The Pellissippi Press

by Taylor Cash

The ninth annual Swing Big for Students golf tournament will be teeing off  Tuesday, May 7, at Egwani Farms in Rockford.

Two start times will be offered, with the first tee-off at 8 a.m. and the second at 1 p.m.

“The tournament has been a great success throughout the years, bringing in $11,000 last year for sports-related majors and the greatest-needs funds,” said Peggy Wilson, vice president of college advancement.

The tournament has been slowly growing over the past eight years, she said. “With 16 teams already registered for the tournament, we are expecting about the same turn-out as last year,” said Wilson.

A portion of the earnings comes from participants, but the school relies on sponsors for the majority of the funds. Over the past eight years, participants and sponsors have helped raise more than $114,000 for scholarships, new equipment and technology and  the new building at Strawberry Plains.

“The tournament has been a great success for us in the past, and this year we expect nothing less this year,” said Wilson.

by Jovi McMichael

Outstanding student  achievement will be recognized Friday at 3 p.m. in the Goins Cafeteria.

The Student Leadership and Service Recognition Awards will recognize organizations such as new-student orientation leaders, ambassadors and the Student Activities Board.

“Since we have so many new organizations this year, it will be interesting to see who will get the awards,” said student success mentor Christine Venak.

The ceremony will also include a new service component not seen in previous years. Seven additional awards to students, campus and community groups, faculty and staff will be handed out courtesy of Dr. Annie Gray.

by Jovi McMichael

Knowledge is power, and it is at its most powerful when put to real-world use.

Eleven brief presentations by Pellissippi’s Service-Learning Program will prove this point at the 2013 Service Expo on May 3. Beginning at 2 p.m. in the Goins College Center, each presentation will honor the accomplishments of a class or individual in the program.

The purpose of the program is to directly apply what is learned in the classroom to real events in a way that benefits the community. “This semester, we are well on our way to $100, 000 of economic impact, which, of course, would only be possible with the faculty and students who donate their time,” said Catherine Carr with AmeriCorps VISTA for the Service-Learning Program.

Accomplishments to be featured at the event include a catering class that volunteered at Breakthrough Autism and a project management class that hosted a Halloween event.

Students who attend the Service Expo may register for one of two Mini iPads and a Kindle Fire.

by Kareen Tabyate

Jesse Trucks will be coming to Pellissippi’s Hardin Valley campus to explain Blitzkrieg Branding, which tells students how they are targeted by advertising.

He will speak on April 16 at 4 p.m. in Portable B102 during a Gnosis meeting, said Gnosis Director Annie Gray.

Blitzkrieg Branding informs Pellissippi students how corporations use their data to build targeted advertising based on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Jesse Trucks explains that society has been reduced to products that are marketed and sold every day.

Trucks would like to come to Pellissippi to teach students how to create, control, and market their own brand identity to the world.

“Empower your career. Empower yourself,” Trucks puts it.

Trucks has worked in IT for more than 16 years. He has served on the board of directors for a non-profit organization promoting professionalism and ethical practices.

Gray encourages all Pellissippi students to attend Jesse Trucks’ presentation.

by Erin Talley

Spring is in the air at Pellissippi State!

Pellissippi will celebrate its Spring Fling on April 10 in the courtyard of the Hardin Valley Campus from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Pellissippi clubs will be there providing food. “Gnosis, Student Veterans Group, Science Club and ASL, Please! are just a few that will participate,” said Gwen Miller with Student Life and Recreation.

Along with a live DJ, students will have the opportunity to get a t-shirt, caricatures, airbrush tattoos, personalized sunglass straps, photo dry-erase boards and play a giant twister game.

By Sydney Renshaw

This April will mark the 5^th Annual Festival of Cultures for Pellissippi state.  The Festival will showcase booths and exhibits of international art, clothes, and artifacts.

First brought on by students and faculty of both the international club and the multi-cultural awareness club, the Festival of Cultures has grown to be an annual event.

“The Festival of Cultures is an international celebration of the diversity of the college,” says Gayle Wood, Director of Access and Diversity.

“When it comes to entertainment, the Hardin Valley Thunder performs for us annually,” says Wood, “but each year new entertainers perform as well.”  This year’s entertainment will include performances by Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Thunder, a blue grass band; Café Brasil, a local Brazilian band led by Pellissippi music instructor Larry Vincent; a traditional Japanese dance, performed by Atlanta’s Miyagi Ryu Okinawa dance group and a Hawaiian and Polynesian dance, performed by Tennessee’s Blue Hawaii entertainment.

