2. Feature Articles
Vol. 2 No. 23 August 18, 2014
Why we need VA resource centers at HCC
The story of William
Quietly, after the all speeches had been made and the
ceremonial ribbon cut, William Stegall took a seat on the front
row of molded-plastic chairs to rest. He had already joined the
endless stream of guests who squeezed in and out of the new Veterans
Resource Center at HCC Central this steamy August morning, and was
delighted by what he saw. "I can't think of another thing they will need
in there for veterans," he says. "It's just about perfect."
This was a serendipitous moment for Stegall, a happy fluke. Stegall was on foot, wearing his snappy, black-and-
red backpack, and heading to the campus library to study math and read the paper. He saw the crowd and the
festivities was curious. Someone mentioned "veterans" and he was immediately drawn in.
A dozen years ago, Stegall would have been the type of person who would have needed this new center. He
was a Lance Corporal in the Marines and an Army veteran. And while he just missed being on the front line in
Viet Nam, Stegall suffered a head injury in the Army in 1982 that left him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD), substance abuse, and other woes.
In 1996, the self-described "military brat" and former truck driver from South Carolina was homeless in Arizona
trying to put his marriage back together. In 2005, he came to Houston as a homeless vet. But Stegall went to US
Vets on Main Street in Midtown for help. A staff member he'll never forget named Ms. Assi Watts placed him
into a six-month sobriety program. Stegall also entered another six-month program at Houston's VA hospital.
The combination of help clicked; Stegall got a place to live and treatment. He successfully graduated from both
programs, and has celebrated being clean and sober ever since.
Yet Stegall's personal renaissance doesn't end there.
It just begins.
While in recovery, Stegall realized one interesting and immutable fact: "I found out I can learn," he says, wearing
an amazed look. "I found out I can obtain stuff, and I liked that I was learning. I took the bomb out of my life."
That knowledge led him to enroll in HCC. "I wanted to do something for my community and do something for
people."
These days, Stegall, who lives in a veterans' housing complex on Travis Street, is working on completing his
A.A.S. degree in the Paralegal Technology program at HCC Central. He has only two or three classes to go before
graduating 2015.
After that, Stegall has more ambitious plans. The 57-year-old plans to attend UHD for his Bachelor's degree, then
either UH, South Texas College of Law or Texas Southern University to become a lawyer.
"This (VA) center represents the unselfish service of people. It came together as a community," Stegall says, look-
ing at the people gathered for the grand-opening event. "Veterans will be giving back to the community with this
being here. They'll be able to raise families and be home... be home for real."
Stegall looked toward the VA resource center's doors, took a sip of his bottled water and wiped his tear-filled
eyes.
"This (center) will change lives," he says. "This place will change veteran's lives for life."
- Debra McGaughey
The VA Resource Center at HCC Central is at 1215 Holman Street, Houston, TX 77004.
For more information, please call Dr. Sabrina Lewis-Jones, Director, HCC Veterans Affairs,
at 713.718.7089 / sabrina.lewis@hccs.edu
3. First it was stray dogs and cats that 15-year-old Jazmun Hood would bring home, so
many that her mother, Daniele Plumber, has since lost count.
Jazmun has turned her lifelong love of animals into a summer avocation. She was a star volunteer at Texas Wild-
life Rehabilitation Coalition Inc., a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving wildlife in the Houston
area. From an unassuming storefront in a strip center near Memorial and Wilcrest, TWRC takes in common
animals such as injured squirrels, to the more uncommon finds: snakes and bats.
The organization’s goal is to provide injured or captured animals – except dogs, cats and diseased animals – with
enough medical care to allow them to be released back into the wild.
Jazmun’s mother discovered TWRC through an Internet search at volunteerhous ton.org.
“I said, ‘You love animals so much, why don’t you go and take care of birds?’ ” Plumber said.
For the past two summers, Jazmun has done just that. She tends to the baby birds, the ones just born. She feeds
them, cleans their cages, washes their feeding dishes and sweeps the floor.
“At first I didn’t even like birds, now they’re the cutest thing ever,” said Jazmun, who works with mockingbirds, blue jays,
cardinals, cuckoos and other varieties. “The way they eat, how you can tell how old they are, it’s fascinating. If it’s raining,
they get knocked out of trees and their nests fall. Sometimes cats find them. That’s how they get to us.”
