SPIRE Summer 2019

college news

Bluefield College Holds 97th Spring Commencement One hundred forty-seven undergraduates and fifteen graduate students accepted diplomas, Saturday, May 4, during the 97th Annual Spring Commencement, which featured a keynote address from Kelly (Chadwick) Streiff. Dr. Tracey Stout, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, provided a scripture reading for the graduates and Mr. Craig Stout brought greetings to the graduates from Bluefield College’s Board of Trustees. The ceremony also included student addresses from Ms. Allyson Daniele Carter, of Cool Ridge, West Virginia, from the School of Education and Social Sciences; and Mr. Daniel Eric Mason, of Bluefield, Virginia, also from the School of Education and Social Sciences. Special music was led by Dr. Charles Priest and Dr. John-Scott Moir. For complete coverage of Spring Commencement, including photos of the graduates, visit http://www.bluefield.edu/ news-events/photo-galleries/spring-commencement-2019/

Bluefield College’s Baseball Coach, Mike White, Receives 400 Coaching Wins Bluefield College’s Head Baseball Coach, Mike White, gained 400 coaching wins on Wednesday, May 22, after defeating the College of the Ozarks 6-5 in 11 innings at Alice Mill Ball Park in Easley, South Carolina. This was the Rams opening game in the 2019 NCCAA World Series. “I am blessed to work at a great college with unbelievable support and have had some very good players over the years. None of this would have been possible without them,” said White. White is Bluefield College’s longest tenured coach on the current coaching roster. He joined the Rams back in 2006 and ever since has developed the Rams baseball program, making seven postseason tournament appearances and setting the school record for wins on multiple occasions.

Deel Commits to Teacher Education at Bluefield College Southwest Community College student, Janet Deel, signed a letter of intent to attend Bluefield College during a formal ceremony on Monday, May 7, 2019, but Deel did not sign a contract to play sports at the College. Instead, she was surrounded by educators and loved ones to declare her intentions on studying teacher education at Bluefield College. Planned and executed much like formal signing ceremonies for athletes, the event was designed not only to recognize Deel’s commitment to attend Bluefield College, but also draw attention to the need to recruit outstanding students who aspire to be future teachers just like we recruit athletes. “Currently, Virginia is facing a growing shortage of qualified teachers, so we need to be more intentional in our efforts to recruit quality teaching candidates,” said Dr. Thomas Brewster, dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences at Bluefield College, about the purpose of the signing ceremony. Read more on our News & Events website here: http://www.bluefield.edu/article/deel- commits-to-teacher-education-at-bluefield-college/

Caudill School of Business Hosts Launch Recovery Event Bluefield College held its first-ever “Launch Recovery” event, sponsored by the Caudill School of Business. The event took place April 2019 at Crossroads Church in Bluefield, West Virginia. “Launch Recovery is an entrepreneurial pitch competition designed to provide a platform for individuals in the addiction recovery community to pitch their business idea and possibly win startup business packages,” said Josh Dye, assistant project manager in the business department at Bluefield College. The first-place winner of Launch Recovery went to Laura Scammell who received a total value of $1,400. Her small business was titled “Hounding Mill Grooming.” Scammell is a former vet tech with loads of grooming experience. She is hoping to open up her own grooming shop or a mobile unit. Even though she just started her business a year ago, Scammell has a pretty strong client base. As of right now, Scammell performs grooming within her own home or the house of her client. Second place went to Sandra Duncan of “Rollin Mana,” and third place went to Kimberly Johnson of “Kimmie’s Krafts & Grooming.”

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