First United, First National recognized for helping MCC

Grants approved for Upward Bound program

WKCTC leadership classes encourage students to succeed

The Messenger
November 8, 2003

First United, First National recognized for helping MCC

Madisonville Community College will honor First United Bank and First National Bank of Muhlenberg County at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System's President's Gala and Benefactors Awards Dinner tonight.

Both banks are "longtime friends of the college," said MCC President Dr. Judy Rhoads.

"First National Bank and their board members have provided over $400,000 in private support to the Muhlenberg campus since 1994," Rhoads said.

"Likewise, First United Bank is a contributor in many different areas to campus life in Madisonville," she said. "The bank continues to sponsor our popular Coffeehouse series at the Glema Center, and (Bank President) Steve Cox is currently chair of the Madisonville College Foundation. Jim McMurtrie has worked very hard over the past 48 months to grow our community choir, and other bank employees have worked on the college's behalf.

"Both banks recognize that private support and volunteer efforts make our college a quality one," Rhoads said. "We, as a college, are honored to be able to recognize their efforts."

First National Bank and First United Bank join six other benefactors recognized by MCC during the past three years. They are Richard Frymire and Trover Foundation of Madisonville, John Stovall and Muhlenberg Community Hospital of Greenville, the Everly Brothers Foundation of Central City and Old National Bank.

The fourth annual gala and dinner is being held in the Bluegrass Grand Ballroom of the Lexington Center Heritage Hall.

At the system level, KCTCS is honoring Martha C. Johnson of Lexington and the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels.

Johnson served for six years on the KCTCS Board of Regents, and was its founding chair. She currently serves as a member of the KCTCS Foundation Inc. She is vice president of divisional communications for Ashland Inc., based in Lexington.

The Kentucky Colonels are being honored for donating to KCTCS $320,000 over five years to establish the Kentucky Colonels Better Life Scholarship Program. KCTCS announced the donation recently while kicking off its major gifts campaign, called "Fulfilling the Promise."

The Messenger
November 8, 2003

Grants approved for Upward Bound program

Madisonville Community College's TRIO Upward Bound program has been awarded a four-year grant of $222,000 annually to provide services to 50 students at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School.

This is the second grant the program has been awarded recently.

Earlier this year, the program received renewal of its current grant for $295,000 annually for four years to serve 60 students at MNHHS, Hopkins County Central, Muhlenberg South, Muhlenberg North, Providence and Webster County high schools.

"When I was writing our initial grant, I was looking for a way to serve more students," said Upward Bound Director Bill Hailey. "The only way to get additional funding was to write multiple grants."

With MNHHS covered in the second grant, Upward Bound will be able to serve more students at the other five schools.

"All the high schools benefit from the second grant because we will be able to pick up additional students at each of our schools," Hailey said.

MCC's Upward Bound program has been serving students for 14 years, and this is the first time more than one grant application was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education.

"Having a second grant to serve a single high school is new territory for us," Hailey said. "Madisonville-North's Principal Jim Martin has pledged his full support in making the Upward Bound program a success. We will be recruiting students in November and December and will be in full swing when school starts back in January."

Upward Bound students receive instruction in ACT preparation, study skills, computer literacy, math, reading, writing, literature, science and foreign language. They also are given college application advising, financial aid information, tutoring, cultural enrichment activities, career information, ACT tuition, travel opportunities and stipends for certain activities.

Upward Bound is a federally funded academic enrichment program for high school students who will be first-generation college students and can demonstrate a need for academic support. Participants usually begin during their freshman year and stay with the program throughout high school.

The Paducah Sun
November 9, 2003

WKCTC leadership classes encourage students to succeed
By Janett Blythe

Growing up the youngest of 15 children, Corey Bellamy saw his share of struggles. But as the special assistant to the Kentucky attorney general, he learned the value of adversity.

"Leadership requires a struggle and the struggle defines the type of leader you will be," Bellamy said before speaking at the 11th annual Minority Student Leadership Conference at West Kentucky Community and Technical College on Saturday.

"People believe you just wake up and you are born a leader," he said. "That's not true. Leadership takes planning. It takes assessing and thorough development to determine what kind of leader you want to be."

More than 100 young people took part in the one-day workshop designed to expose middle school, high school and college students to leadership development and networking opportunities.

The program featured a half dozen motivational speakers including Patrick White, a financial adviser; Dr. Johnston A.K. Njoku, a Western Kentucky University associate professor, and Marcus Turnley, a physician assistant.

Speaker Barbara Burrage of Paducah had her audience applauding and laughing as she discussed the obstacles to success facing young African Americans today.

"Don't get hung up on the physical part of what you see in the mirror," Burrage told the young women in her "Sister 2 Sister" session. "Use what you do have and make it work for you."

Bellamy, 35, the featured speaker at the conference, has worked in the attorney general's office since 1995. A graduate of the Governor's Minority Management Program, he is an associate minister at Christ Temple New Assemble Apostolic Church in Lexington and is also a graduate of the 2002 Leadership Frankfort Class.

Bellamy said he wanted the young audience members to understand that struggles come daily in life. "Our biggest struggles come from within," he said, "and we have to learn to encourage ourselves to continue on and not to be overcome by the odds."