Meet Our Alumni

• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/675-anne-driscoll"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,960,960/269_1912405_682582264006_8756799307793601402_n.rev.1496850332.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,960,960/269_1912405_682582264006_8756799307793601402_n.rev.1496850332.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,960,960/269_1912405_682582264006_8756799307793601402_n.rev.1496850332.jpg" alt="Anne Ryan Driscoll (right)." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,960,960/269_1912405_682582264006_8756799307793601402_n.rev.1496850332.jpg 2x" data-max-w="960" data-max-h="960" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/675-anne-driscoll"><p> Anne Ryan Driscoll ’06 Honored for her Teaching and Research at Virginia Tech</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> A press release from Virginia Tech has announced the 2016 Dr. Carroll B. Shannon Excellence in Teaching Awards presented to faculty members in the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.</p><p> Emory & Henry’s Anne Ryan Driscoll (’06) was among the honorees for her work in the Department of Statistics.</p><p> Anne majored in Mathematics and Physics at Emory & Henry and played basketball and tennis as a student athlete, and did all this while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. Anne was a 3-time ODAC All-Academic selection and a 2-time ITA Scholar Athlete. She and her tennis teammates finished 2nd in both the ODAC regular season and in the ODAC Championship tournament in her junior year, where she played #5 singles and #3 doubles. Anne was also a member of Kappa Phi Alpha sorority and Sigma Mu Honor Society.</p><p> After graduation, Anne went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Statistics from Virginia Tech. She currently works as an Assistant Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech teaching both undergraduate and graduate level courses in research and statistics. Anne has received other professional awards at Tech that honor her Outstanding Departmental Citizenship and twice was selected for an Excellence in Teaching award. She has published numerous scholarly articles related to research methodology and statistics. Additionally, Anne has collaborated on projects for the Department of Defense and with NASA.</p><p> An excerpt from the press release is listed below, and you may read the entire press release at the Virginia Tech webpage <a href="http://vtnews.vt.edu/content/vtnews_vt_edu/en/articles/2016/08/science-shannonteachingaward.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p><p> August 3, 2016 – Four Virginia Tech faculty with the <a href="http://liberalarts.vt.edu/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">College of Science and College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences</a> have received the 2016 Dr. Carroll B. Shannon Excellence in Teaching Award.</p><p> The awards were presented to: Anne Ryan Driscoll, an assistant professor of practice in the Department of Statistics; Michel Pleimling, a professor with the Department of Physics and director of the Academy of Integrated Science; and Gordon Yee, an associate professor with the Department of Chemistry, all in the College of Science; and Marian Mollin, an associate professor in the Department of History, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.</p><p><br/> The award is made possible by an endowment established by Peter and Carroll Shannon, of Wilmington, Delaware, and is given annually to College of Science and College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences faculty members who demonstrate outstanding teaching skills, innovative methods, and dedication to learning. The colleges once formed the College of Arts and Sciences, which split in 2002.</p><p><br/> “Virginia Tech gave me the opportunity to become someone who I would never have become if it had not been for the university,” said Peter Shannon, who graduated from Virginia Tech in 1969 with a general science degree and who named the award in honor of his wife, Carroll, an educator for her entire career.</p><p><br/> “Outstanding teachers have the opportunity to be change agents in the lives of students. They inspire a love of learning, encourage students to reach their potential and discover their career path,” said Carroll Shannon, who worked in education for the state of Delaware. “Most importantly, they guide students in becoming contributing members of society who will impact positively the lives of others.”</p><p><strong>Anne Driscoll</strong><br/> Since joining Virginia Tech’s faculty in 2011, Driscoll has taught eight courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the <a href="http://www.stat.vt.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Department of Statistics</a>. She also has collaborated on projects for the U.S. Department of Defense and with NASA, and she chairs the department’s corporate partners program, which is a cooperative outreach venture that links the department with 11 different companies.</p><p> Of Driscoll’s nomination, the college committee said, “The committee was particularly impressed with the strength of your teaching’s impact on your students and their careers.” Her research focuses on statistical process control, health care surveillance, and industrial statistics.</p><p> She earned dual bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physics from Emory & Henry College in 2006, followed by master’s and doctoral degrees in statistics from Virginia Tech in, respectively, 2007 and 2011. Her awards won at Virginia Tech include the Jesse C. Arnold Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2010-2011, and the Rose Costain Award for Outstanding Departmental Citizenship, 2010.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/675-anne-driscoll" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/156-stewart-whitmore-plein"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,400,300/29_1dee3c8e17be67fe60d501abf5d16fd1_f73851.rev.1491320868.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,400,300/29_1dee3c8e17be67fe60d501abf5d16fd1_f73851.rev.1491320868.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,400,300/29_1dee3c8e17be67fe60d501abf5d16fd1_f73851.rev.1491320868.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="400" data-max-h="300" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/156-stewart-whitmore-plein"><p> Stewart Whitmore Plein (’82) Becomes Rare Books Specialist</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Stewart Plein (E&H ’82), Assistant Curator for West Virginia Books & Printed Resources & Rare Book Librarian at West Virginia University, has received her certification in rare book librarianship from the University of Virginia’s renowned Rare Book School (RBS), the top professional development program for rare book and special collection librarians, rare book sellers and collectors.