To accomplish her bird-caring duties, Jazmun embarked on a daily adventure of her own. She leaves her Gulfgate-area
home at about 10 a.m. each morning to catch the bus. After her two-hour commute, Jazmun worked at TWRC for four
hours, then took another two-hour commute to return home at about 6 p.m.
“Her dedication is just phenomenal,” said Roslyn Even, shelter director of TWRC. “How many 15-year-olds would get up
to ride the bus for two hours each way all summer long for a volunteer job? She does such a great job with the birds. She is
a really special girl.”
Several of Jazmun’s closest friends are not as impressed, but that doesn’t deter her at all. “A lot of my friends hate animals,”
said Jazmun, a soft-spoken honor student at Community Education Partners school at Ferndale. “I say, ‘Will you hold this
for me (a cat)?’ and they freak out. I just laugh.”
Jazmun’s mother supports her daughter’s interests. “I am very proud of her,” Plumber says. At TWRC, the youngest birds
stay incubated. Once they get older, Jazmun works with them personally.
Last month at TWRC, Jazmun picked up live, large worms and had the birds eat them out of her hand. She loved that day.
Experiences such as these have allowed Jazmun to know the species well.
“Birds know their surroundings. It seems like they’re people,” said Jazmun, whose favorite TV channel is, of course, Animal
Planet. “They’re really smart. They don’t like being caged. And it’s hard to catch a bird. They like flying around. It once took
five people to get one bird back.”
Her love of animals is more than a passing fancy. After graduating from high school, Jazmun plans to attend Texas A&M
University and become a veterinarian.
“They have one of the best veterinary programs around,” Jazmun says. “I’ll probably focus on caring for large animals, hors-
es and stuff.” This summer, Jazmun attended a five-day summer veterinary program for high school students at A&M. The
trip solidified her decision to become an Aggie. But that is at least a few years away. In the meantime, Jazmun tends to the
three dogs and three horses the family still owns. She has help. Her canine-loving brother, 17-year-old Ronald Pickram II,
and her 18-year-old sister December Plumber, are more than happy to pitch in. And as for next summer? “We have already
asked Jazmun to come back next year,” said Even.
“I’ll be back,” said Jazmun. “I just really love it.”Gulfgate resident Jazmun Hood, 15, said her volunteer work at the Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition Inc. has inspired her to
consider a career as a veterinarian.
Feature Articles
6. News Releases News Releases
About HCC
HCC is one of the country’s largest singly-accredited, open-admission, community colleges offering associate degrees, certificates,
workforce training and lifelong learning opportunities for 75,000 students each semester. HCC is composed of six colleges that serve the
Greater Houston Area’s diverse communities by preparing individuals to live and work in today’s increasingly international and
technological society. To learn more go to hccs.edu.
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Debra
McGaughey
Director
of
Public
Relations,
College
Communications
&
Marketing
Strategies
HCC
Central
College
1300-‐B
Holman,
LHSB
Suite
301
P
713.718.6226
E
debra.mcgaughey@hccs.edu
HCC Central and NW students to star in upcoming independent film
HOUSTON – (June 18, 2013) - Monica Gaseor and Michael Iovine, two recent graduates of HCC Central's
and HCC Northwest's VAST Academy, have leading roles in the upcoming, independent film Love Land,
which will be presented next year at the Sundance, Tribeca and South-by-Southwest film festivals.
Gaseor, who graduated from HCC Central’s VAST Academy in May, has the leading role of "Ivy" in the
dramatic feature film, which focuses on a fiery young woman with a severe, traumatic brain injury who
refuses to be identified as a person with an intellectual disability. When she is placed in an private
institution for people with disabilities – called Love Land Ranch – on the outskirts of a small, Texas town,
Ivy stops at nothing to prove she is "normal" and not "special."
Iovine, a real-life athlete who graduated from the VAST Academy at HCC Northwest, plays the role of
"Roger," a resident of Love Land. The narrative film centers on how society's view of people with
developmental differences must change, and that inclusion, appreciation of human diversity, and freedom
from stereotypical labels should be a collective goal.
The film is directed, written and produced by Josh Tate, a rising filmmaker and graduate of the University
of Texas at Austin and USC’s School for Cinematic Arts.
Gaseor and Iovine were selected at open auditions for their roles. The HCC graduates spent the past few
weeks filming in Corsicana and other locations. They are both aspiring actors and performing members of
the Dionysus Theatre group in Houston, the only inclusive theater in Texas in which disabled actors share
the stage with non-disabled actors.
