Page 2 - Carolina Panorama Newspaper - October 3 - 9, 2019

Voorhees College President Evans gives keynote address at

123rd Opening ConvocationVoorhees College

President W. Franklin Evans expresses “There is No Place Like Home,” during the recent 123rd Opening Fall Convocation. His inspiring message about students taking time to build the best versions of themselves while at Voorhees, captivated the audience.

Evans began with giving some expressions as to what people consider home. “Some people feel home is where the heart is, home is where you begin, or home is a feeling. No matter your definition of home, always be supportive of home.”

He added Voorhees College is home and there are three rules students should follow at home.

The first rule is to appreciate home. “God predestined our lives and no student is here at Voorhees by mistake. While you are here and once you graduate you should appreciate the resources, time, and experiences of home.”

He explained there will be times family disagree or have issues at home. “Voorhees is a family. Students, you all are here to get a quality education to be prepared for the professional world. Even when you have completed your time here, you will always have family back at home.”

The second rule is to value your relationships with others. “Students, I encourage you to build bonds and work on yourself. ‘Iron sharpens iron,’ so in order to be your best you must surround yourself with the best,” Evans shared.

He continued saying many of the relationships students establish in college last a lifetime. “Strengthen positive relationships but be careful of those disguised as positive. It may appear they are cheering for you, but they are really trying to throw you off your path.”

The third rule is to respect yourself. “Home allows you to respect who you are and whose you are. God made each of you unique and nobody else can be you and you cannot be anybody else. I challenge all of you to operate with respect as the young professional you are.”

Evans concluded with saying, “This is Voorhees College, there is no place like home. Figure out where you are going, but never forget home is where you came from.”

Voorhees College President W. Franklin Evans.

Midlands Technical College receives $10,000 grantDominion Energy donation will be used to expand welding programs

Representatives from Midlands Technical Col-lege and Dominion Energy celebrate the $10,000 grant with welding students at the MTC Airport Campus welding facility.

The Midlands Technical College (MTC) Foundation received a $10,000 grant from Dominion Energy that will enable the college’s welding program to expand capacity for MTC students. The funding will provide for five additional welding machines that students can use to increase the exposure and time they have training for the most advanced welding processes such as Mig (GMAW) and Flux-cored (FCAW) arc welding.

“Our welding program graduates bring extraordinary talents to the community,” MTC President Dr. Ronald. L. Rhames. “MTC recently partnered with high-school-level welding programs in Lexington, Richland, and Fairfield counties to make it easier, quicker, and less expensive for students to become certified welders. I want to personally thank Dominion Energy for helping these, and other students fill the local workforce demand

with welding professionals of the highest level of training and certification.”

Providing skilled employees for the manufacturing sector has become a hallmark of MTC. The expanding manufacturing industry in South Carolina is a vital component of the local economy. MTC’s Welding Technology programs prepare students for employment and

advancement in the welding and manufacturing industries. The college offers day and evening classes.

“Dominion Energy is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Midlands Technical College by helping to develop a pipeline of skilled welders who will be ready to enter South Carolina’s workforce,” said Rodney Blevins, President and

CEO of Dominion Energy’s Southeast Energy Group. “Partnerships like this align nicely with our commitment to education and our efforts to enhance the overall vitality in the communities we serve.”

The grant from Dominion Energy promises to bring the latest technology to students who need these advanced skills. But Nancy McKinney, CEO of the MTC Foundation, said the grant will also benefit people across the Midlands.

“ P h i l a n t h r o p i c investment from businesses, foundations, and individuals is a smart and fulfilling way to leverage the power of MTC to strengthen our communities,” McKinney said. “Companies like Dominion Energy make it possible for MTC students to accomplish more in the classroom, and bring more skills into the community.”

Learn more about MTC’s Welding Technology program at www.midlandstech.edu/career-guide/welder.

Clemson University receives 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity award

Clemson University received the 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion — Clemson University will be featured in the November 2019 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity.

Due to the overwhelming success of the Men of Color National Summit and a combination of all the university’s diversity initiatives, Clemson previously earned the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award in 2017 and 2018.