</p><p> “Rare book librarianship isn’t for the faint of heart,” said Tom Congalton, an RBS instructor. “There is an enormous barrier to acquiring the necessary knowledge and practical experience required to be an effective special collections librarian, and it isn’t always easy to know where to start. Stewart has the energy, the motivation and the tenacity to go out and acquire that knowledge in order to master a subject that isn’t always inclined to reveal itself easily.”</p><p> Jay Cole, senior advisor to the president at WVU, applauds Plein for her dedication to the Rare Book Room and work to enhance the academic environment at WVU. “The library is the heart of any university and information circulated by the library is a university’s lifeblood. Within our wonderful Libraries, WVU is very fortunate to have an outstanding Rare Books Collection, with items from William Shakespeare to Isaac Asimov,” Cole said. “We are equally fortunate to have a rare book librarian such as Stewart Plein, whose passion is matched only by her expertise.”</p><p> Stewart’s love of books took her from reader to researcher to bookseller to librarian. She says she had a career direction change after attending a seminar for antiquarian book dealers in 2003. She decided to volunteer at the West Virginia University Library in Morgantown, and ended up an assistant to the Special Collections Librarian.</p><p> At E&H Stewart had a double major in history and religion.  She then earned her degree in library science at the University of South Carolina before succeeding her mentor, Harold Forbes, as Rare Books Librarian and Assistant Curator of West Virginia Books and Printed Resources, and as Assistant University Librarian. She has duties in the Downtown Campus Library and the West Virginia & Regional History Center, both in Morgantown.</p><p> She is also extensively published. Her work covers a wide range of topics, including the impact of art and design on the marketplace and nineteenth century book manufacturing and technology; books as historical artifacts; the cultural impact of books; dissemination of ideas and rare book pedagogy as primary resources for undergraduate research; 19th- century publishers’ book binding design and manufacture; the history of Appalachian law books and newspapers; and the impact of book binding design and the development of stereotype in Appalachia.</p><p> Stewart said the most inspiring part of the RBS course came from a guest lecturer who raised the question about how to go forward with collecting rare material. “It gave me a new insight into the future of book collecting institutionally. It’s about looking ahead rather than back at things we already have.” As a result, she is focusing on materials that are now becoming rare. For example, there is a growing interest in items from the 1940s through the 1990s that already are becoming scarce despite being mass produced. For instance, WVU Libraries recently acquired a collection of magazines (or zines) that were published in San Francisco by West Virginia poet, Sutton Breiding, in the 1970s. “Zines have become quite collectible,” Plein said. “They were just things that were traded between friends, they didn’t really have a production run, they were printed off on mimeograph machines, but they documented important pop culture moments so they really need to be collected or we’ll lose them.”</p><p> She is also turning her attention to what has long been an under-represented area in the rare books collection, the works of African-American West Virginians from late 19^th to early 20^th century.</p><p> West Virginia was home to many of the nation’s most important African-American activists and leaders: Booker T. Washington, author and educator; Carter G. Woodson, author, historian and journalist; Anne Spencer, Harlem Renaissance poet; and J.R. Clifford, Civil War veteran, newspaper publisher, co-founder of the Niagra Movement with W.E. B. Dubois, and West Virginia’s first African-American attorney.</p><p> Stewart says introducing students to primary sources with rare books is the best part of her work day. “I never tire of seeing that moment when a student’s eyes light up when they handle a rare book for the first time!”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/156-stewart-whitmore-plein" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/155-ken-noe"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.jpg" alt="Dr. Ken Noe poses with one of his Auburn grad students, Peter Thomas (E&H, '08). In addition to the flag of his home state in the bac..." width="345" height="225" data-max-w="450" data-max-h="490" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/155-ken-noe"><p> Dr. Ken Noe ’79 Writing Book on the Weather’s Impact on the American Civil War</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> When Dr. Ken Noe (’79) was growing up in Elliston he remembers that weather played a huge role in the work done on his grandfather’s farm. “If rain was coming, we dropped everything else to put up hay.” He thinks this experience planted a seed in the back of his mind about the impactful influence of weather. Later, his interest in weather grew when he took a geography course at Emory & Henry with Dr. Ed Bingham.</p><p> But even he could never have predicted that he would now be writing a two-volume book on weather’s impact on the American Civil War.</p><p> Ken is the Draughon Professor of Southern History at Auburn University. He is the author or editor of seven books, and he has published scads of articles, essays and chapters about the Civil War. He is a decorated history professor serving at West Georgia College before heading to Auburn. He was a Pulitzer Prize entrant and won the 2003 Kentucky Governor’s award, the 2002 Peter Seaborg Book Award for Civil War Non-fiction, and the 1997 Tennessee History Book Award. He has won several teaching awards, has served as president of the Alabama Historical Association, and is serving on the Advisory Board of the Society of Civil War Historians. He has even been a consultant for the NBC series <em>Who Do You Think You Are? </em></p><p> But in all his prolific writing and research and publishing even he is surprised that his biggest and most industrious work to-date will be about weather.  “Meteorologists are still trying to work out why the weather during the Civil War was so unusual. They dealt with incredibly snowy and rainy winters and droughts in the summer that affected Southern food supplies. There were dust storms, flooded rivers, and only two hurricanes. It had a profound effect on many campaigns.”