Volume 35, Issue No. 1

By Professor Lesley Warren

It’s been such a wacky year. We’ve all had to learn to adjust to a new way of living, learning, and, for the Drama Club, performing. And, honestly, some of it has actually been great. We’ve created projects involving students from all four campuses, which would have been incredibly difficult to achieve in-person. We’ve also been able to collaborate with several other organizations. So, while our current situation is not desirable, there have been many benefits that we are grateful for.

Most recently, the Drama Club presented three original student plays for the “Evening of Performance” hosted by SKD and the Speech team. Coming up, club members will present a recorded staged reading of a one-act play for the Clanton campus’ “Mysteries and Oddities” project. Drama club members will also participate in the Red Mountain Reading Series in April.

We might maybe probably possibly will host a LIVE production at CEPA in Pell City in April. Keep an eye on your email for updates, including discounted ticket information.

Want to play? Email Lesley Warren – ggray2@jeffersonstate.edu.

By Tyler Miller, Phi Theta Kappa Member

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Scholarship is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge." In no organization does a pure interest in knowledge manifest itself quite like Phi Theta Kappa. Phi Theta Kappa is the largest two-year college honor society globally, with over 1,200 chapters worldwide.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the Phi Theta Kappa experience, the Honors in Action (HIA) program combines academic research, problem-solving, and action-oriented service to address real-world challenges within our community. Each year, everyone who participates in this project hones their academic research skills, gain invaluable job-related experience, and learn to view themselves as emerging professionals—all while leaving a lasting impact on their communities.

Each year, PTK chapters create a new HIA project from scratch. The process begins with an in-depth exploration of the Honors Program Guide, which introduces students to various potential topics they can explore. When a chapter has selected its topic for that year, students begin to research every aspect of the topic they can imagine. From this research, a community-based project begins to take shape—and the chapter spends the rest of the year planning and executing that project.

This year, the Honors Program Guide was built around the ideas of inheritance and legacy: "What do we inherit from our ancestors, and what legacy can we leave for future generations?" After reading the guide, the Pi Pi chapter began to consider the concepts of legacy and inheritance in the context of food. We wanted to explore how the foods we cook, share, and eat shape our identities and transmit our values across generations. After months of debate, we settled on the following project title: "Jeff State Foodways." Our main goal was to create a website with videos and testimonials featuring the numerous ways Jeff State students use food to define themselves and their communities. The results were remarkable; our chapter received 221 unique stories from people around the Jefferson State community. There were stories of holiday meals, family traditions, and even how soldiers made friendships in war-torn countries through food. The website that the Pi Pi chapter made can be viewed here.

The Honors in Action project is just one of the many things that a PTK chapter contributes to throughout the year. For more information about Jefferson State's PTK chapters, please contact the chapter advisors:

Pi Pi chapter (Jefferson and Pell City Campuses) – Matt Boehm, mboehm@jeffersonstate.edu

Beta Lambda Delta Chapter (Shelby and Clanton Campuses) Liesl Harris, lwharris@jeffersonstate.edu

For more information on Phi Theta Kappa International, please visit www.ptk.org.

Fall 2020 Sigma Chi Eta teamed up with Phi Theta Kappa in collecting resources for the Pioneer Pantry Food Drive. Amongst the various Donors, Trader Joe’s (205 Summit Blvd Ste 100, Birmingham, AL 35243), Food Giant (1675 Center Point Pkwy, Birmingham, AL 35215), Walmart (5919 Trussville Crossings Pkwy, Trussville, AL 35235), Sprouts ,located at 5265 US-280, Birmingham, AL 35242, was by far one of the most generous donors. With the help of these organizations, we were able to contribute to the fight against food insecurity.

If you have an interest in assisting in serving this cause contact mdailey4@jeffersonstate.edu for more information.