under the
MAKING SACR
SCC Ambassadors Hope
d 1 f i THE brunswick^beacon
M I I THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1994
INSIDE THIS SECTION:
? Bolivia Parade, 3
TV Listings , 6-7
IFICES TO IMPROVE THFMSFI VFS
Th&ir <\ir\r!??~ \A/:H A A~i- Oi/
111^711 viiu/ica mh /vioi/vor? wi/isrs
BY SUSAN USHER
For stories that inspire and motivate,
you need look only to Brunswick
Community College's 1994-95 Am
bassadors. Reflecting BCC's diverse student
body at its best, they're achieving what
some would-be students don't believe is
possible.
They're overcoming challenges that
could stop anyone less determined, juggling
family and job responsibilities with full-time
studies, extracurricular involvement and ser
vice.
"We arc at a level with people our age,"
says Ambassador Tcrri Matson of Supply.
"We can talk to them. We've done it."
Other 1W4-95 Ambassadors arc Beverly
Stanley and Bobbie Anderson of Shallotte,
Rodney Jcnrcttc of the South Brunswick
Islands area. Dawn C. Clements of
Southporl and Tikila Morgan of Supply.
Nominated by faculty and the president,
selection is based on gradepoint average,
leadership potential and communication
skills. The BCC Foundation gives each
Ambassador a $5()0 scholarship and a col
lege blazer They rcceivc special training in
p.jKI
*c mAiu'jiion co?T?iT?!2j**c?st!or?
skills, hospitality, etiquette and orientation
in BCC's history, programs and mission.
In return the Ambassadors serve, at every
event from the dedication of the (Well
Williamson Auditorium to student registra
tion. Ambassadors host all major college
functions, conduct campus tours, recruit stu
dents. assist the BCC Foundation and speak
to community groups. Ushering for Odell
Williamson Auditorium functions is an
added responsibility this year.
Most serve more than the required five
hours a week and maintain a required 3.0 or
better gradepoint average All are officers or
active participants in student government.
All but Jcnrcttc arc parents.
"These students arc delightful." says
Dianne I.cdbcltrr. advisor to the Am
bassadors, BCC Foundation director and
BCC development officer. "Every one is ea
ger to help whenever needed "
A Fhomasvillc High School dropout.
Matson credits family and BCC with help
ing her turn around her life. If she can do it.
anyone can. she says
Matson eventually landed in California, a
drug addict whose husband wk sent to
prison, leaving her with their small child.
"I hit rock bottom." she frankly admits
With the help of family she started over.
STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER
BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY COLLEGE Ambassadors (from left) Dawn Clements, Tikila Morgan, Beverly Stanley,
Rodney Jenrette, Terri Matson and Bobbie Anderson. As official hosts for the college, they help promote the opportunities it
offers.
She moved into her mother-in-law's home in
Oregon and began attending Narcotics
Anonymous meetings every day. "Clean"
five years, Matson and daughter now live
with her parents in Brunswick County. She
helps with the family's upholstery business
while going to school.
"My daughter's what keeps me going,"
Matson says, displaying a picture. **I want to
give her everything I possibly can. With my
going back to school, I hope I can get a good
job and not have to depend on anyone else."
Matson earned her GED at BCC, then en
rolled in business administration. Someday
she wants to own her own accounting busi
ness.
"In high school I made poor grades. I
was only interested in partying and rebelling
against my parents," she said. Matson ended
her first year at BCC' with a 3.9 gradepoint
average and membership in the National
Vocational-Technical Honor Society. This
year she's vice president of the Student
Government Association.
l.ike Matson, each Ambassador has a sto
ry to tell. For them, as for many community
college students, getting an education has
demanded trade ofTs.
"It's good for people to hear the sacrifices
they have made to come to school," says
BCC President Michael Reaves, who con
siders the Ambassador Program a valuable
asset to the college and to students.
Stanley, Morgan and Anderson are also
business administration majors with big am
bitions. Jenrette, wHo endures a lot of affec
tionate sisterly teasing as the only man, and
youngest member, is the "quiet rock" of the
group and state student government associa
tion vice president. He's majoring in elec
tronic engineering.