</p><p> His research on weather has already taken several years, and he still has a few years left before he publishes. And even he was amazed to realize just how much information he had accumulated. “Very little has been written about Civil War environmental history. It is only now becoming part of the conversation about Civil War history.”  </p><p> Ken says that even in a field of study like Civil War history where so many things have been written, there is still new area for research and a lot of topics that haven’t been covered.  He has grad students asking new questions about the role of religion, the prison industries during the war, the role of friendship, and one young man, who is an E&H grad, is looking into camp life.</p><p> Even though we have just passed the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, Ken points out that this conflict still has implications for current events; and he marvels that most conversations over the past 18 months have quickly moved from history to current topics like the Confederate flag, U.S. prisons, and race relations. He says his field has gotten so tangled with politics that there is a declining interest in Civil War history among the public. “But this event still has much to teach us. It was a great turning point in American History and opened up questions that are still being answered about equality of humankind, the status of women, states’ rights. I don’t know how we can answer all these questions unless we go back to the beginning.” He consistently stresses to his students the importance of going back to primary source information rather than depending on how the stories have been told and passed down.</p><p> Ken actually majored in education at Emory & Henry and still remembers panicking when he realized he didn’t want to be a junior high school teacher. “I had a lot of electives leftover and started taking history classes late in my college experience. I realized what I wanted to be was a historian and teach at a higher level.” A conversation with Patsi Trollinger (’72) reassured him that most alumni do not stick to work within their major. And a conversation with Dr. Gene Rasor in the history department led to a phone call which ended with Dr. Rasor telling Ken he had an interview with the history department at Virginia Tech.</p><p> The rest, as they say, is history.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/155-ken-noe" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/690-chris-whitt"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,299/340_195154692a4a9ca21aec2fe00c319ccd_f7172.rev.1500309442.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,299/340_195154692a4a9ca21aec2fe00c319ccd_f7172.rev.1500309442.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,299/340_195154692a4a9ca21aec2fe00c319ccd_f7172.rev.1500309442.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="450" data-max-h="299" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/690-chris-whitt"><p> It’s all Emory & Henry’s Fault</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> “While I was a student, I participated in a teaching abroad program in Brazil that was offered by the college, and I fell in love with the Brazilian culture and people. So I decided to make it my home.” So for 7 years he ran a school that taught English as a second language, and in 2008 he opened his very own such business in Londrina, Brazil, called High School Language Center.  Solving more than one need for the community, his school gives families a chance for constructive child care. “My school offers an alternative to a babysitter for families who think learning another language is important. The kids from ages 2 1/2 and up study 3 hours per day at my school. They have a lot of fun learning.” Look for his school online and you’ll find projects like mystery movies his students produce to practice their English.</p><p> Chris is just one of many alumni who are using their E&H degrees to solve problems. If you know a student who might like to use education to make the world a better place, check out the <a href="https://www.ehc.edu/ampersand/">Ampersand</a> project at Emory & Henry!</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/690-chris-whitt" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/708-mary-beth-tignor"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,300,200/358_MaryBethTignor.rev.1500388800.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,300,200/358_MaryBethTignor.rev.1500388800.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,300,200/358_MaryBethTignor.rev.1500388800.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="300" data-max-h="200" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/708-mary-beth-tignor"><p> Love for the region keeps Mary Beth Tignor’s future local. </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Her love of this region and her passion for education are the fuel to her daily work. </p><p> Mary Beth was a part of the first Emory & Henry Honors Program cohort that graduated in Spring 2013. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and Community Service. Currently, she is working as an AmeriCorps with Appalachian Sustainable Development and pursuing a Master’s degree in Education with a focus area of Middle School Science. </p><p> Serving the community of this region has always been one of Mary Beth’s passion and love. As a student at Emory & Henry, she served as a volunteer of an on-campus after school program called Highlands Project. She said, “Through this program and some of my courses, I developed a passion for education and the children in this area.” Since then, she has created and is the current coordinator of a after school program at a local elementary school. Her most memorable experience in the Honors Program is going to New York City as an upperclassman leader with First-Year Honors Scholars. After her first trip to New York City, Mary Beth had learned a lot from her experiences and really enjoyed sharing them with the First-Year Honors Scholars. </p></div><a href="/live/profiles/708-mary-beth-tignor" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/699-adam-taylor"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/349_1527816929680e27a0e49d882ebbfa5b_f1858.rev.1500320057.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/349_1527816929680e27a0e49d882ebbfa5b_f1858.rev.1500320057.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/349_1527816929680e27a0e49d882ebbfa5b_f1858.rev.1500320057.