Reprinted from the Daily Herald By Clay Wilson
Classroom 142 of the Mercer Regional Academic Center was as tense as a newsroom on deadline Thursday.
Indeed, the click of keyboards and the concentration of the writers pointed to a looming deadline. The 20-or-so youngsters in the class were typing away on their almost-final drafts of works that were on their way to the publisher.
The rising fourth-through-rising sixth graders from the Henry and Spalding County school systems were participating in Mercer University's "College for Kids Budding Authors" program.
"You can see the tension," said program coordinator Natasha Griffin. "It's crunch time.
The program takes (students) through the writing process-the drafting, the editing, the revising.
"We're trying to help motivate them to keep writing and to make writing a lifelong learning experience," said Mercer's Larry Robinson.
The coordinator of the university's Macon...
MACON - Noted political scientist Charles S. Bullock III will deliver a lecture on "Lessons from the Presidential Selection Process" at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 21, in the auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building on Mercer University's Macon campus.
Mercer Theatre director, professor and alumnus Scot Mann has his feet in two worlds this month with the opening of two musicals in which he plays major roles behind the scenes. Mercer Theatre's co-production with Mercer Opera of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music opens at The Grand Opera House on April 13. His second role as fight director for the premiere of the star-studded production of a new play, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, opens at The Alliance Theatre, Atlanta's reigning professional playhouse located at the Woodruff Center, on Wednesday.
WHO: Mercer Students and the Macon Community
WHO: Mercer University freshman engineering students and engineering faculty members
WHAT: Students are designing and constructing vehicles using K'Nex building toys to compete in the following categories: boat, amphibious, dragster, cable car, rampster and tug-o-war.
WHEN: 3- 5 p.m., Friday, April 16
WHERE: Mercer University School of Engineering Building. Go to South Campus Entrance off Mercer University Drive.
WHY: The students enrolled in EGR 107 - the freshman engineering course - have been designing and building vehicles using K'Nex building kits. These vehicles will compete in a variety of events at the School of Engineering. Each design category will have four to six design teams competing. This is a fun and challenging way for students to put their designs to the test and learn the skills necessary to succeed in the engineering field.
There will be many opportunities for video and photos....
KENNESAW, Ga. - The Mercer men's basketball team topped league-leading Kennesaw State, 77-70, Saturday night in Atlantic Sun Conference action at the KSU Convocation Center. The Bears avenged an earlier loss to the Owls suffered just nine days ago in Macon.
After guard Jacob Skogen opened the scoring with a 12-foot jumper in the lane, the Owls went on a 7-2 run, grabbing an early 7-4 lead. But the Bears battled back with a 9-2 run of their own to take a 13-7 lead with just over 13 minutes left in the opening half. Skogen's 3-pointer from the left side capped the run.
After the Owls closed the gap to just two, at 19-17 with under eight minutes to go, sophomore Sam Dolan hit one-of-two free throws, and following a 3-pointer by guard Montavious Waters from the right wing and a deuce by Andrew Brown from just inside the arc, the Bears took an eight-point lead, their largest of the opening stanza. A free throw by Skogen at the 1:20 mark gave Mercer (5-12,...
MACON - Douglas Blackmon, author of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, will give a lecture at Mercer University on March 1 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Science and Engineering Building. The lecture, titled "A Persistent Past: Reckoning with a Troubled Racial History in the Age of Obama," is free and open to the public.
ATLANTA - Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner James E. Donald will deliver the keynote address to graduates of Mercer University's Public Safety Leadership Institute during a ceremony Monday, March 6, at 1 p.m. at Mercer's Cecil B. Day Campus in Atlanta.
Eleven public safety officers from the Metropolitan Atlanta area representing various agencies including law enforcement, rescue and fire departments will receive a certificate of recognition during the ceremony.
Donald, who retired as a major general from the United States Army, became the first African American to head Georgia's Department of Corrections when Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed him to the post on Dec. 1, 2003. Before leading the 14,400-employee Department of Corrections, Donald had a distinguished 33-year career in the Army.
Donald retired in September 2003 as Deputy Chief of Staff for the United States Army Forces Command, where he was responsible for the development, execution and...
ATLANTA - Hollie Benet Preston of Tucker, Ga., received Mercer University's highest university student honor Saturday, May 6, at the commencement on the Atlanta campus. The nursing graduate received The Griffin B. Bell Award for Community Service, the only award given to a graduating student from among the University's 10 colleges and schools who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to service of others.
During the graduation ceremony, Preston received a crystal Steuben sculpture. The award is named for Mercer alumnus and longtime trustee Judge Griffin B. Bell, whom most Americans recognize as the United States Attorney General during the administration of President Jimmy Carter.
She is the daughter of Stephen and Christy of Monroe. She is a member of the Center Hill Baptist Church, Loganville.
Preston entered Georgia Baptist College of Nursing of Mercer as a first-generation, first-year college student. Having already developed strong leadership...
MACON - Mercer University is hosting a Fulbright Scholar over the coming weeks as part of its efforts to foster a greater understanding of the Muslim world, both inside and outside the University. The scholar will also help the University to infuse its curriculum with a greater emphasis on, and understanding of, the Muslim world.
