McFadden leads association
Sandria McFadden, director of the Career Center at Beaufort County Community College, has been chosen to head the BCCC Staff Association for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Other staff association officers are Gail Ambrose, vice president; Lucy Lawrence, secretary; and Tommy Hodges, treasurer.
McFadden, a native of Michigan, traveled widely as a child as her family followed her father who was in the Air Force. McFadden graduated from Roanoke High School. After graduation, she served in the Air Force as a medical and dental technician at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.
She earned bachelor’s degrees in education and mathematics from Francis Marion College in Florence, S.C., and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, respectively. She also holds an associate degree in mechanical engineering technology/drafting and design and an accounting certificate from BCCC. McFadden is pursuing a master’s degree in education with a concentration in new media and global education from Appalachian State University.
McFadden is the moving force behind the creation of an endowment called “Girls Excited about Math and Science” through the BCCC Foundation that awarded a scholarship for the first time in 2012 to a female student pursuing a nontraditional degree. McFadden said she started the endowment to honor her grandmother, Emma Dail Hasty, who worked for many years in textile mills in Roanoke Rapids.
McFadden was named BCCC Faculty Member of the Year in 2003 and Staff Member of the Year in 2009.
McFadden said her goals for the coming year are to “lift the bar for our organization on our campus and in our community” and that the BCCC Staff Association will be “a vital force for the mission and vision of Beaufort County Community College.”
A longtime resident of Beaufort County, Ambrose has served as technical services coordinator in the BCCC library for some 17 years. A graduate of Bath High School, Ambrose earned an associate degree in business administration from BCCC and served as one of the college’s ambassadors. She worked in two libraries in Wyoming before returning to North Carolina in 1992. Ambrose and her husband of 39 years, Galin, an industrial electrician, have two daughters and live in the Bath area. Ambrose attends Everetts Church of Christ and serves on the Goose Creek State Park Board of Directors. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, spending time with her horses and reading.
A native of Washington, Lawrence is a graduate of BCCC, most recently earning an associate-in-arts degree from the college earlier this year. She is enrolled in the Wells Fargo Partnership East program and plans to obtain a bachelor’s degree in special education with a concentration in reading in 2015. Lawrence, who has worked at BCCC for 28 years, is employed as a data specialist and office manager with Student Support Services. She has two sons and enjoys reading and doing crossword puzzles.
Tommy Hodges is manager of BCCC’s bookstore, a position he has held for about 10 years. A native of Norfolk, Va., Hodges graduated from Washington High School in 1969 and BCCC in 1971 with an associate degree in business administration. Hodges has worked in cost accounting for 26 years, including at Hamilton Beach/Proctor-Silex before joining BCCC. He has served as a deacon of the First Baptist Church in Washington and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Woodmen of the World Youth Camps. Hodges and his wife, Donna, have one son, Wayland, and one granddaughter. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and cooking.
Brad Alligood (left) and Bryan Van Gyzen (center) present the first Hunters Helping Kids tool award to Marcus Coward, a 2012 Automotive Systems Technology graduate of Beaufort County Community College. (Submitted photo)
Graduate receives award
A recent BCCC graduate has received the first award given in memory of a longtime instructor in the school’s automotive technology program.
Marcus Ray Coward of Washington, a 2012 BCCC graduate, received a $1,000 Snap-on gift card from the Pamlico Chapter of Hunters Helping Kids, an organization supported by Neil C. Alligood, who served over 30 years as an instructor in the automotive technology program at BCCC.
The award also came with a $1,000 match from Snap-on, a leading designer and manufacturer of tools and equipment used by professionals in automotive repair and related businesses.
Alligood was an avid outdoorsman and an active member of Hunters Helping Kids from 2009 until his death in 2011.
Hunters Helping Kids is a nonprofit organization established in North Carolina in 2005 with the goal of helping needy children become involved in outdoor activities.
Alligood also served as sponsor of the annual Brian C. Alligood Memorial Youth Hunt, which was established in memory of his son, Brian, who died in 2008.
The Hunters Helping Kids award was recently presented to Coward by Brad Alligood, a son of Neil Alligood, and Bryan Van Gyzen, lead automotive systems technology instructor at BCCC.
As an instructor at BCCC, Alligood was concerned that students complete their course of study instead of simply getting the mechanical knowledge they needed and dropping out of school to go to work. As a result, the donors stipulated that the recipient of the award be a graduate of the college and plan to work in the automotive technology field, according to Brad Alligood.
Coward, 30, of Washington, was a student at North Pitt High School before completing his GED at Beaufort County Community College. He graduated from BCCC in 2012 with an associate degree in automotive systems technology. He is employed by ASMO, a manufacturer of automobile parts, in Greenville. Coward’s wife, Tawanna, is a student in BCCC’s cosmetology program.
“I am blessed to have received this award,” Coward said. “I want to thank Hunters Helping Kids and Snap-on for this.”
Brad Alligood said Hunters Helping Kids plans to present the award annually to a BCCC graduate who plans on a career in the automotive-technology field.