“Also new this year will be hip-hop and line dancing concluding the festival.” says Wood

Along with exhibits and entertainment, food will be provided as well.  Choices include food from Australia, Brazil, West Africa, Ireland, Korea and more.

The Festival will be held in the Goins building from 4 pm to 9 pm on April 13.  “Volunteers are needed to set up, to serve, and as greeters, and we can never have enough.” says Wood.

To volunteer email Gayle Wood.

By Sydney Renshaw

This spring on April 2, Pellissippi State’s literary magazine Imaginary Gardens will be available at no cost to students and faculty.

Originally called footnotes and started by faculty with no student involvement, Imaginary Gardens has transformed into a literary magazine that is produced each spring semester by the English department and many of its students.  It features short stories, poetry, artwork and photography submitted by any Pellissippi student who wishes for their work to be reviewed for the magazine.

Jacqueline Davis, a student and the Editor of Imaginary Gardens, said, “We accept all kinds of writings for the publication.  Our only prerequisite is that it is good whether it is poetry, flash fiction or a short story.”

There are not a set number of pieces selected for the magazine, but Davis says, “The magazine is 64 pages long.  We send out a call for submissions and try to get as many submissions as possible in order to have a large pool to pull from.”

This year Imaginary Gardens is not accepting plays but Davis says, “Upon further deliberation I would change that if I were editor next year, provided they were an appropriate length.”

This spring’s issue of Imaginary Gardens will be ready in April in time for the spring fling and copies will be available at all campuses.

By Sydney Renshaw

The STARS organization is helping spread the luck of the Irish by designing St. Patrick’s Day Lucky Charms.

Faculty Sponsor Betsy Boyd has helped the Blount County Campus students involved in the non-traditional student’s organization STARS, give a little mid-semester excitement to Pellissippi’s students and faculty.  Lucky Charms are away for people at Pellissippi to send greetings and words of support to friends, teachers and co-workers.  Boyd says, “The Lucky Charms project grew out of a similar project we did last fall called Gratitude Grams. We wanted to do something similar for the spring semester, and decided to tie it in to St. Patrick’s Day.”

By providing St. Patrick’s Day Lucky Charms, members of Pellissippi will be able to choose a Lucky Charm from one of four designs each with space on the back to write a funny or supportive message to the intended recipient.   Lucky Charms are $ 1 each and the recipients will also receive a chocolate mint.

Order forms are available on the Blount County campus lobby’s whiteboard or you can see any STARS member.  Forms with the completed message and money are to be given to Catt Adaska in the cashier’s window.

Orders will be taken through March 14^th and Lucky Charms can be picked up in the Lobby Thursday March 15^th and Friday March 16^th. Although no immediate plans are set in the future for the project Boyd says, “If Lucky Charms is as successful as, or more successful than, our Gratitude Grams were last Thanksgiving, we will probably make both annual projects.”

by Haley Hardin

Donate to The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation this Holiday Season at any Pellissippi campus until Dec. 6.

Toys for Tots is a local organization that collects donated gifts to give to children who are less fortunate. The toys are for children of all ages and must be new and unwrapped, said Karen Ghezawi, Technical Clerk.

The Association of Information Technology and the Marine Corps have organized drop boxes around the schools for donations. Local children of the Knoxville area will receive the donated toys. The children’s parents went through a screening process with the Marine Corps to ensure their eligibility of receiving donated gifts.

“Often the children between the ages of 13-16 tend to be forgotten about,” said Ghezawi. Keep this in mind while shopping for your gift to donate.

Drop off locations at the Hardin Valley Campus are Alexander 108, Goins 162; McWherter 149A, 149C, 254 and 329 and ERC entrance.

by Haley Hardin

The History Club is hosting a Medieval Faire November 1st in the courtyard of the Pellissippi Hardin Valley Campus from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Vice President of the Club, Kayla Chesney, explained that the proceeds of the faire games will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. Canned food items will also be collected at this event, which is open to Pellissippi students and faculty.

There will be orange balloons filled with goo to hurl for $3 or the exchange of one canned item. Prizes will be given out to trivia game winners which will be based on the history of the Medieval period and movies that represent the period. A jail will be set up to send your friends in for $1 and have them pay $2 to get out.

A queen, king and a pope will be at the faire in traditional dress of the Medieval period. The pope and a few others will do a poetry reading and Medieval reenactments will also be held. There will be booths on the black plague and historical events of this period.

If you are interested in helping, contact Kayla Chesney at kmchesney1@pstcc.edu.