Gaseor has performed in several plays and musicals with Dionysus, but Love Land represents her first
leading role in film. She plans to continue pursuing her acting career and her goal of serving as a teaching
assistant to children or working with the elderly.
Iovine has been in more than 10 plays with Dionysus and is a member of the traveling troupe. He works at
Sunrise Senior Center as a dining room assistant and is a member of the Katy Wolf Pack Special
Olympics team. He will compete as a swimmer in the National Special Olympic Games in Princeton, NJ in
June 2014.
Now in its 20th
year, HCC’s VAST Academy, which is headquartered at HCC Central, provides post-
secondary transition programs and comprehensive support services leading to meaningful credentials,
employment and independence for differently-abled individuals.
For more information about the film Love Land, please go to www.lovelandfilm.com or
https://www.facebook.com/lovelandfilm?fref=ts. For more information about HCC’s VAST Academy,
please go to: vast.hccs.edu
About HCC
HCC is one of the country’s largest singly-accredited, open-admission, community colleges offering associate degrees, certificates,
workforce training and lifelong learning opportunities for 75,000 students each semester. HCC is composed of six colleges that serve the
Greater Houston Area’s diverse communities by preparing individuals to live and work in today’s increasingly international and
technological society. To learn more go to hccs.edu.
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Debra
McGaughey
Director
of
Public
Relations,
College
Communications
&
Marketing
Strategies
HCC
Central
College
1300-‐B
Holman,
LHSB
Suite
301
P
713.718.6226
E
debra.mcgaughey@hccs.edu
HCC Central to offer new solar energy program this fall
HOUSTON – (July 3, 2013) – Houston‘s sweltering summer sun may be a dreaded inevitability for many of
us, but it is a welcome sight for instructors of Houston Community College Central’s new solar energy
program.
Starting Monday, August 26, HCC Central, in collaboration with HCC’s Department of Continuing Education,
is offering a 16-week, one-semester, solar energy certificate program for students interested in starting a
career in solar energy.
The solar energy program, which mirrors the solar-energy program that began at HCC Northeast, is
designed to provide students with hands-on training and critical information in solar technology as a
renewable energy source.
“We’ve created this program because sustainable energy is our future, and we want to train new technicians
for the new jobs being created in the sustainable-energy field,” says Paul Quinn, Associate Dean of
Instructional Support, adding that the HCC Central program is the only one in the Houston area certified by
the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP).
HCC Central’s solar energy program will give students a solid background in solar energy, or photovoltaic
(PV) installation as well as troubleshooting for solar panels. The program is part of the college’s Construction
Trades courses, which also includes its highly regarded, state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air-
conditioning (HVAC) program.
With temperatures soaring to new heights, along with Houston’s promising job market, the college’s solar
energy program could not have come at a better time, Dean Quinn explains. There are many solar-
installation businesses in Houston, says Quinn, and they are seeking installers for solar-energy panels.
“Students can now actually get jobs installing solar panels or troubleshooting solar installation,” says Dean
Quinn. “Our students will come out with an understanding of where to put solar panels, how much sunlight is
needed to power them, the difference of tying them to an electrical grid or using them as stand-alone energy
sources.”
The Solar Foundation estimates that the U.S. solar industry employed 119,016 workers as of November
2012, which represents a 13.2% increase from November 2011.
HCC Central’s solar energy program will meet twice a week at the 1300 Holman Street campus four hours
each day.
To register for classes or for more information, please call HCC Central’s Construction trades department at
713.718.6898 or email Dean Quinn at paul.quinn@hccs.edu.
-30-
9. Publications & Videos Publications & Videos
Workforce Careers
Houston Community College Central
APPly today!
Welding Paralegal
Sign Language
Computer
Science
Business
Administration
Industrial Electricity
Machining
Fashion Design
Construction
Technology
Interior Design
Air Conditioning
Accounting
Early Childhood
Development
ManufacturingCulinary
& Pastry Arts
Stories of Success
Houston Community College Central
Workforce view book
Stories of Success - graduating student profiles
25 banners to promote programs (above).
Recent ceiling installation in college buildings
(below).
Poster creation to promote events.
Video written and produced by Debra McGaughey
PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW
THE VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQhb5UavvYg
For more information or samples, please call:
Debra McGaughey
Cell - 832-439-2777
Email: debmcgaughey1@gmail.com
Thank you!