Clements, an administrative office tech
nology major, wants to work in a doctor's
office after graduation and continue taking
courses. The others expect to transfer to
four-year schools.
When not in school or volunteering, the
Ambassadors are at work: Anderson in the
BCC financial aid office, Jenrette in a
restaurant kitchen, Matson in her family's
upholstery business and Stanley at a grocery
store. Morgan just quit waiting tables to ac
commodate an equally demanding role: the
approaching birth of her second child.
A 1984 graduate of BCC's cosmetology
program, Clements spent six years as a hair
dresser before "retiring" to become a full
time mom. She returned to school "not only
to better my education but to insure a better
future for my children."
"BCC's the kind of school a mother of
twins can come back to and fit right in," she
says. "Everyone here makes you feel like
part of the family." That's a tradition her
role as Ambassador allows her to help con
tinue.
Her family's attachment to BCC dates
even earlier. Her father, the late William F.
Cockrell, was on the steering committee that
got the college started. Her mother, Reita
Cockrell, has worked for the college since
1982. Caring tor twin three-year-oius
Thomas and Will is Clements' job, she says.
Anderson, who could have been a TV
"weather girl" instead, juggles school with
single parenting two children, and managed
all A's last year. As president of the Student
Government Association, she serves on the
BCC Board of Trustees. When she has long
days on campus, her parents, from Dunn,
park their "mobile childcare center," a 32
foot recreational vehicle, out front at BCC to
bed down the children and give Anderson
encouragement and a bite of dinner.
All six Ambassadors have learned to be
resourceful, to appreciate help from family
and friends in maintaining their busy sched
ules, and to laugh when it gets tough.
It took Morgan to convince Stanley, a
newlywed with a full-time job, schoolwork
and baby, to become an Ambassador last
June. She's kept up, with only a few
"stressed-out" moments.
"We Ambassadors are really good ? at
working under pressure," says Morgan.
"And we help each other."
?
EDITOR S NOTE: To schedule a BCC
Ambassador to speak before your civic,
community, church or educational group,
call the BCC development office (Ext. 305)
at 754-6900, 457-6329 or 343-0203.
Area Tree Ughting Sparks
Spirit Of Christmas Season
Want to recapture the joyous spirit of the Christmas season?
A good place to start is the area Christmas tree lighting Friday, Dec.
2, at 6 p.m. at the intersection of Village Road and Main Street in
Shallotte.
During the hour-loog program, 75 students from The Crary School
and The Altarmen Quartet, a local gospel group, will sing the carols and
hymns of the season and lead a group sing-along in the small park area
overlooking the Shallotte River.
A special visit from Santa Claut, with transportation provided by the
Shallotte Volunteer Fire D* wrtment, will close the evening. A section of
Village Road will be dose*, off to accommodate the program.
The community-wide event is coordinated by the South Brunswick
Islands Chamber of Commerce. Mayors of all local municipalities have
been invited to participate.
Bleacher seating will be provided, said Angela Caison, the cham
ber's administrative assistant for marketing.
Brunswick Town Celebration
Has Service In Church Ruins
Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
Historic Sile will present a Christ
mas celebration on Sunday, Dec. II,
an open house from 1-4 p.m. with a
Vespers service in the ruins of St.
Phillips Church at 3:45.
Activities are scheduled on the
historic grounds and inside the visi
tors' center. Costumed interpreters
outside will share and interpret colo
nial and civil war lifestyles from 1
3:30 p.m. Musicians will perform
inside the center, where three perfor
mances are scheduled. The Record
aires will perform at 1 p.m., the
Wind Pipes at 2 p.m., and Musical
Pleasure at 3 p.m.
The visitors' center will feature
traditionally baked 18th and 19th
century Christmas treats and decora
tions made in the old way ? from
nature's own supplies. Baked goods.
Jo be served from 1-3:45 p.m., are
supplied by the local history classes
at Brunswick Community College's
Southport campus, and by commu
nity volunteers.
Concluding the program will be
the Vespers service, to be led by the
Rev. Beasley and members of St.