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="690" data-max-h="390" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/699-adam-taylor"><p> Graduate Heads to Africa to Aid in Environmental Awareness</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> It’s a far distance from Emory, Va. to Lusaka, Zambia but Adam Taylor (class of 2008) is no stranger to a long journey. It was during a successful thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail during the summer of 2009 when Taylor would make a decision that would send him thousands of miles away from home to use the skills he learned while in Emory.</p><p> Taylor has been accepted as a Peace Corps volunteer and will be contributing to a project in Zambia known as LIFE – Linking Income Food & Environment. As part of the project, Taylor will serve as a Forestry Extension Agent. He will be working with rural farmers to incorporate agroforestry into their farming practices with a focus on soil and water conservation. He also will be working with local schools to set up environmental awareness groups that will try to raise critical environmental issues within the community, while working on ways to correct them. Taylor also will be working with small business entrepreneurs to help create a market for their products within their community.</p><p> Taylor was first introduced to the possibility of volunteering with the Peace Corps while sitting outside the office of Dr. Ed Davis, an E&H geography professor. Later, while hiking the 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 2009, he met a former Peace Corp volunteer.</p><p> “We were able to spend a few days together and I questioned him about it the entire time,” Taylor said. “After he had told me what a positive impact it had made on his life, I knew that it was something I wanted to do. When I returned home after the hike, I applied, and a year later, I am on my way to Zambia.”</p><p> It might have taken this meeting on a footpath to get Taylor to officially sign on, but his foundations for volunteerism were built at Emory & Henry. As an environmental studies major, Taylor learned about the ever-changing environment and how to bring his knowledge to others for the sake of preserving the planet. He credits the E&H Appalachian Center for Community Service program for helping him to see the importance of service.</p><p> “I originally got involved in the ACCS to start a semester-long community service project within my fraternity at Emory, Beta Lambda Zeta,”Taylor said. “After the first project, I was hooked on the rewarding feeling I got from contributing to the community without expecting anything in return, and I realized that it was something that I wanted to dedicate my life to.”</p><p> Taylor says he is most excited about being a stranger in a foreign land during the next two years. He is embracing the opportunity to learn and adapt to a new culture. And he is dedicated to “doing his very best to address issues that have made the Zambian people’s walk through life more difficult than it has had to be.”</p><p> He’s looking forward to the possibility that his experience in Zambia will change him. “I want to come back from this experience with a new perspective on the world, and how we should try to relate to it no matter how different or odd it might seem to us outside of our own little piece,” Taylor said.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/699-adam-taylor" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/714-jarrett-dunning"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/53,72,821,840/1910_jarrett.rev.1515554170.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/53,72,821,840/1910_jarrett.rev.1515554170.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/53,72,821,840/1910_jarrett.rev.1515554170.jpg" alt="Jarrett Dunning" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/53,72,821,840/1910_jarrett.rev.1515554170.jpg 2x" data-max-w="768" data-max-h="768" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/714-jarrett-dunning"><p> Investigation of Power </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Enticed by the way power is used in our society, Jarrett is determined to expand upon his research in graduate school and to pass on his knowledge to future political theory students. </p><p> With a major in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE), Jarrett is attending graduate school at the University of Chicago to study Political Science and plans to receive his Ph.D. in political theory with the long-term goal of holding a professorship. During graduate school he plans to expand upon his honors thesis work which critically engages the causes of faction and more specifically, the various uses of power in the ordering, structure, and maintenance of human interaction. Following an intellectual tradition encompassing thinkers as diverse as Locke, Von Mises, Weber, and Foucault, he hopes to explore the power dynamics between the individual and the state and interrogate the corollaries of power as a result of social class, economic status, and the structure of state institutions. This inquiry into the nature of power also extends to the origins of political order, social contract theory and the function of private property in society.</p><p> As far as his hobbies go, Jarrett is a well–established bibliophile. He said, “I am known to stay up late into the night hunting the internet for that one rare or out-of-print edition that I can’t keep off my mind, or travel out of my way to visit obscure, used bookstores in hopes of coming across that next great find.” While attending graduate school, Jarrett also works as a Program Assistant for The Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography at the Newberry Library. As the world’s largest private research library, working at The Newberry has been an excellent opportunity for the expansion of Jarrett’s career and research interest.</p><div class="row sqs-row" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390393817_126"><div class="col sqs-col-5 span-5"><div class="sqs-block quote-block sqs-block-quote" data-block-type="31" id="block-yui_3_17_2_2_1423505275009_6882"><div class="sqs-block-content"></div></div></div></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/714-jarrett-dunning" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/705-john-honeycutt"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/705-john-honeycutt"><p> John Honeycutt: Successful Attorney </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> John Honeycutt said his experiences as a student at Emory & Henry reached far beyond the four walls and whiteboard, making a positive impact in his life a decade later.</p><p> As an attorney in Abingdon, Va., Honeycutt believes his college experience opened the door for his eventual profession.