Parent/Family Appreciation Day Provides Family Atmosphere; Honors Family

Managing Editor
  

Courtesy of Micah Bateman

Family of the Year- Randy Bolen, Brittany Pickett, Trudie Bolen, Jasmine Bolen, Chelsea Bolen and Penny Thornton pose for a photo for Family of the Year.Trudie and Randy Bolen received the award. For more pictures of Parent/Family Day, please click here.

   Students received the chance to introduce their parents to their teachers at a reception held before the special ceremony. Different schools of study from UAM, representatives from the McGehee campus and others set up tables in the Fine Arts Center’s Spencer Gallery.

   The special ceremony consisted of the Chancellor's greeting, the giving away of prizes, a performance by the choir and the awarding of the Family of the Year. A crowd cheer led by Clay Brown, vice chancellor of Student Affairs, and a comedian/ hypnotist entertained after the ceremony. Families and student dined at the Chancellor’s Indoor Picnic held at the John F. Gibson University Center Gym. 

    Lassiter gave out prizes to the crowd in tradition of the day during the special program. He gave a prize for the family there with the most members, who traveled the farthest to come here, who had the most family members enrolled at UAM, which parent and child looked alike, who could show a picture of their student the quickest and which family showed the most spirit.

   A family of 10 won the prize for the most family members. For the family who traveled farthest, three families from California tied and each received a prize. Each family came from a different part of California including; Fresno, Ventura and Hercules.  

   The family of SGA Vice President Ronald Forte won the most members enrolled at UAM with his wife, sister-n-law, niece, daughter and himself enrolled. The father of Stewart Pearson won the prize for showing the fastest picture.

   Brenda Porter, the mother of junior Steven Porter, #83 for the Boll Weevils, jumped up shaking her green and white pom-poms and cheered when Lassiter asked which family had the most UAM green on. The Porter family including Brenda, Willa Porter, grandmother Willa Gentry and father Steven Porter dressed in UAM-themed clothing.

   Porter described how she felt about UAM and Monticello.

   “I love the fact that everyone is very friendly and it’s a small town atmosphere with a metropolitan attitude,” Porter said.

     Lassiter introduced the UAM Choir during the special ceremony. The Choir performed three pieces; “Glory to the Lord” from the first chorus in George Handel’s “Messiah,” “I’m Gonna Sing ‘til the Spirit Moves in My Heart” and the “Alma mater.” Rashaad Calaham and Matthew Golden sang a solo together in the song, “I’m Gonna Sing ‘til the Spirit Moves in My Heart.”

   The Choir will perform “Glory of the Lord” with the Arkansas Choral Society with Members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra at the First Pentecostal Church in North Little Rock Dec. 4.

     The day provided fun and games for families and UAM students, but also appreciation for family.

   Each Parent/Family Appreciation Day, UAM awards one family nominated by a student or students for the Family of the Year award. The family selected may have helped the student get into college or stay in college. The nomination required the student to write a short essay describing why their family member deserved recognition. The selected family may not be related to the student or students, but they have helped the student in some way.

    Julie Gentry, director of Intramurals and Recreation, announced Trudie and Randy Bolen, the parents of junior Jasmine Bolen, as winner of this year’s award. Seniors Brittany Pickett and Penny Thornton nominated the Bolen’s for Family of the Year Award. Pickett and Thornton wrote the e-mail nominating Bolen’s parents without telling her.

    Trudie Bolen described their reaction upon hearing the news as “shocked” and they didn’t know Pickett or Thornton had nominated them. She said they were going to be very upset when Pickett and Thornton graduated.

   “We are grateful they nominated us. It was an honor that they nominated us,” Trudie and Randy Bolen said. “It’s amazing that they want to be part of our family.”

   For many students, family may be far away and sometimes family support can come from another source. Thornton said the Bolen family took such good care of them and for a past three years, they have been a second family to both Pickett and Thornton.   

   Pickett described her reason for nominating the Bolen’s.

   “I nominated the Bolen family because they encouraged not only Jasmine, but me also. They are my family away from home,” Pickett said.

  Pickett sent part of essay telling her of reasons to nominate the Bolen Family.

   “Penny and I decided to nominate on behalf of Jasmine, because she is like a sister to us. Looking in from the outside, we see how much help and support her family gives her. For her family to receive this honor would be the least amount of thanks we could give them. It is not too often that a friend's family will adopt someone like their own,” Pickett said.

   The participants set the crowd to laughing with their reactions to being pinched though no one touched them; a belt thought to be a snake when Anthony made hissing sound and a MTV 2009 dance competition, with the winner being first-year student Austin Wyles. Wyles later danced with a broom, which he thought was a beautiful girl.

   Cliff Bernard Jr, the brother of Michael Bernard, volunteered to be hypnotized, but was not part of the final group. 

   “I thought it was very entertaining,” Bernard said. “(It was a) once in a lifetime experience.”

   Before asking for volunteers, he asked for a member of the audience to come on stage to perform a card trick. First-year student Dathan McMilleon volunteered for the trick. Anthony has performed for the UAM campus 4-5 times over the years.

   Family activities for the day included balloon creations by Lester McNeely and body art by Susan McNeely. Parents and family received the chance to have their pictures taken for a photo key chain. The UAM Wellness Committee offered free child identification kits and finger printing. 

   Students and parent waited in line for the balloon creations. Lester McNeely created a balloon boll weevil for those interested and offered a variety of animals, styles of hats and other air-filled creations. Susan McNeely painted a variety of design such as flowers, daggers with a rose, Spiderman masks, a butterfly and a tiger face. The couple performed both at the FAC and at the Chancellor’s Indoor Picnic in the John F. Gibson University Center Gym

   For those sitting in the auditorium, a slide show featured pictures of students, faculty, staff and other photographs.

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