Tag Archives: nonprofit

Northeast Arkansas Career and Technical Center celebrates 50 years

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Story by DDNS Reporter Shailey Wooldridge

Photo courtesy of the Northeast Arkansas Career and Technical Center

The Northeast Arkansas Career and Technical Center (NEACTC) celebrated 50 years of opening doors for students on Friday, March 14.

“It’s just nice that I’m able to contribute to the legacy of the place. So this is, this is most definitely a very special place in Northeast Arkansas,” Alex Ragsdale, special projects manager for the NEACTC, said.

The career technical school serves 14 school districts across Northeast Arkansas, it has undergone multiple name changes over the years but its purpose of preparing students for a variety of career skills remains constant.

Ragsdale said the center offers free college credit to high school students, free industry certifications, and clubs.

“This is a good place for students to get experience in the job field that they’re thinking about going into because we know how costly college can be, so it’s nice to kind of get your feet wet in this situation,” Ragsdale said. “Just an amazing place for students just to kind of fill out what they want to be.”

Robert Stephens and Mell Stephens attended the celebration. Robert taught computer-aided drafting at the technical school for 27 years, and Mell taught a parenting skills class for three years.

Robert Stephens and Mell Stephens look at a photo of themselves from their time at the Northeast Arkansas Career and Technical Center. Robert Stephens taught computer aided drafting for 27 years and Mell Stephens taught parenting skills for three years. Photo by DDNS Reporter Shailey Wooldridge.

“We had a great time,” Robert Stephens said. “I have a lot of students I see around town in places that appreciate what they learned here. Had several state winners.”

Mell Stephens said that many Roberts students became architects.

“It’s good that kids are getting recognized that come here. For years, we always said that more kids ought to be taking because they would be needed later on, and now, today, that’s exactly what’s happened. More and more folks in these classes are needed out on the job,” Robert Stephens said.

Mell Stephens said she enjoyed her time teaching at the NEACTC.

“I loved it. I loved the girls. Yeah, I had some challenges, but boy, I loved the girls. Loved teaching, and I had a couple of boys that came to it,” Mell Stephens said.

Isabella Stanton, a senior at Jonesboro High School and the president of the NEACTC SkillsUSA chapter said she discovered her passion for the EMT program through NEACTC.

“I did not know what I wanted my job or anything I was interested in until I learned this is here. I spoke with all the teachers, but I fell in love with the EMT program. I think it’s really why many people can figure out what they want to do,” Stanton said.

She said the NEACTC has supported her in many ways.

“I’m in EMT school, but Medic One wants to hire me already. It’s given me many opportunities, and I’ve made many friends and mentors from here as well. So, the NEACTC is a good place to find what you want to do,”

Gym Helps Combat Veterans

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by Miranda Reynolds
Delta Digital News Service

PARAGOULD – Organizations across Northeast Arkansas work with veterans to get them more involved; gym memberships give some another option.

CrossFit Cathal, located in Paragould and owned by Randy Vest, reaches out to veterans in the surrounding communities to help those in need. The gym has been supportive of nonprofit organizations since opening.

CrossFit Cathal joined forces with Rivers of Recovery to reach out to more veterans. Rivers of Recovery works to take veterans on trips at no cost to the veteran. Vest and Levi Crawford, Rivers of Recovery’s marketing director, knew each other from a previous encounter.

They met in 2009 during a tour in Afghanistan. During the one-year tour, Crawford suffered serious injury from direct and indirect fire. It caused him to lose vision in one eye. This caused Crawford to become involved in Rivers of Recovery.

“Upon coming home and transitioning from military life to hospital life, to civilian life, is when I was fortunate enough to go on a trip with Rivers of Recovery.  It helped me a great deal in a very hard and uncertain time in my life. After the trip, I stayed in contact with the organization and decided that it was my duty to help the organization and provide other combat veterans with the experience and help I was to grateful to receive,” Crawford said.

Vest’s decision to join forces with Rivers of Recovery came easily to him due to the local aspect of the organization.

“The reason I chose Rivers of Recovery is because it supported local veterans. These are people that are walking around in your community, they’re actually veterans I served with,” Vest said.

CrossFit Cathal gives veterans an opportunity to work with other veterans in a more personal way, said level one instructor Caroline Jarrett.

“It’s more personal this way because every class has a coach and you find your members coming to you with issues going on in their lives whereas in a regular gym, there’s somebody probably manning the door and they’re letting you do whatever you want to do,” Jarrett said.

Post-traumatic stress disorder affects many veterans. Vest said CrossFit Cathal can be one way to battle it.

“People deal with their PTSD differently: some seek counseling, others have hobbies, some people come in here and just want to sling some weight and breathe heavy, get it out of their system. That’s their therapy,” Vest said.

The partnership between the two allows Crawford to see veterans focus on their personal health.

“A goal I am already seeing being accomplished is providing our past participants a place welcoming of veterans to socialize and focus on their physical health which plays a large role in a person’s mental health,” Crawford said.

In 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, a total of 252,279 veterans reside in Arkansas. CrossFit Cathal, Rivers of Recovery and numerous other organizations continue to serve veterans in the natural state.

New App Connects NEA

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By Kayce Wilson
Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO – ConnectNEA’s mission allows local small- and medium-sized businesses to connect with the Northeast Arkansas community.

Kent Wilson

Kent Wilson owns and markets ConnectNEA, which reaches across the Northeast Arkansas Delta. The application mirrors Village Vesl, which runs in some major cities in America. Wilson said seeing the app take off excites him.

“Once it begins to grow, the social aspect will begin to multiply among itself. It grows really fast, I think it will have a really nice impact on Northeast Arkansas,” Wilson said. “The flags that businesses will post will reach the NEA users in ways they couldn’t before.”

The app, available on iTunes or Google Play, allows businesses to post multiple geoflags at their chosen locations, which could include coupons or advertisements. Wilson said when a ConnectNEA user passes by a geoflag, their phone will “wake up” and show them the discount or ad posted at that location.

“People will be shopping at stores that they may not have known existed until now,” Wilson said.

Nonprofit organizations can also partner with the app. During each month, ConnectNEA users can vote for nonprofits they would like to see receive donations from the money the app has made.

The app also shows where construction is taking place in the area. NEA Parking Lot Maintenance keeps users updated with where they are doing renovations in the area.

Bono resident Whitney Welch said this should really help to bring together all kinds of businesses.

“I haven’t heard about this until just now, but I think it sounds great! I’m excited to know information about traffic or construction before I leave the house,” Welch said. “I feel like since technology is such a big part of our lives now, this app will only help things to improve.”

Since the app launched in October, very few businesses have created accounts. A “New Member November” contest encouraged users to invite friends to be entered into a contest to win a gift certificate.

Arkansas State University student Jazmin Selvy said this app will be a big help in Jonesboro.

“Since it’s a college town, I feel like everybody will benefit from this once they hear about it. I’m definitely going to be looking out for discounts and sales while I can,” Selvy said.

Wilson said a big reason he wanted to bring ConnectNEA to Northeast Arkansas was that he didn’t like hearing about people taking trips to Little Rock or Memphis for things that are already in this region.