For the second consecutive week, a member of the South Arkansas Community College baseball team has been selected as a NJCAA Region 2 Player of the Week.

Sophomore infielder Trace Shoup was selected for the honor for the week ending March 26 after Shoup batted .588 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored, and the Stars went 4-0 with a sweep over Region 2 opponent Rich Mountain.

Teammate Clay Burrows, also a sophomore, was chosen last week.

For the season, Shoup leads the team with a .373 batting average, a .691 slugging percentage and 110 at-bats. His on-base percentage is .463 with 35 RBIs—tied for fifth in the region.

Shoup’s selection also came during a week in which the Stars (21-9, 10-2 in Region 2 play) received votes for a Top 20 national ranking for the first time. They currently are atop the NJCAA Division II Region 2 standings. They will face Region 2 opponent Carl Albert State in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Thursday at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.

The marketing and communications department at South Arkansas Community College recently won five awards in the national Collegiate Advertising Awards contest for 2022, four of which were top performers in their respective categories.

The department received a Gold award (representing first place) in the category of Single Newspaper Ad for the college’s spring registration advertisement’s appearing in the El Dorado News-Times’ Thanksgiving section. It was designed by marketing director Heath Waldrop.

The college’s YouTube video “Thanksgiving Reactions 2022” took Gold in the category of Special Single Video Production. The video was written, produced, directed and hosted by Waldrop and featured SouthArk students Sarah Beeman, Ella Floyd, Tiara Jefferson, Beau Kuttenkuler, Emma McKenzie, Lexi Parker, Cason Blunt, Raytisha Jackson, Gabbi Kelly, Anastasia Lamijan, Alyssa Nealy and Isaac Richey.

The YouTube video series “SouthArk Reacts!” Christmas reaction videos captured Gold for Special Series Video Production. The videos were written, produced, directed and hosted by Waldrop and featured Beeman, Jackson and Lamijan, in addition to SouthArk students Grace West, Vanessa Vinson, Janasia Jones, Isabella Dixon, Chris Miller, Leslie Reddick, Angel Dimler, Peyton McCloskey and Nealey Elkins, and SouthArk employees Charley Hankins, Nate Evans, Beth Barcroft and Liz Young.

The 2022 softball hype video “Let’s Go!” was awarded Gold in the Sports Specific video category. It was produced and directed by Waldrop and featured members of the Stars softball team.

The “Be a Star” fall 2022 radio commercial received a Silver award (representing second place) in the category of Single Radio advertisements. It was written and produced by Waldrop and featured voiceover by SouthArk student Olivia Joyner.

SouthArk competed in the business and community colleges group of the annual contest.

Union County high-school students can be licensed practical nurses within weeks of graduation thanks to a new pilot program at South Arkansas Community College—the first of its kind in the state.

A grant from the Arkansas Office of Skills Development has funded launch of the program, which allows high-school students to begin taking college nursing prerequisites as juniors, move into program-level college nursing course work as seniors and complete the program the summer following graduation. They can take the state licensing examination upon completion, meaning that the path is set for them to be able to begin work as practical nurses as young as age 18.

“We’re in a new era,” instructor Michelle Moseley, who directs the SouthArk program, said. “If they know that this is what they want to do, why not go ahead and do this while in high school? I would have, had it been an option for me.”

For the state’s part, the OSD—which is working with other institutions to bring this program to life in other parts of Arkansas—indicates that this effort is underway in order to combat nursing shortages seen throughout the U.S.

As the high-school students will be taking the exact same classes as the post-graduate college nursing students—and right alongside them—it is important to note, Moseley said, that those who pursue this route must be academically and emotionally capable of handling the work load.

“They have to be dedicated to their studies,” she said. “They’re going to have to work very hard and be self-disciplined.”

The program is prepared to accept up to 24 students in the prerequisite classes and up to 16 in the nursing classes, Moseley said.

Current sophomores at all Union County public high-school students are eligible pursue application and should speak with their guidance counselors for more information, Moseley said.

“I hope that this continues to blossom and that it will produce hard-working, caring nurses,” she said.

South Arkansas Community College standout forward Kylee Portilloz has been named second team All-Region 2 of NJCAA’s Division II.

The Choudrant, Louisiana, freshman is the first player from the Stars women’s program to achieve a postseason honor. She averaged 19.1 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game this season—each placing her in the top 15 in Division II. She was Region 2’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer.

Additionally, this season Portilloz was selected as the NJCAA DII Player of the Week once and NJCAA DII Region 2 Player of the Week twice.

The Stars (2-19) played the entire second half of the season with only six players on the roster, and Portilloz played nearly every minute of every region game.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Kylee for earning and deserving her selection to the All-Region Team,” Stars head coach Nate Evans said. “She works hard and has that competitive drive that you just can’t teach. I’m excited to watch her work pay off even more in what will be a big-time sophomore season.”