</p><p> “Becoming an attorney was not a driving force for me during college, but I enjoyed the legal classes I took through the political science department and eventually decided the study of law was more than a passing interest for me,” he said.</p><p> Honeycutt credits many members of the College community, including political science professor <a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joe Lane's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/822/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Joe Lane</a>, for building his confidence.</p><blockquote><a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joe Lane's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/822/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Lane</a> helped me become a big fish in a small pond, but at the same time, he made sure I knew there were lakes and oceans out there. When I got to the ‘lakes’ and ‘oceans,’ I wasn’t shocked by the fact that smart, capable people are everywhere. Instead, I knew I was one of them and found my own place.<a title="Learn more about this outstanding Emory and Henry College alum" href="http://www.pennstuart.com/attorneys/jhoneycutt.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John Honeycutt</a><br/> Attorney</blockquote><h2> A Successful Struggle</h2><p> As is typical for many college students, Honeycutt struggled early on to find the right academic path. “I come from a family of ministers, and I initially took a lot of religion courses with <a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joseph Reiff's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/888/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Reiff</a> and Dr. Kellogg,” he said. “I was close to going down the path of religion for my major and profession, but I was never quite as comfortable and confident with religion as I am with the law.  It’s funny how things work out.  I really appreciate what Joe Reiff and Fred Kellogg taught me. What I learned from them was a vital part of my E&H experience.”</p><p> Following graduation from E&H, Honeycutt earned a Masters of Public Administration at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before attending the College of Law at University of Tennessee. For the past four years, he has practiced employment law at Penn, Stuart & Eskridge in Abingdon, primarily representing employers in workers’ compensation claims filed by their employees. He also represents employers in federal employment discrimination law suits.</p><p> “E&H challenged and grew my capacity to work hard,” said Honeycutt. “When I was in graduate school and law school, I drew on the experience of classes I took from Dr. Lane, Dr. Kathleen Chamberlain, and Dr. Joe Reiff to get me through. The papers, tests, and presentations for these classes made me realize I had to be better to be successful. Those challenges pushed my limits, and when I got to graduate school and law school, I was able to handle the difficulty when other students from less strenuous undergraduate institutions could not.”</p><p> Honeycutt said E&H helped him learn about work ethic and self-awareness. “Most any institution of higher education can teach students facts and figures, but E&H does better than most,” he said. “What sets E&H apart, however, is the unique environment in which it teaches students those facts and figures. To those students who engage the entire college community, E&H provides context better than any other institution of higher education I’ve seen.”</p><p> He added, “I also appreciate my experience at the College because it’s where I met some wonderful friends with whom I’m still close more than 10 years later. I also met my wife, Jenna, while we were students at E&H.  We have a precious little girl, Anna Claire.  We love her, and we’re so proud of her.”</p><div id="social-sharing-links" class="right clearfix"></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/705-john-honeycutt" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/3-taequan-kates"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/3-taequan-kates"><p> Taequan Kates (’16) Learns Legal Lessons While Interning With Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Summer breaks are meant to be exactly that: a break from the stress and hard work of the academic year. However, rising Emory & Henry College senior Taequan Kates has a tough time slowing down.</p><p> Kates who grew up in Dewitt, Va. spent much of the summer in Richmond completing an internship at the Office of Attorney General Mark Herring.</p><p> Kates was tasked with editing <em>Virginia Rules</em>, a book containing state laws to ensure it lined up with the current code statutes. His daily responsibilities found him working closely with attorneys in the office reviewing laws relevant to current cases.</p><h2> Work on Campus</h2><p> When not in the courtroom, Kates was making plans for his next big job – student body president. Kates along with fellow rising senior and student body vice-president Katie Beth Bordwine (who was also in Richmond, Va. for an internship) has been focused on a list of goals for the academic year.</p><p> Their first consideration: the feasibility of building an outdoor basketball court on campus.</p><p> “I’ve spoken with several colleges asking them about their program and trying to figure out a way to incorporate an outdoor court into our campus, and I hope this is something we can bring to Emory & Henry,” Kates said.</p><p> In his remaining free time, Kates spent time working as a counselor for at-risk children in his community. It’s a cause close to his heart, and he said he wants these children to become better citizens so they can grow up with the opportunities to chase their dreams.</p><p> “I’ve done a lot this summer, but I know all the hard work was worth it.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/3-taequan-kates" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/713-kallie-scott-metz"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,100,157/363_KallieScott.rev.1500390114.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/png" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,100,157/363_KallieScott.rev.1500390114.png 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,100,157/363_KallieScott.rev.1500390114.png" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="100" data-max-h="157" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/713-kallie-scott-metz"><p> Aspiring to make a difference through medicine, Kallie is driven and devoted to serve.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div class="sqs-block html-block sqs-block-html" data-block-type="2" id="block-yui_3_17_2_3_1428668727508_105892"><div class="sqs-block-content"><p>   </p><p> “Ut prosim” (that I may serve) has been Kallie’s life motto as long as she could remember and has been a driving force in her academic and career goals. