Two Beacon seniors showcased their art bona fides in April with their senior portfolios during an exhibition at the Kristin Michelle Mason Art Gallery at Beacon College. In his exhibition, titled “Sentiment,” Anthony Manzano-Lee presented 10 disparate works that explored themes ranging from modern narcissism to mankind’s intractable tilt toward war. Emily Marra showed off her artistic chops with “Undiscovered Changes,” an exhibition of 17 pieces, including a sprawling sculpture titled “What’s Inside.”
Last year, as Beacon College’s spring semester neared a close, James Humphrey realized what was coming: students packing for home would leave behind leftovers from care packages they received from home. Next stop: the trashcan. Not on his watch. Last spring Humphrey organized a campus food drive to support The Benevolence Center, a food bank located on Main Street in Leesburg, Florida.
All good things come to an end. And the end, like the beginning of Patricia R. Campbell’s six-year career at Beacon College, focused on the good that education brings to life for those who pursue scholarship with tenacity.
For members of Beacon’s Class of 2022, it is the best of times, but the most unsettling of times, as they reach the milestone of graduation and look ahead to entering the “real world.”
Jeff Baird, director of safety at Beacon College, knows a thing or two about disaster preparedness. Before arriving at the college in 2020, a decision brought about by a desire to be closer to family — and the sun — Baird spent nearly 30 years of his career overseeing emergency management and safety operations at various colleges in the Northeast.
She set out at dawn on her highway marathon, a 2,400-mile journey to a new life. With her three-year-old daughter as copilot, Sarina Alford covered the continent-long trail in three days — a feat that most travelers would never tackle. Her destination: Beacon College, Florida. From suburban San Diego to Leesburg, Alford was driven by the hope of a college education and a career in her future. It was something that had seemed all but impossible earlier in her life as she wrestled with dyslexia and other learning issues. Last year, however, her mother found Beacon online and shared what she found with Alford.
Most eight-year-olds dream of playing in the rain. Fiorella De La O wasn’t playing when she dreamed of saving the Amazon rainforest. That dream remains, but she first is trying to save her own backyard. Combining her twin passions of conservation and art, the Beacon anthrozoology major has brought her ardent advocacy to the pages of an educational calendar.
When Meghan Woerner received an email from her anthrozoology instructor, Dr. Michelle Szydlowski, inquiring about possible interest in a trip to Nepal to study elephant health and welfare, she jumped at the chance.
Beacon student Carlos Almasque recently received a $3,200 scholarship aimed at needy first-generation, minority, and new American students attending Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF) and Florida Independent College Fund (CICF) member schools.
As a college intern, Jack Jones built his own field of dreams this summer for a parks and recreation department. And to draw from a famous line in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams,” the memories were so thick, it was like dipping in magic waters. Jones joined more than 40 Beacon students who filled real-world jobs this summer as part of the Career Immersion Program (CIP). The three-week internships immersed them in a range of fields, including hospital human resources, information technology, web design, animal care and rescue, law enforcement, and recreation management.
Beacon College
for students with learning disabilities and ADHD
105 East Main Street
Leesburg, Florida 34748
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