SUSCC President Promotes Training Opportunities Internationally

CONTRIBUTED BY SUSCC

OPELIKA — Southern Union State Community College President

Todd Shackett joined Economic Development professionals from across Alabama at the Paris Air Show last week to advance relationships with aerospace companies that could pay off with future projects.

The capabilities of Alabama’s universities were on display on day one of the event during a panel discussion titled “Made in Alabama: Tapping into the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline.”

The moderator was Kimberly Robison, director of Huntsville’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center, with panelists Chuck Karr, president of the University of Alabama in Huntsville; Shackett, president of Southern Union State Community College; and Steven Taylor, senior vice president for Research and Economic Development, Auburn University. The educators outlined programs and initiatives that are preparing the students at these institutions for careers in aerospace, aviation and other fields.

“Our delegation discussed how we support industry through our graduates, certifications/training and project resources,” Shackett said. “We emphasized the key roles we play in technical workforce development for Alabama.” ABOUT SUSCC

Jamie Williams.

A lifer and graduate at Smiths Station High School, Simpson has been around the Lee County area for a long time. He was a part of the Panthers’ first ever wrestling team, and after graduation, as he has been a community coach in Russell County, as well as being head coach at Central Phenix-City, Shaw in Columbus, Georgia, and most recently, Hardaway in Columbus.

Simpson will coach boys and girls wrestling at both the varsity and junior varsity levels in addition to teaching health at the high school in his first year in 7A. While he is dealing with deeper rosters on both sides of the mat this season after coaching in 4A at Hardaway, his approach will stay the same.

“I’ve coached AllAmericans,” Simpson said. “I’ve coached state champs. I’ve coached state finalists, placers and qualifiers, but when it all comes down to it, the main thing is trying to set people up to succeed not only on the mat but off the mat as well. The goal behind everything I do is to set people up to succeed when they leave high school.”

In order to set his players up for future success, one of Simpson’s main priorities is building a team culture built around hard work. Some qualities that he aspires to teach are perseverance, integrity, grit and determination. According to Simpson, those skills transfer into any situation the players encounter after high school.

While Simpson wants the lessons he teaches to go beyond wrestling, they are all tools that will bolster Opelika wrestling and help it continue to

SUSCC offers hands-on training and certification in Aviation Technology and Mechatronics. These programs provide resources and specialized training developed collaboratively with industry partners.

For more information on SUSCC’s technical and workforce development training opportunities, contact Joffrey Moore, director of technical education, at jmoore@ suscc.edu.

2023, going into conference play batting .431. Her bat went cold at that point, however, and after 13 at bats across seven games in March and April, she was replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Rose Roach in the LSU series. McCondichie made nine more starts after that series, but was again benched on Senior Day and didn’t make another start until the regional after that.

“For me, I can stand here confidently and say I gave my absolute all to the Auburn softball program,” McCondichie continued in her Twitter thread. “In return, I got benched as a starter on SENIOR DAY. This isn’t for attention, this is for athletes to come. THEY DESERVE BETTER. STUDENT-ATHLETES ARE MUCH MORE THAN STUDENTS AND MUCH MORE THAN ATHLETES. They are human beings.”

Auburn’s had its second straight 40-win season in 2023 and ended with the same result as the year before: a season-ending loss in the Clemson Regional. It was a strong season with many great performances, but what followed raised some eyebrows.

Four veteran players and key offensive contributors transferred to other major Power 5 programs, including: former SEC Freshman of the Year, junior Bri Ellis (Arkansas); senior third baseman, Denver Bryant (South Carolina; junior catcher and designated hitter); Jesse Blaine (Mississippi State); and graduate outfielder Lindsey Garcia (Clemson). Those players have combined to make 443 starts at Auburn and have hit 78 homers all together. Between those losses and not returning McCondichie, Auburn softball has four starting spots to fill going into 2024 and will lose a lot of depth and experience as well.

Starting on May 22, when Ellis announced her decision to enter the portal, the exit of such valuable, respected players has been puzzling to many fans. So, McCondichie’s statements might be shining some light on the situation. None of the other former Auburn players made statements regarding displeasure with the program, but Ellis and Bryant did retweet McCondichie’ thread with words of support.

McCondichie has the option to transfer elsewhere climb the ladder.

“I’m a big fan of kids working hard, and the harder they work, the harder I have to work,” Simpson said. “I don’t look at the success of a season based off wins and losses; I look at the success of a season a couple years down the road when people come back and tell me all the things that they were able to do because of what we were doing. By default, you end up with a pretty good wrestling team.” and use her fifth year of eligibility, but after her experience at Auburn, she said she is done with softball.

She ended by reiterating her appreciation for Auburn, but explained her disappointment with her experience in college softball. Her use of bolded words reiterates that it’s only the coaching that she is displeased with.

“With that being said, I will always continue to support Auburn Softball PLAYERS,” McCondichie said to end her Twitter thread. “But for me, my softball career is OVER and the thought of even playing one game brings me much anxiety, sadly.”

Contributed By Auburn University

AUBURN —

Growing up, Jyoti Yadav was no stranger to a key carrier of one of the world’s deadliest viruses.

Packs of stray dogs — the carriers — remain common throughout Yadav’s home country of India to this day and were often found in her neighborhood. The deadly virus — rabies — is prevalent in India and is almost exclusively passed to humans by way of a dog bite, becoming fatal nearly 100% of the time the moment symptoms appear.

“India has an enormous burden of rabies virus,” Yadav said. “If we look at the numbers, almost one third of the total worldwide rabies cases are reported in India, 97% of which is caused by stray dogs. India has reported about 62 million stray dogs across the country, which — if we put into perspective — is almost double the population of California. Since stray dogs are one of the primary sources of the rabies transmission, it is a significant problem.”

It's a deadly threat that Yadav has been committed to treating, and to accomplish her goal, she found a strong and supportive partner many miles away from her home: Auburn University.

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME PARTNER

“Auburn has offered me the perfect space and opportunity to try to make a real impact in whatever small manner I can and gave me a sense of purpose all while nurturing the little researcher in me,” Yadav, an Auburn graduate student whose doctoral project is focused on a gene therapy for rabies, said. “I have been very lucky to be able to receive and use all of the many resources offered here at Auburn and am enjoying an unwavering amount of positive support from every single person in my lab. I really feel grateful for being here and working among such pas-