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology on the Pre–Med track, she is currently attending the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University to pursue a M.D. She said, “I chose to pursue a [undergraduate] degree in behavioral science because I enjoyed the humanistic approach that it provided to my medical interests—fulfilling my desire to understand both the personal/psychological and healthcare needs of my future patients.” Kallie’s passion for patient care can be seen in her Honors thesis research on the “Presentation of Disease Information in Genetic Testing,” which examines the “effects of disease information presentation, specifically treatability and genetic predictability information, on patients’ decision–making in determining whether or not to receive the results of incidental findings from new–generation genomic testing.”  </p><p> During her time at Emory & Henry, Kallie served as both a Resident Advisor and Head Resident Advisor in campus housing and as president of the Residence Hall Association. In addition, she was involved in multiple national honors societies including Psi Chi, Cardinal Key, and Phi Eta Sigma. As a member of the Psi Chi Psychology National Honors Society, she presented some of her research at the SEPA Annual Conference in 2014 and was one of sixteen projects to be awarded a Psi Chi Regional Research Award. During what little free time she has, Kallie says she enjoys all things related to summer—afternoon thunderstorms, beach trips, cookouts, fireflies, hammock reading/napping, family get–togethers, traveling, and roller coasters.  </p></div></div><div class="row sqs-row" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_126"><div class="col sqs-col-5 span-5" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_125"><div class="sqs-block image-block sqs-block-image sqs-text-ready" data-aspect-ratio="74.14248021108179" data-block-type="5" id="block-yui_3_17_2_3_1428668727508_46964"><div class="sqs-block-content" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_124"><div class="image-block-outer-wrapper layout-caption-below design-layout-inline sqs-narrow-width" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_123"><div class="intrinsic" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_122"><div class="image-block-wrapper has-aspect-ratio" data-description="pKallie presents her Honors thesis findings on the “Presentation of Disease Information in Genetic Testing.”/p" id="yui_3_17_2_1_1500390121633_121"></div><div class="image-caption-wrapper"><div class="image-caption"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="col sqs-col-5 span-5"><div class="sqs-block quote-block sqs-block-quote" data-block-type="31" id="block-yui_3_17_2_3_1428668727508_45262"><div class="sqs-block-content"><figure><blockquote> “At the end of my life I want to be able to say I’ve made a difference in the world through the impact I’ve had on those around me.…Medicine is the avenue through which I hope to make my mark on the world. </blockquote>— Kallie Scott ’15 </figure></div></div></div></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/713-kallie-scott-metz" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/851-toni-atkins"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/1825,0,2754,928/853_Toni_Atkins.rev.1507734140.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/1825,0,2754,928/853_Toni_Atkins.rev.1507734140.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/1825,0,2754,928/853_Toni_Atkins.rev.1507734140.jpg" alt="Toni Atkins (far right) gathered with friends at Emory & Henry when Pam Kestner (center) was presented an E&H Distinguished Alumn..." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/1825,0,2754,928/853_Toni_Atkins.rev.1507734140.jpg 2x" data-max-w="929" data-max-h="928" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/851-toni-atkins"><p> Toni Atkins began her trajectory in Appalachia, but she has made a name in the political world while serving in California.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Emory & Henry classmates will remember Toni as a basketball player, a member of Alpha Beta Chi, and a thoughtful, insightful, inquisitive student. </p><p> These days she is taking that thoughtful insight and using it to build better health care and housing access for those in need. </p><p> A recent Roanoke Times article implies that Toni may be the most powerful female politician to come out of Virginia. One could argue if “female” needs to be in that headline.</p><p> Regardless of Toni’s status and stature, she is often seen back in Southwest Virginia reconnecting the E&H campus – talking with students, supporting old friends, and talking politics with her mentor, Dr. Steve Fisher.</p><p> Read the article here to get a fuller picture of just what a difference she is making to her constituency: <a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/dan_casey/casey-the-most-powerful-female-pol-ever-to-emerge-from/article_b53279d6-4e14-50c5-9f56-89a65b94130b.html#.V-ptOHyxvRI.facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">read more…</a></p><p> Or, watch for her at E&H events to see what a difference she’s still making at her alma mater.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/851-toni-atkins" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/13-sydney-england"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/13-sydney-england"><p> Sydney England (’14) Receives Prestigious Fellowship Opportunity </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> She received the Armbrister Memorial Scholarship for freshmen honors and the Outstanding Senior Award from the Sociology Department. She was on the dean’s list all eight semesters while a student at Emory & Henry, and she graduated summa cum laude with college honors. She also was inducted into several national honor societies.</p><p> Is it any wonder that Sydney England is one of only two students throughout the country selected to receive the Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship, providing a two-year period of work and study in philanthropy and charitable work?</p><p> England, a 2014 graduate of Emory & Henry College, was nominated by the college, which is among many liberal arts colleges and universities eligible for support from the Jessie DuPont Fund. England was selected from a large field of applicants.</p><blockquote> Dr. Joe Lane brought the fellowship opportunity to my attention. I don’t know if I ever fully set my sights on the fellowship because it always seemed like a long shot.Sydney EnglandClass of 2014</blockquote><p> The Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship program, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., is designed to provide practical experience for students interested in careers with nonprofit, faith-based, or philanthropic organizations. As a fellow, England is exposed to foundation governance, grant making, governmental oversight, and industry events.