“Receiving the HEED Award has helped to bring national attention to Clemson for our commitment to diversity and inclusion,” said President James P. Clements. “We still have work to do in this area, but this recognition is a sign that we are making progress, and that helps keep us motivated as we push to do more.”

The award underscores the importance of goals outlined in the university’s 10-year strategic plan and how the school’s Division of Inclusion and Equity has partnered with a number of campus units to create programming beneficial to all members of the Clemson family. Specifically, the university’s Search Advocate Program promotes equity in all faculty and staff searches and the Tiger Alliance program has built pathways to higher education, establishing a university-going culture in families, schools and communities of high school men of color in the Upstate of South Carolina.

Another initiative, the institution’s Chief Diversity Officer Advisory Board, leverages the thought leadership of chief diversity officers from across the nation to provide university leaders guidance and support and inform faculty and students about global competencies necessary for success in today’s workplace, all while providing students a pipeline of opportunities into their organizations, which are some of America’s most successful corporations.

“The HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees

— and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,”

Columbia accepting nominations for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Keeper

Scholarship AwardsThe City of Columbia is accepting nominations for the 2020

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Keeper Scholarship Awards.The Dream Keeper Scholarship Awards program recognizes

exemplary displays of committed service to the tenets of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The ideals of social responsibility, political empowerment, diversity, racial harmony, nonviolence, and unselfish service must be demonstrated voluntarily by the nominee in support of his or her community and fellow citizens.

The nominee must be age 18 or younger and enrolled in an elementary, middle or high school with a minimum 2.0 grade point average.

Winners will be announced at the City of Columbia’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on Monday, January 20, 2020, at 4 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and Community Center, 2300 Greene Street. Nominees must attend the celebration.

Applications are available online for download or at the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Department, 1111 Recreation Drive, Columbia, SC 29201.

Applications must be returned by the following methods:· In person at the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation

Department, 1111 Recreation Drive, Columbia, SC 29201.· By mail to the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation

Department, Attn: Kevin Crawford II, 1111 Recreation Drive, Columbia, SC 29201. Applications must be postmarked by Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.

· Submit completed application as a PDF file to parksinfo@columbiasc.gov.

For more information, contact Kevin B. Crawford II at 803-545-0041 or Kevin.Crawford@columbiasc.gov or visit www.columbiasc.gov/parks-recreation.

said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversitymagazine. “We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in

deciding who will be named a HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for institutions where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

For more information about the 2019 HEED Award, visit insightintodiversity.com.

NFL player to address entrepreneursShawn Harper to keynote the Igniting Innovation

ConferenceThe Future Entrepreneurs

Foundation supports entre-preneurship education and believes it is an important tool to help every child explore and develop his or her academic, leadership, and life skills. This organization focuses on build-ing skills for entrepreneurs and provides resources and education through workshops and conferences.

The Federal School to Work Opportunities Act and other education policies sug-gest that students learn more and perform better when tasks and skills demonstrate rel-evance to their current and future lives. Studies of high-school level curricula in youth entrepreneurship programs report that students increase their aspirations, interest in college, reading, and leader-ship behavior after partici-pation. Six months later, 70 percent of the alumni in an evaluation study cohort were in college, 63 percent had

jobs, and one in three ran a small business. Perhaps most critically, the experience of a sense of ownership in their lives were four times higher for alumni of youth-entrepre-neurship program than for students who did not take such courses.

The Future Entrepre-neurs Foundation is scheduled to host the Second Igniting

Innovation Conference with national motivational speaker and former NFL player Shawn Harper as the keynote speaker. Entertainment will be pro-vided by national recording artists Zacardi Cortez and Marcel Anderson.

Shawn Harper coming to this event demonstrates his commitment he has for sup-porting organizations whose mission is youth development. Hearing Shawn Harper’s life story of overcoming setbacks in life to become a lucrative businessman and NFL Foot-ball Player will benefit all fortunate enough to hear and meet him.

The conference is sched-uled for Friday, October 11, 2019. It will be held at the Columbia Metropolitan Con-vention Center, located at 1101 Lincoln Street in Colum-bia, SC at 7:00 p.m. For more information, visit scfutureen-trepreneurs.com or call (800) 913-8261.

Former NFL player Shawn Harper to address business conference.