Episode 4

Season 10 Episode 4 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

Truck Driving Training, Aviation Mechanics, Student Art Awards, Pirates CARE Center are featured.

We explore the success of a growing Commercial Driving Program and discuss why the Pirates CARE Student Resource Center is a one-stop shop for students in need. Plus, a historic groundbreaking highlights PSC’s pivotal role in Aviation Mechanics, Student Art Awards showcase extraordinary talent, and Coach Pete Pena reflects on a state championship run for men's basketball.

05/07/2025

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Pensacola State Today is a local public television program presented by WSRE PBS

Episode 4

Season 10 Episode 4 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions

05/07/2025

Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

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Coming up on Pensacola State today, a historic groundbreaking highlights a pivotal role in aviation mechanics. We'll explore the success of a growing commercial driving program and discuss why the Pirates Care student resource Center is a one stop shop for students in need. Hello and welcome to Pensacola State today. I'm Steve Nissim, along with my co-host Rameca Vincent Leary. In this jam packed episode, we'll go in-depth with the Pirates Care Student Resource Center team, see just how impactful the commercial driving program is, and explore the excitement of Pirate Fest. But we start with another huge step for PSC in aviation mechanics training. The college is at the forefront of pentacle, its role in this growing industry. A groundbreaking ceremony for new aviation airframe and powerplant mechanics training facility magnifies the significance. It was an impressive gathering of major players from state, city and county governments as well as industry leaders, PSC started the new program last year with 19 students working out of an engineering hangar at the airport. But the new facility will greatly expand the ability to train critically needed new workers. It's a win on many levels, with PSC instrumental in making it all possible. They're leaders in the community for innovative technology and innovative training. So without having a partner like Pensacola State College to champion this, and to be the facilitators to allow these students to get the training to to bring these high paying jobs back into Pensacola. It just couldn't happen without PSC. We sought the best partner we could find in the community who could take on this responsibility. And we found it in Pensacola State College. They have the infrastructure. They have the faculty and staff. They have the ability to develop curricula. And they're doing that. And we're very, very pleased to be working with them on this. I think Pensacola State College is very organized, very detailed in, how they plan the training programs and how they integrate that with the work that we do in our hangars for real commercial customers. What the new facility will be easily upwards of 100, 150 students. So it's it's again, we're going to grow, along with the facility, just to train more and more people in Pensacola, as well as standby in Santa Rosa counties. That one is. Meanwhile, visual Arts Department fosters the growth of so many talented artists, and the annual awards exhibition puts these amazing efforts on display. Hosted at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts. The events showcase the finest examples of artwork produced by PSC students. It featured a vast array of media categories, including ceramics, drawing, digital design, painting, photography and sculpture. The pieces were displayed for several months, culminating in an engaging award ceremony. This year's guest juror was New Orleans artist Gina Phillips. 95 students applied for the prestigious show and 183 pieces were featured. Ultimately, 30 winners were announced in various categories, while four incoming freshmen received scholarships. High school. What they put on display in this exhibition is super eclectic, highly talented, very thoughtful and very polished artworks, which sets us apart from most other institutions. Everyone in the Visual Arts department has really poured into my experience here, and they do that with every student. So it really is a great honor. The top honor, the Anna Award, went to Jennifer Hendriks. She's a nontraditional student and a shining example of what's possible in the visual arts program. I work full time, so I'm only taking 1 or 2 classes a semester. So I've turned a two year program into a five year adventure. But, it's really been very rewarding. So I've learned a lot along the way, and I can't wait to get into that next step. But Jennifer is one of those nontraditional students that really grind every single day in and outside of this facility. She's got a full time job. She's in a really rigorous program, and she has just knocked it out of the park. There is a huge need for licensed truck drivers, and PSC is delivering. The growing commercial vehicle driving program provides pivotal opportunities and a major impact for the industry. Truck drivers are in high demand, providing plenty of coveted opportunities. My father was a, truck driver and my younger brother is a truck driver, so it was something I've been wanting to do for years. I just figured I need to go ahead and branch out and do better for myself. And it's it's a career choice. Most of our students, before they even obtain or tested for the CDL, usually have anywhere from 2 to 4 job offers. Just like the industry commercial vehicle driving program is booming, an impressive 12 acre facility in Milton that opened in 2022 is the catalyst for continuing growth. When I first got here, we had two vehicles were averaging anywhere from 4 to 6 students per term. Now we're almost up to nine power units. And the best part is we're able to turn out anywhere from 24 to 38. For a class that's producing over 350 drivers per year from a full eight week college credit course to an eight day certification program. The comprehensive training starts in the classroom and ends on the road with hands on experience. Even when I was in the service training for a CDL, they didn't have the same type of facility to test on. You know, they just stick you out out there on the road and expect you to know what you're doing. Here they actually get to take you from 0 to 100. So you get that full range of training that includes state of the art simulators that are valuable tools and high on the Wow factor. They are really high class there. I'm sure they're very expensive and they are really nice. I guess it's got every little detail. It's just like a real smile. The simulator is a great inclement weather, from extreme fog to extreme snow to ice. We have that all available to them. So when they experience in the real life that it's not a shock and they can be better prepared for it. As for the real life training, students regularly get behind the wheel and one of these big rigs with an expert instructor to provide guidance on the facility's big track. We're out on the open road. Thousand percent better. Corey, that was a beautiful lieutenant. I picked up a few. They give us a lot of free range of how we want to learn. And if you take the time to apply it, you're going to get all the practice time you want and you can get here early in practice. You know, they're good. They're going to give you all the pointers you need to get your CDL and be a good trucker. I look at it as this is our future that's coming in, and if we can train them properly, then we don't have to worry so much about them. When they go out into the real world. As well as various CDL. The facility also provides school, bus and hazardous materials training. It's all delivering critical workforce ready drivers and fulfilling dreams. First and foremost, get my foot in the door with a company and become an experienced driver. Then I can look at pursuing, going, becoming an owner, operator, getting my own truck to build my brand, to build my company, and to to go, as far as, the sky. Let me go. I feel very prepared after I leave the school. I'm actually having a test today, so today it will more than likely be my last day here. And I'm sad to say that because the people here, the facility here are great. I love it. We've taken folks that have been absolutely homeless, and now after having a career, we've been taking folks that were happy with making 15 bucks an hour, and now they're able to double and triple that in being a truck driver. That's a game changer. That's a life changer. In addition to preparing students for the future, PSC is focused on providing a fun and inviting atmosphere to make the college experience more enriching. Pirate Fest is a great example. The annual event returned to the main campus this spring. Bigger and better. It was cool to have a carnival like atmosphere right on the campus quad students had a blast with fun activities including epic inflatables, a zip line, rock climbing wall, cyclone swing ride, and a mechanical bull. Posted by the PSC Student Affairs Department. It delivered good times, camaraderie and a surprising diversion. I quite literally just left class and walked out and heard music. So I just walked this way and I was like, oh. So it was really fun. It looked fun.