</p><p> “Responsibilities shift daily, but primarily it’s a lot of research and grant management. The fellows are really there to support senior staffers with some of their project management and report preparation,” explained England.</p><p> “This fellowship will afford me an acute insight into the full life-cycle of a grant, from initial proposal to grant management and re-evaluation. It’s very rare to have the opportunity to see this grant maturation within a wide array of nonprofit organizations at my age and experience level,” she said.</p><p> “I’m really just hoping to develop a strong grant writing and nonprofit management portfolio and to engage in meaningful personal research during my two years at the Fund.”</p><p> England is among the fifth class of fellows at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Some of their predecessors work with the Peace Corps, religious organizations, and community-based nonprofits.</p><p> Her accomplishments at Emory & Henry are equally impressive.</p><p> The alumna doubled majored in sociology and history with a minor in women’s studies. “When I entered Emory & Henry, I was the conventional high-performing student who was primarily concerned with grades. If nothing else, E&H taught me that if you aren’t imagining beyond your goals, you aren’t giving yourself enough latitude to grow.”</p><p> While a student at Emory & Henry, England was a research assistant, and she also gained experience working for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign for governor in Virginia.</p><p> Her honors thesis was entitled “Check Here: A Critique of Normative Discursive Categorization within Survey Construction.” The premise of her research was to address some of the General Social Survey’s methodological limitations.</p><p> “I found that nominal and mutually-exclusive language, as it pertains to the General Social Survey categorization of sex, creates a false sense of normativeness within American society and harshly limits the accuracy of data when causal inferences link these two categories to various other demographic features within the data set. Ultimately, I created an alternative survey proposal that I hope will be adopted more frequently on campus.”</p><p> England said her experiences at Emory & Henry have enabled her to be a successful person, employee, and citizen.</p><p> “I feel the impact of my liberal arts education daily and in several dimensions. First, I often find myself willing to engage in critical, solutions-oriented dialogue, and I think that’s a direct result of the type of Socratic courses that you regularly find at Emory.</p><p> “Second, I’m acutely aware of the impact that place has on people, and this is really imperative when you’re in a workspace. I’m really aware of workplace dynamics and organizational core values. Those are really important to understand when you’re trying to figure out how you, the individual, fit into the structure. At Emory, we were constantly reminded of how people and place are inextricably connected.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/13-sydney-england" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/718-fallon-walker-grindstead"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,975,975/437_unnamed.rev.1502370732.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,975,975/437_unnamed.rev.1502370732.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,975,975/437_unnamed.rev.1502370732.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,975,975/437_unnamed.rev.1502370732.jpg 2x" data-max-w="975" data-max-h="975" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/718-fallon-walker-grindstead"><p> Fallon Walker Grindstead, ’13 leads in Chilhowie </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Fallon Walker Grinstead is a 2013 graduate of Emory & Henry from Chilhowie, Virginia.  Fallon majored in our teacher preparation program in Health & Physical Education.  She is entering her 5^thyear of teaching and her 9^th year of coaching volleyball at Chilhowie Middle School.  In 2014-2015, she helped create the Health and Physical Education curriculum for Smyth County Schools and last year she was honored as Teacher of the Year for her school.  In  addition, the past two years, the Chilhowie JV Volleyball team has won the Mountain West Conference Championship.  Fallon says  her overall goal is to “help each student  find something active they enjoy.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/718-fallon-walker-grindstead" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/12-jason-jones"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/12-jason-jones"><p> Jason Jones (’12) Giving Hope to At-Risk Children</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> In a school district where the failure rate is very high and the pass rate is very low, Jason Jones is making a difference.</p><p> The 2012 Emory & Henry graduate is giving hope every day to at-risk children in San Antonio, Texas, hundreds of miles from his hometown in Greeneville, Tenn., where he teaches K-5 music during the day and, after school, directs the choir and orchestra, teaches music memory, and advises the yearbook staff.</p><p> And, he’s doing it one note at a time.</p><p> Two years ago, Jones introduced orchestra music to students at Highlands Hills Elementary School, the only one among 54 schools in the district that has an orchestra program.</p><p> The results have been astounding.</p><p> “I’ve seen students who were not motivated to be in school. I’ve seen students who were making low grades and poor choices,” said Jones.</p><p> “After a fifth-grade student joined the orchestra, she got involved in school. She became a school patrol; she went on to middle school where she continued to take music. She’s taken all honor classes—just because she was in the orchestra. It changed her life, and it’s changing the lives of other students.”</p><p> Following college graduation, Jones completed a two-year position with Teach for America at Highland Hills Elementary School. When his two-year position was completed, he was asked to stay.</p><p> Jones said he was among 54,000 applicants when he applied for the Teach for America position in 2012. The organization only accepted 5,000 teachers that year and only 100 of them were placed in San Antonio.</p><p> No doubt about it, he’s making his mark on education.</p><p> Jones witnessed more affluent schools in the district enjoying generous budgets while his school did not have the money for extra music programs.