BCSpireMagazine_Spring2016

college news

Twenty-nine BC students participated in a day of service, January 14, as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service and Remembrance. The annual MLK Day of Service is a day set aside for communities to come together to change the status quo by lending a helping hand and volunteering in the community. Toward that end, BC students served at the Bluefield Union Mission, Wade Center, Salvation Army, Second Chance Cats, Open Heart Ministries, and New Opportunity School for Women. Read the full story at bluefield.edu/mlk16 .

One hundred ten seniors accepted diplomas during the school’s 24th Annual Winter Commencement, December 12, in a program that featured a keynote address from Dr. Thomas Brewster, superintendent of Pulaski County Schools and former chair of the BC Board of Trustees. The event also included remarks from President David Olive, greetings from trustee Becky Beckett, and special music by alumna Elizabeth Decker. For complete coverage of Winter Commencement, including dozens of photos and a list of graduates, visit bluefield.edu/winter15grads .

A former officer with the Bluefield Police Department whose career helped inspire the Netflix series “Narcos” spoke on the campus of Bluefield College in November about the hunt for narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar. Retired Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer Steve Murphy and his partner in Colombia, Javier Peña, shared their experiences with dismantling the Medellin Drug Cartel and ending the career of Escobar, the world’s first narco-terrorist. Read the full story at bluefield.edu/dea .

More than 30 BC students, faculty, staff and friends gave back to the local community in September during a day of service called Operation Bluefield, a fall outreach program that took the BC family to the Wade Center to paint, the Bluefield Union Mission to serve meals, and the City of Bluefield’s Mitchell Stadium to clean. View photos and videos from the day of service at bluefield.edu/operationbluefield15 .

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