At that point, Havens said his head was swimming. The owner tickets at the Ritz Theatre. I finally got the courage to introduce was willing to hire him full time on the spot. myself.” Also impressive is that he saved “a few dollars” and That same day, Havens made a decision that launched him bought a brand-new Ford convertible. He took her for a ride in to where he is today - the founder and chairman of the board that car, and the rest, as they say, is history. “It’s been a great life. of Seismic Exchange Inc., a New Orleans-based company he We worked pretty hard at times. Things have been good.” formed on February 27, 1975. Today, the company, which Married on July 15, 1950, they have three children (Debbie, John licenses seismic data to oil companies, has eight locations in the and Cathy) and 10 grandchildren. John is president of Seismic United States, with headquarters located in Houston, Texas. Exchange Inc., and their sons-in-law, Bobby Patrick and Rivie Havens, who lives in New Orleans with his wife, Dolores, does Cary, are executive vice presidents for the company. what many successful people do – he pays it forward. He and Another interesting note about the Havenses: They bought Dee, as he calls her, established the Prentiss C. and Dolores M. and renovated an 1840 historical home on Pass Christian Havens Family Foundation to support needy and worthwhile beach. “We enjoyed 12 years there. The house was causes (allowed by law) such as college scholarships. Therefore, destroyed in Hurricane Katrina three months after we sold the Havenses enjoy the opportunity to give to the MGCCC it,” Havens says. The Havenses have also renovated and lived Foundation and scholarships, which have been awarded in several historical homes in New Orleans. since 1993. His goal, naturally, is to help young people get an Havens, who is featured in “How They Did It,” a 2010 education. That goal is being met even more now thanks to the book that profiles 70 past and present New Orleans-area Havenses’ platinum sponsorship of the recent Scholarship Gala, entrepreneurs, is a lifetime member of both the MGCCC to which they donated $25,000. Alumni Association and the Bulldog Club. MGCCC.EDU 6 Action Magazine l SUMMER 2014 MGCCC 2014 Scholarship GALACelebrity Roast & From left: Rick Cleveland, Dr. Mary S. Graham, Malcolm White, Sallye Killebrew, Len Blackwell and Brad White. MGCCC held the 2014 Scholarship Gala on April 14 at the roasted Malcolm White, the state director of tourism. Brad Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi. More than $100,000 in White, brother of the guest of honor, was the roastmaster. scholarship funds were raised during the annual event, which In addition, a live painting exhibition by renowned includes a reception, silent auction, dinner and celebrity roast. Mississippi watercolor artist Wyatt Waters was part of the “The annual scholarship gala is the biggest fundraiser we reception and silent auction. The painting was auctioned have for the college, and we are thrilled that we raised more during the program with the proceeds going to the money this year than in previous years,” said Dr.