</p><p> “I didn’t think it was fair that students in the richer part of the city got to learn these instruments and my students on the south side of San Antonio in a poor neighborhood didn’t have those same opportunities,” Jones said. “Nearly 100 percent of the children eat free and reduced lunches. They can’t afford instruments or music lessons. Some of their parents work as many as four jobs.”</p><p> He couldn’t help but think back to the conversations that took place in Dr. Julia Wilson’s sociology classroom when he was a student. “Fighting for the less fortunate people who don’t know how to help themselves really stuck with me.”</p><p> So, instead of complaining, he and a middle school orchestra teacher applied for a grant to receive help. Their school was awarded a $10,000 grant from San Antonio Independent School District Foundation (SAISD), which paid for 20 instruments for the students in 2012. Two years later, the school received another $500 for upkeep costs to the instruments.</p><p> “I will be applying for another grant this coming school year because I should have 35 to 40 students in orchestra,” he said.</p><p> Before Jones received the grant money, he was paying for music supplies out of his own pocket. “There’s no extra pay or stipends for running the orchestra program. I just call it a love for teaching,” said Jones, who learned Spanish on his own so that he could teach six Spanish classes at the school.</p><p> When his co-worker became ill, Jones took over the program. “I’d never taken a strings course; I don’t play violin, cello or bass. “I concentrated in voice and piano at Emory & Henry, but, I was given the music education skills at Emory & Henry to be able to teach strings.”</p><p>  Jones also has organized a student choir at the school. “The first year I had 12 students in choir class, now I have 85 or more. I’m also adding a hand bells choir next year.”</p><p> Perhaps the most exciting news is that all of Jones’ orchestra students passed standardized tests this year, and 90 percent of his fifth-grade choir students passed the tests.</p><p> His work at the school seems never-ending.</p><p> Jones started after-school clubs at the school, one of which is a music memory academic club that meets once a week for third-through-fifth-grade students. “We study scores of classical pieces. They have to memorize and learn every piece, who wrote it, when they wrote it, and the names of large and small works,” he explained. His students entered a regional competition this year and nearly all of the students placed.</p><p> In addition, he received a grant to organize a year book club, allowing the school to publish its first year book in 30 years.</p><p> Jones is earning a second master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio where he received the Presidential Scholarship from the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. He also received the Dashnell Endowment Scholarship for which he was the first elementary focus to receive.</p><p> He is being mentored by the nation’s leading expert on a Dalcroze Eurythmics at UTSA, a developmental approach to enhance musical expression and understanding for students of all ages.</p><p> He is an active member of the San Antonio Teachers’ Alliance (campus representative), the Texas State Teachers’ Association (regional and state delegate), the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and the Texas Music Educators’ Association.  For two years, he has been a 2012 corps member for the San Antonio Region of Teach for America. </p><p> One of his best pieces of advice to future teachers:</p><blockquote> I teach my students how to be thinkers. I learned at Emory & Henry to be a thinker, not a follower or just a doer, but instead a thinker and a leader. And that’s what I want my students to learn.</blockquote></div><a href="/live/profiles/12-jason-jones" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/683-victor-trussell"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,33,533,566/322_Victor_Trussell.rev.1499440958.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,33,533,566/322_Victor_Trussell.rev.1499440958.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,33,533,566/322_Victor_Trussell.rev.1499440958.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="533" data-max-h="533" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/683-victor-trussell"><p> Victor Trussell ’13 starting acting on a whim – and now he’s acting professionally.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Victor says he started acting his freshman year of high school, enjoyed it so much he majored in theatre at Emory & Henry, and now he on the stage all the time.</p><p> “I have been performing with a variety of different professional theatre companies since graduation. I have toured the country multiple times with companies like Bright Star Touring Theatre and The National Theatre for Children, both listed by Backstage as ’12 Touring Theater Companies That Make a Difference.’” Not only has acting become his vocation, but he is proud of the impact he is having on school kids.  “These experiences have allowed me to perform for thousands of children, educating them on a range of topics spanning from historical figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. to the importance of energy conservation.”</p><p> His range of theatre involvement shows an amazing array of skills. He has performed with <em>Trumpet in the Land</em>, a historical outdoor drama in New Philadelphia, Ohio, that tells the story of frontier Ohio.  And he has also been in <em>Hairspray</em>, <em>Les Miserables</em>, and even <em>Winnie the Pooh</em>.</p><p> In the summer of 2016, Victor will be performing at the Tecumseh Theater in Ohio doing Shakespeare. “Either <em>The Tempest</em> or <em>Macbeth</em>, or both!”</p><p> Victor is also a playwright. His one-act play <em>Millennial Show</em> has been published in the first edition of <em>Young Scribblers</em>, a publication started by fellow E&H alum Forrest Williams (E&H ’16). “The play, in the form of a variety show, pokes fun at generational stereotypes as well as challenges the ‘problems’ young people face today. Taken from real interviews, <em>Millennial Show</em> also features commentary on related topics addressed within the play.”</p><p> Victor ended up at Emory & Henry because he “loved the intimacy of the campus and classes. I had a ton of hands-on experience in the theatre department.” He is planning to use that experience to keep on writing and performing and inspiring others.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/683-victor-trussell" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>