Editor’s Note: Katie Snyder, a Bari-Saxophone player in the PSC Wind Ensemble, was the recipient of a PSC Performing Arts Scholarship. Here, she pens a heartfelt thank you, as well as a tribute to a favorite instructor, Don Snowden, who is retiring this month as head of the PSC Performing Arts Department. Dear Mr. Snowden,…
Walk the halls on any Pensacola State College campus, and you’ll see everyone masked up and keeping their distance. Walk into any office and you’ll find hand-sanitizer and more masks. And the disinfectant wipes for each office are on their way.
Pensacola State’s Covid-19 Response Plan gives details on how the College will work to keep PSC students and employees healthy and virus-free.
“The purpose of the plan is let all College employees and students know about the required protective actions the College is putting in place to fight Covid-19 and keep everyone safe and healthy,’’ said Tom Gilliam, PSC Vice President of General Counsel.
Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows has been named the 2020 recipient of the Grover III Robinson Award by the Rotary Club of Pensacola. The award goes to the Rotary member who best exemplifies the Rotary Club’s motto of “Service Above Self”.
The award is named for Grover Robinson III, father of Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV. Grover Robinson III was an Army veteran who fought in the Vietnam War and earned a Bronze Star. He also served in the Florida House of Representatives for 14 years and was a former Rotary Club of Pensacola president. Robinson III, along with his wife Sandra Robinson, died in a helicopter crash in New Zealand in 2000. The Pensacola Rotary also gives an award named for Sandra Robinson.
The new state-of-the-art Pensacola State College STEM building will be open and ready for students when fall classes begin on Aug. 17.
The 23,389-square-foot, $15 million facility will be home to programs including mathematics, cybersecurity, computer science and other high-tech fields of study.
“We’re all excited to move over there,” said Robert Pratten, PSC Cybersecurity instructor. “Who wouldn’t be interested in moving into something new? It’s going to give us more space and more room in one centralized location.”
The new STEM facility replaces the 60-year-old Mary Ellison Baars building, which was demolished before construction began on the building in January 2019. The new East Wing building is Phase I of an ambitious project that will eventually include a Phase II West Wing, and a third-floor connector.
Pensacola State music major Hanna Hammac played a few simple exercises on the euphonium while Pensacola State College Performing Arts Department Head and instructor Don Snowden played along on his trombone.
She’s a member of the College’s wind ensemble, even though she had no desire to play in a band when she first enrolled in PSC.
“I was an incoming music major, but I didn’t want to be in band,’’ Hammac recalled. “He (Snowden) told me ‘I know you hated band in high school, but you can get through it.’ He made me like band again.’’
In fact, Snowden has been such a major influence on Hammac’s life that when she had to write an essay for a scholarship application, she wrote about Snowden.
“He means everything to the College and all the Performing Arts students,’’ she said, prompting a smile from Snowden. “I actually wrote my essay on him because he’s such an important figure in my life.”
Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows was in his office on the Pensacola campus, where he has been during much of the COVID-19 pandemic, steadying the Pirate ship amid a sea of worldwide turmoil.
The campus is closed – as are all PSC campuses and centers ─ to students and the public through the end of the spring term. However Meadows said much of the staff, faculty and administration have worked throughout the crisis to ensure the College’s stability, and, its success in the future when the nation emerges from COVID-19.
“I think our leadership has responded very well,’’ Meadows said. “Dr. (Erin) Spicer and the department heads worked through the College’s spring break to get us moving forward as quickly and effectively as possible.”
Dear Donor, We hope you are ok! At Pensacola State College, you and your family are in our thoughts. We hope you are healthy and safe during these difficult times. We would love to hear from you and welcome your call, email and/or questions. Since you have been such a strong supporter, we want you to know how…
Troy Moon, Pensacola State College When the Legacy Worship League began singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” the older folks in the crowd began standing first, recognizing the familiar strains of the song that is referred to as “The Black National Anthem.” But soon, every person in the packed Jean and Paul Amos Performance Studio…
Couple’s support of college goes beyond major $100,000 gift By Troy Moon, Pensacola State College Dona and Milton Usry came from Oklahoma to Pensacola in 1986 and Pensacola State College – and Northwest Florida – found lifelong friends and supporters. The couple’s support of PSC is substantial and inspiring – and not solely because of…
Education gift bears former state Sen. John Broxson’s name By Troy Moon, Pensacola State College Once known for bringing in some of the nation’s leading speakers and public figures, the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club is no more, having merged with the University of West Florida Downtown Lecture Series in early November. But the club’s legacy…