There's like, they're here for you. They want you to have fun. They want you to come here. And you know I love it. You ever expect you're going to be doing ziplining on campus? No, not at all. It was really cool, though. Last year I didn't get a chance to come here, so I'm really happy I got to come this year and go on the zipline and do all the other cool stuff that we got here. It's time for the president's perspective, where we get to hear the thoughts of Doctor Ed Meadows. Thanks again so much for sharing some time with us. Well, good night Steve. It's, it's nice to be with you again. Good day to you, too. All right. So recently, you inducted six more faculty members into the Academy of Teaching Excellence and including our wonderful co-host on this show, Doctor Leary. This is something that he started back in 1986. Over 200 have been inducted. So what is really the significance, of this honor? Well, I think this was the vision of Doctor Atwell, who at the time was a, VP for academic affairs and later became president. But he felt it was important to, have a process by which, faculty could be recognized by the administration of the college and, by the college at large and the faculty. And so through the nomination process, you have different categories of faculty, like the, first year faculty or adjunct faculty and then our faculty that have been here more than a year. And, it is quite an occasion and, very, uplifting kind of, experience for the faculty that, get to tape their thoughts. You know what? They love teaching and what it means to them to be able to, be at Pensacola State as a faculty member. And so that tradition, has, become more and more important, from a historical perspective because, we have all the portraits of all the recipients in the library. And at the bottom floor, we put the newest, inductees, and then we move, the ones from the previous year upstairs to our to our large foyer. And so when you walk the halls of the library, particularly when you go upstairs, you see all of the faculty that, some have retired, others are still here. That have been, pointed out as exceptional faculty members. Earlier in the show, we had a story on the, truck driver, the commercial driving, training program at PSC. It's really ramped up since he opened the new facility in 2022. And how happy have you been, with the progress of development of that program? Well, you know, I think that's, one of the greatest success stories, that Pensacola State has had in the last few years in terms of the number of, CDL certificates that we've been able to award, to, to help fill this tremendous shortage. And these jobs are, tremendous paying jobs, whether you're a local, driver that gets to come home every night or if you choose to do, on the road, where you're gone 3 or 4 days. The salaries that, these individuals can make once they get our CDL license, is something that, certainly puts them in a, a good economic position to care for their families and themselves. And really was a partnership with Santa Rosa County, where you did, like, a land swap. You know, how how great of an example of that is kind of partnerships that are helping you, you know, advanced things. Well, I think that, partnerships have been the key, to a lot of Pensacola State success and workforce development. And certainly that is a prime example, where we, we traded, 20 acres at the South Santa Rosa Center. We have 108 acres there. And they are building, soccer fields and our aquatic center, which our students and the community will be able, to, have access to. And then in the industrial park, which is very close to our ten, they've, provided 20 acres. 15 is for the truck driver training facility. We we have the driver track lighted, so we can expand the number of students and also five acres that will be clearing very shortly, to put our, they soul and marine mechanics program. Okay, doctor Meadows, as always, thanks so much for, giving us a little bit of time. Well, my pleasure.

