A grant from the Amarillo Area Foundation (AAF) will go a long way toward helping Amarillo College students stave off food insecurities and keep their focus on academics even if beset by unexpected expenses like when a car breaks down or a utility bill exceeds expectations.
The Amarillo College Foundation is pleased to acknowledge a generous $125,000 grant from the AAF, funds that will be used to support the College’s Advocacy and Resource Center (ARC) – particularly its Food Pantry and fulfillment of emergency aid requests.
In the mid-1990s – as gas hovered at $1.20 a gallon, Tickle Me Elmo was all the rage, and the Grateful Dead finally gave up the ghost – Dr. Jim Laughlin rolled a practice piano outdoors and gave birth to June Jazz at Amarillo College.
Almost three decades later, while much has changed, the Washington Street Campus still comes alive like clockwork on Tuesday nights in June for an outdoor concert series now aptly known as The Jim Laughlin June Jazz Series.
On any given day, Raul Zuniga, a highly motivated student worker in the Amarillo College Music Department, might be found unlocking the practice room doors at dawn and tidying up after a nighttime concert – and plenty more in between.
For the sum of his significant contributions to the department he serves, Zuniga has been chosen as AC’s 2024 Student Employee of the Year.
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For the second year in a row, Chris George, instructor of computer information systems and cybersecurity at Amarillo College, has received the distinguished Instructor Excellence Award from the Cisco Networking Academy.
The award, just as it did in 2023, recognizes George as an “Expert Level Instructor” and for being ranked “among the top 10 percent of instructors globally in student feedback and performance.”
The uplifting experience Jose “J.J.” Ruiz had while attending a high school choir camp at Amarillo College convinced the promising tenor to continue his music education at AC – even if it meant a daily commute from his home in Dumas.
Two years later, the payoff far outweighs what was no small commitment of time and resources just for travel alone; for Ruiz has just accepted a full scholarship to attend and study music at Texas Christian University.
Amarillo College will conduct a pair of Spring commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 10 at the Amarillo Civic Center, where as many as 1,153 spring and summer 2024 graduates will be eligible to take part in the back-to-back rites of passage.
The first ceremony begins at 3 p.m. and will be a celebration of graduates from AC’s Health Sciences, Industry, and Public Service communities.
When the original signatories of the Rural Nursing Education Consortium (RNEC) met at Amarillo College on Feb. 26, 2019, the document they inked that day articulated an ambitious goal: to establish a pipeline of homegrown nurses that would meet staffing needs of the Consortium’s hospitals in the Texas Panhandle.
A patriotic musical about America’s first female soldiers – The Hello Girls – the unsung bilingual women who operated telephones and helped turn the tide of World War I – will cap Amarillo College’s Theatre Arts Program season.
The Hello Girls will enjoy a six-day run over a couple of weeks at the Experimental Theatre on the Washington Street Campus. Performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. on April 26-27 and May 2-4, and the run will be capped with a matinee beginning at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 5.
The first students to complete the Construction Technology Program that Ernie Sheets launched a couple years ago at Amarillo College will cross the stage at Spring Commencement, and their mentor’s emotions will be running high.
“Sometimes I get a little teary-eyed just thinking about it,” said Sheets, who at AC coordinates construction technology and additionally serves as chairman for all the manufacturing programs. “Those students have become things they didn’t realize they could be,” – carpenters, cabinet makers, a plumber, and more.
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Six Amarillo College dual credit students who currently attend AmTech Career Academy have qualified for state competition in computer numerical control (CNC) machining events.
The qualifiers earned the right to compete at the state level based on the excellent results they achieved while competing at the SkillsUSA District 3 Leadership & Skills Conference at South Plains College in February.
Lush rainforests, canals brimming with wildlife, geothermal hot springs, and spectacular waterfalls await 15 Amarillo College Presidential Scholars who will explore the biodiversity of Costa Rica over spring break.
The nine-day sojourn, during which students will study sustainable living in a wildlife-laden environment, begins March 9 and fulfills the promise of unique travel-abroad learning opportunities afforded AC’s Presidential Scholars.
Texas Mutual Insurance Company has awarded a $100,000 grant to Amarillo College (AC) to continue funding AC’s Safety and Environmental Technology program, which provides workplace safety and health courses for community employers, employees and the general public.
This is the ninth consecutive year that Texas Mutual, the state’s leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, has given a $100,000 grant to the college to support its risk management program.
Nine particularly accomplished student musicians have been selected by the music faculty at Amarillo College to showcase their talents in this year’s Student Honors Recital at AC.
The recital, which is free and open to the public, will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27 at the Concert Hall Theater on the Washington Street Campus.
The ruthless schemes of a dysfunctional family emboldened by greed are laid bare in Lillian Hellman’s acclaimed play The Little Foxes, which the Amarillo College Theatre Arts Program will present four times later this month.
AC students will perform The Little Foxes Feb. 22-25 at the Experimental Theatre on the Washington Street Campus. The three-act play will begin at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22-24, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25.
The accomplished and steadfast Amarillo College music faculty will be collectively channeling the spirit of Valentine’s Day when the 2023-2024 Art Force Piano Series resumes at Amarillo College.
The third installment of the Piano Series is titled “Jam with Love,” and it will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 by a cavalcade of AC faculty and other special musical guests from the College’s family of musicians.
If you are a gamer at Amarillo College, Christopher George would like to make your acquaintance, but please move to the front of the line if you have a special knack for deploying palm-released biotic orbs.
Virtually, of course.
George is director of AC Badger Esports, and he invites AC students of all majors to participate in all levels of gaming – from casual to highly competitive – at AC’s state-of-the-art gaming center on the fourth floor of Parcells Hall. However, the most serious e-athletes are likely to be tasked with adding to the program’s trophy case, which presently boasts four national titles – three in Overwatch (a hotbed of biotic orbs) and one in Valorant.