63rd Year--Vol. 1
Northeast Mississippi Community College--Booneville, Miss.
October 5, 2011
Homecoming 2011 features variety of events The Beacon Staff Reports
Northeast will carry a local flare into its 2011 Homecoming with six women from Booneville on the 13-member court. Members of the homecoming court were announced with six freshman and seven sophomores comprising the 2011 Homecoming Court. Freshman on the 2011 Homecoming Court include Anna Lauren Inman of Walnut, Lauren Davis of Glen, Whitney Reddell of Corinth and Darbi Grisham, Kate Carver and Molly Koon, all of Booneville. Sophomore maids include Raven Traylor of Tupelo, Sallie Richardson of Olive Branch, Satoria Isby of Shannon, Tess Cornelius of Glen, Carlie McGrew, Casey Davis and Hannah Hastings all of Booneville. Traylor, Richardson and Isby were the three sophomores to advance to the 2011 Homecoming Queen run-off. After the runoff, Richardson was declared queen with Traylor and Isby joining the sophomore court. Northeast will present its homecoming court at halftime of the Tigers football game against East Mississippi on Saturday, October 8 at 3 p.m. However, the college has a bevy of homecoming activities leading up to the
Homecoming Agenda
Saturday, October 8
10:30 a.m. Sports Hall of Fame Reception noon Sports Hall of Fame Induction 2:30 p.m. 1970 Baseball State Runner-up 1968-82 Football Reunion 3 p.m. Kickoff East Miss. vs. Northeast Halftime Crowning of Queen crowning of the queen. College officials will kickoff the day with a reception honoring the 2011 inductees into the Northeast Sports Hall of Fame in the Black and Gold Room in the Haney Union at 10:30 a.m. The induction luncheon for the is set for noon in the Claude Wright Room of the Union. Pre-game festivities featuring Coach Ralph Johnson’s 1970 State Runner-Up baseball team, Coach Bill Ward and the 1968-1982 football players reunion and the Tiger Marching Band will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m.
Northeast elects SGA representatives By Kayla Carpenter Editor During the last week of August and first week of September, creative signs adorned the walls and windows of the Haney Union. These signs were designed and posted by the candidates running for Student Government Association. Students voted for candidates on Tuesday, September 13 by going to the Northeast homepage (http://www. nemcc.edu) and clicking on the Freshman SGA link. After clicking on the link, students were asked for their first and last name, last four digits of their student ID, and for their Northeast email address. After typing in all necessary information, students could then vote for three of the candidates by clicking on their names. According to the Northeast’s student handbook, each student at Northeast becomes a member of the SGA after enrolling with the college. Northeast’s Student Government Association’s purpose is to plan events for students, hold student discussions, to present helpful student suggests to faculty and administration and to act in an advisory capacity for students. Northeast’s SGA is also the beginning for any student wanting to submit a planning proposal for the college. See SGA, on page 5
Northeast recently filled the remaining part of its 2011-12 Student Government Association (SGA) during campuswide elections in early September. Representing the college on the SGA council are sophomore representatives Toby Brandon, Claire Wilkerson, freshman representative Lindsay Long, Murphy Hall representative Dominique Allen, freshman representative Argerie Marin, Wood Hall representative Jonathan Blasingame along with (back row l-r) Wood Hall representative Helen Staten, sophomore representative Sarah Jayde Bobo, freshman representative Michael Posey, vice-president Sam Steen, president Seth Bragg, secretary/treasurer Sallie Richardson, Yarber Hall representative Lucas Ferguson, White Hall representative Blake Littlejohn and Mississippi Hall representative Lauren Stevens.
Band member ascends Mount Whitney By Kayla Carpenter Editor
Northeast band member Philip Kelly of Corinth had an adventurous summer climbing to the summit of Mount Whitney in Washington
Most Northeast student’s “typical” summer consisted of work, wonderful vacations and mostly just relaxing. However, Northeast student Philip Kelly’s “typical” summer turned into an adventurous summer. Kelly’s brother James and James’ girlfriend Sarah Belue of Iuka recruited Kelly, who is a percussion member of Northeast’s ‘Showband from Tigerland,’ to climb Mount Whitney. “A little over a month before the trip, James told me he had signed us up,” Belue said. Only 30,000 people are allowed to attempt the climb every year, and of those, only 10,000 reach the top. In order to get a pass to go, James had to go online and enter a drawing for the three climbers. According to the National Geological Survey, Mount Whitney, at 14,494 feet, is the highest peak in the lower 48 states. “We plan on going back there,” Philip
Kelly said. “This time, we’re going to wear suits and play chess on the summit.” The drive to Lone Pine took the group four days. Taking full advantage of the road trip, the group made stops at the Roswell Space Museum in New Mexico, the Meteor Crater in Arizona and the Grand Canyon. To prepare for the trip, James also did research on altitude sickness or acute mountain sickness. Symptoms of the disease include difficulty sleeping, nausea, dizziness, rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath. Symptoms of more acute mountain sickness are blue or gray colored skin, tightness in the chest, confusion and inability to walk. The illness happens as a result of a person going into a higher altitude than they are used to. After reviewing the research, the three made a pact that if any of them showed symptoms of the illness, they would all three come back down. “We crossed several snow fields,” James said. “Most of them were about 50 feet long, but there was one that was about 100 yards.”
On one snow field, the trio saw where a path had been warn through the snow in a place called ‘the chute.” The group drove to an elevation of 10,000 feet, hiked to a base camp at 12,000 feet and planned on hiking to the summit before returning to base camp. However, mosquitoes at the camp prevented the climbers from sleeping, and they returned to where they had parked at about 8,000 feet. On the way up the mountain, the group crossed a creek. “It was about 15 feet wide,” James said. “It wasn’t very deep and it was slowmoving. We just crossed it by jumping over the rocks in it.” When the trio came back, things were a little different. “It was dark out and we had only packed one light,” James said. “It had doubled in size, to about 30 feet and the water was rushing.” On their way back to Mississippi, the group visited more UFO sites in Roswell and an air and space museum in Oklahoma.