So, have a good day. And, we'll, we'll all, enjoy, seeing it when you televise it. All right. Thanks so much. And that is your president's perspective. Hello, everyone. During this segment will be highlighting the multifaceted Pirates Care Student Resource Center. It's a one stop shop providing free resources for PSC students. To discuss this further, I'm happy to welcome Veronica Jennings, wellness services director. She's joined by sensorium McCord, PSC mental health services specialist. But ladies, someone you know has something to say. We're going to hear from Doctor Lindsay. List down, executive director of Equal Opportunity Compliance. And she's going to give us a tour of some of the specific areas. Let's take a look. This is our Pirate's Care Campus career closet, where students can come and at no cost, they're able to receive free business casual and professional clothing that they can use for internships, for job interviews. For the current employment that they have, or just to have close to where we know a lot of our students are searching for their first jobs, or they might have to work full time while they're in school. And so this gives them the opportunity to get free professional clothing that they can wear for their internships and their jobs. So we have clothing for men and for women that have been graciously donated by the community and by faculty and staff on campus, so students can come and get really nice name brand items and then be able to use those to get their future jobs. We even have things like ties and belts and bags and shoes, so really they can come and get items that will have them dressed from head to toe for those great interviews. Another resource that we have for students is our campus Food pantry, which is located on every single one of our Pensacola State College campuses. In the food pantry, students are able to come and get free nonperishable food items that we get amazing donations from the community, and also have a partnership with manna, who provide our food bags that give families food for 5 to 7 days, and students are able to get food for their entire family, which is one of the really unique things about our program. So if a student has a family of four, we provide them with food for their entire family. The other great thing is that we also have household and hygiene items, which is something that a lot of pantries don't have. So students are able to choose up to five household and hygiene items each time they come to visit the pantry to take and have for their families. All of this, again, is offered at no cost to any of our currently enrolled students. The great thing is, is that we actually have our campus career closets on multiple campuses, including our Milton Campus Century, and over at Warrington, where you can get health related field items as well. This is our student lounge area, where students can come in between classes to charge their phones, to get a snack, to just relax, and then we also have a really nice, family friendly space on campus as well, where our students that are parents can bring their children while they're meeting with our staff to get resources, or even while they're here doing online classes, studying, doing their homework in our mini computer lab that we have available in our resource center, as well. Ladies, wasn't that amazing? Veronica, I know you love doctor less now I do. Wonderful woman. So one of the things I want to discuss with you, and I know our viewing audience is interested in financial coaching, because don't we have students that have issues with money management? We do. And that's part of the services that we offer in the resource center is financial coaching. And a lot of what we do is help students manage the money that they're currently having. Help them increase their income and then budget out what they have and just kind of help them reach their financial goals. Have you ever heard stories of students amassing large credit card debt? Yes.

A lot of times the students that we see do have credit card debt and we try to, help them manage that in terms of what it looks like going to school and managing their finances and paying off debt, and see what's feasible for very good salary for mental health counseling. It's a multifaceted area, but one of the things I like about PSC that this can be done either in person via telehealth and it's all confidential. Why don't you expand on that for us? Yes, we do offer in-person and telehealth services. The reason being is because we have multiple campuses here at Pensacola State College. Specifically some of our students in the Milton campus century in South Santa Rosa. They may not be able to come to campus or to receive counseling, or we may not be able to go to them. So it's important to be able to offer that telehealth services so they could get that free, confidential service and receive the care that they need. And Veronica, I love the word free. Let it resonate in our minds forever.

Now. Life coaching and mentoring. You have an amazing personality, quite approachable. So lay that out for our viewers. Yeah, so life coaching comes by way of our wellness support specialists. So they meet with the students and they help them to set goals and figure out a roadmap to set their goals, identify any kind of obstacles that would keep them from being successful in life and academically, and they help them with that as well. And of course, I do some of that as well with the students. So give us an example of what a mentor could do. So one of the things a mentor could do is if a student has a heavy course load and they don't necessarily have the 30 skills that they need. So a mentor could come in and say, hey, let's look at your schedule. Let's see how we can manage your current schedule. If there's any changes that we need to make, we can help them with study skills as well. We can also talk to them about what's going on in their personal life, and is that affecting their course load as well. And we'll kind of walk them through what goals need to be set to manage your life a little bit better so that you can be successful? Because it's all about being successful academically and personally. So true accessories. Sometimes people may think that as the summer approaches that things could wipe down, but know things are ramping up for the Pirates Care Student Resource Center. So cognitive behavioral therapy, that's an area that's also covered that you deal with. Why don't you tell us what that is?