Philips Episcopal Church in South
port.
The Christmas program is spon
sored by Friends of Brunswick
Town Inc., site staff, area businesses
and community volunteers who do
nated time or money to the event.
Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson
State Historic Site is off N.C. 133
adjacent to Orton Plantation. The
site was once a prosperous colonial
port town and civil war fort.
There will be no charge to attend
the Christmas celebration.
Brunswick County Concert
Band Sets Holiday Program
The Brunswick County Concert Band will offer the community a lit
tle something extra for the holidays, a Christmas concert Sunday, Dec. 4,
at 3 p.m. in the Centennial Center at 8th and Lord streets, Southport.
Spokesman Ted Moss of Boiling Spring Lakes said the program will
feature Christmas music as well as selections from a variety of other
works. Paul Pittenger directs the group of approximately 30 musicians
from across Brunswick County.
No admission will be charged, but "donations will be gratefully ac
cepted" by the group of volunteers, he said.
Feed The Birds Or Not ? Let Others Debate
BY BILL FAVER
We often read contradictory advice about feed
ing the birds. Some feel such activity causes birds
to be dependent upon us to the
extent they cannot take care of
themselves in (he wild.
Others feel we help provide
food when natural supplies are
scarce, particularly in winter.
Still others feel it is a legiti
mate activity, even if many of
us feed the birds for our
amusement and entertainment
as much as for the good it
does the birds.
Natural food is plentiful at this time of the year.
Insects are still on the wing and in bark crevices.
Berries and fruits are still on some of the trees
and vines. Seeds from a variety of plants are there
for the taking, and many birds find them easily.
But as the weather changes to cold and insects
and seeds become scarce, it may be a good idea to
think about our feathered friends and some of the
ways we can provide for them.
Cardinals, chickadees, titmice and many other
birds enjoy those feeders offering sunflower
seeds. Goldfinches and others like niger seed, a
small black seed that is imported and expensive.
A good mix of millet, sunflower, grains and
cracked corn is a good all-around feed for spar
rows and many other birds.
Some suet mixed with peanut butter and placed
in a mesh bag, a wire feeder or in holes in a piece
of wood is irresistible to some of the woodpeck
ers, wrens and warblers. Even half an orange im
paled on a nail or hung by a piece of wire can be
come tasty to some species of birds.
Don't forget the ground feeders like mourning
doves and some sparrows. They usually find food
which has fallen underneath the needers, but on
very cold days, it may be helpful to scatter some
food for them.
Join me in letting others debate the pros and
cons of feeding the birds. If you enjoy watching
them come to your feeders and want to encourage
them to continue being your guests, by all means,
put out the food!
FAVbR
M I
PHOTO BY BILL FAVCt
CARDINALS will come to your feeders for sunflower seed!
Fort Fisher Planning Open House For Dec. 1 0
Fort Fisher State Historic Site will
host an open house on Saturday,
Dec. 10, from 1-5 p.m.
Visitors may warm up and sip on
hot apple cider, view traditional dec
orations and listen to local musi
cians play holiday music in the visi
tor center.
Entertainment will be by the The
Windpipes at 2 p.m., the Wilming
ton Brass Quintet at 3 p.m., and Sam
Glaize, classical guitarist, at 4 p.m.
Visitors also may participate in a
game of "town ball" ? a precursor to
baseball ? and try their hand at some
of the 1 9th century toys and games
on display on the grounds. A 24
pound Coehorn mortar also will be
demonstrated.
Admission is free. For more infor
mation. call (910)458-5538.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site, an
agency of the N.C. Department of
Cultural Resources, is 18 miles reached via the Southport-Fort l-ish
south of Wilmington on U.S. 421. er ferry which crosses the Cape Fear
From Brunswick County, it can be River.
Parents' Advisories Now In 7V Listings
Thf Brunswick Beacon 's television program listings now include the
parental advisory warning developed and standardized by the ABC, CBS,
Fox and NBC networks. A "PA" warning indicates parental discretion is
advised on a program which airs during prime time on one of the 4 net
works. An average of 4 listings per week are marked with the advisory.