Yes. So cognitive behavioral therapy is a it's a modality where if we could change the way you think, we could change the way you act. So it's again that cognitive and behavioral piece. So one of the things that I work with with the students is cognitive restructuring changing negative thoughts to positive thoughts. And it's amazing to see how with that change in processing their thoughts, they can become better people in flourish, as they matriculate through school. Now we also understand you have integrative play therapy. Yes.

Any student who comes to the pars care area, they're often surprised that we have a bunch of little gadgets, fidget toys. We have Plato.

We have, Philippe. All this is to help them with their nerves. In a sense, it's like a grounding technique. We allow them to have it. Oftentimes, they play with it as they're in session with us. I have paint. Please don't tell anyone.

Wife. Okay, well, we want to paint in a few carpets, but, it's usually washable. And I also have other little gadgets. It helps them process their emotions in a way that they can express it on paper or with their hands. I love that. So, Veronica, dealing with case management, that's lofty. Why don't you give us a little snippet? So, Kate, with case management is personalized support for the students and is unique to each of our students. So we go through and we get with the students and we see what type of obstacles they have. Again, kind of like with the life coach and it kind of goes hand in hand. So we look at what kind of obstacles that they're having in their life. Let's set some goals around it so that you can feel empowered to overcome those obstacles. And, flourish academically and personally. And so in a lot of that is we meet on a weekly, bi weekly or monthly basis on student, the students can assess that schedule for them. And so we provide check ins. We help them get connected to resources. So if they need any kind of resources, will help them with that and do whatever we can to help them be successful. Because a lot of what we think is, if you're focused on what's going on outside of the classroom, if you can't be successful inside of the classroom to become the best versions of themselves. And I know that you probably have a short example to share. One thing I noticed a lot is, independence. At this age, it's a matter of they're kind of trying to break out that that mold of being a child and grow into an adult. So often times they have concerns related to that. Oh, well, I can't afford this. As Veronica was speaking about earlier, those financial literacy matters in regards to counseling it can relate to. Okay, well, what can we do in order for you to get those things that you need? Excellent examples ladies. You are phenomenal and we love you so much. PSC men's basketball made history last season, winning the state tournament for the first time since 1993. It was a team that far exceeded outside expectations. An emotional and memorable accomplishment for long time coach Pete Pena. We returned three players. We had more freshmen, but these are the three players that I wanted back and I wanted to build from. It was Dylan Cullen, it was Demetri Clark, it was Isaiah Sutherland, and their leadership and loyalty was absolutely outstanding. It just put everybody else in line. So winning that. Selling them on. Hey, come on, we'll be back and do this thing better. Just the just the happiness of of winning that thing with those three guys meant the world to me. And it was just, you know, Isaiah we got when he was 17 years old, Demitri Clark, who will sign a Division one scholarship. You wouldn't have given me a glass of water a year ago for this kid. These are just guys that just kept getting better, better and better. Dillon Cullen. And then all of a sudden, we had a couple of other sophomores come along and. And Amarion Savage, who did an unbelievable job, Will Vasser. Now we formed a nucleus of and it gave our guys coming off the bench. This is our standard. This is how we play. This is how we're going to go do this. And Steve, really honestly, it was just, it was about as enjoyable a year. It would have ended at the state tournament. It still would have been. But all of a sudden, you get a break here and there, and here we are. We're on the edge of our seats for plays of the month. The Pirates diamond squads both deliver some high drama heroics. Pirates softball clinging to a one run lead on Chipola in the last inning. A trip to the gap is trouble, but Abby Moles to the rescue. The sophomore from Australia with a spectacular catch to keep her in front. The Pirates have gotten used to glove gems from Morris and this one a Wednesday Pirates baseball, down a run in the final inning against Gulf Coast. Taft Middleton comes up huge. The shot down the line scores two runs for the walk off win. Clutch moment for the freshman from Columbus, Georgia. But PSC heroics weren't done for the day. Game two of a doubleheader tied in the final inning and Pensacola will border. Makes it a double walk off afternoon. The base hit plates Mason Unathi with another game winner. Barter, a Catholic high grad, caps off a memorable few hours for the Pirates. All right, Steve, that does it for another jam packed episode. But there are so many more PSC stories to tell. Look for a new episode of Pensacola State today every month. Thanks for watching.

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