ACTC Students Among First Statewide To Pass AWS Exams: by MEGAN SMEDLEY

One of Ashland Community and Technical College’s (ACTC) newest programs is seeing success, even though it has only been offered at the college for less than a year.

Randolph Cullum, program coordinator for the Computer and Information Technologies (CIT) program says the Cloud Computing program at ACTC officially started at the beginning of the Spring 2020 term and has quickly become the largest and most requested track offered by the CIT program at ACTC.

“The low number of institutions teaching cloud computing with AWS has caused a high demand for cloud computing graduates,” he said. 

According to Cullum, ACTC is the first college in Kentucky to teach the courses leading to the exams. He added that CIT students William Mynhier and Hope Collins are the first students in the state to pass both the Practitioner and the Architect Associate certification exams for Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

Collins says being among the first in the state to pass the exam is something she is very proud of. 

“I’m honored to be one of the first in the area to pioneer this learning path and hope my experiences help to make it all the easier for those to follow,” she said.

Cullum expressed his pride in both students, saying that passing the exam confirms that a student can succeed if that student puts in the necessary work.

“The achievement of students in the Cloud Computing program will give me a great sense of accomplishment as I designed the program and the AWS-specific courses.  That will be my legacy,” he said.

At the time of publication, there have been four students successfully pass both exams with more students expected to pass. Cullum says that many of those who were unsuccessful on their first attempt plan to retake the exams before the beginning of Spring classes.

The Cloud Computing Technologies track at ACTC provides the concepts and skills needed to design, set-up and maintain cloud-based information systems. 

The curriculum provides specific training in Amazon Web Services solutions as well as network administration and storage solution technologies.  

Employment opportunities are located worldwide.  Employment will include cloud-based system design and administration for medium to large businesses and organizations, as well as government entities.

“I started this journey with looking at just getting a couple smaller certifications to try and move around in the job world,” Mynhier said. “Upon calling my advisor, Randolph Cullum, for the first time and talking for a while, he asked me to come see him in person to talk about my options. He sat with me in his office for quite a while explaining the possibilities I could achieve if I just pushed a little harder and started the cloud computing path, and I am so glad I did. I not only have received the original certifications I wanted to get, but now both of the AWS certifications as well.”

Collins says passing the exams feels like a huge weight is lifted. 

“I intend to continue to pursue additional certifications within the AWS platform. Having these under my belt helps me to feel like I am successfully moving forward in expanding my career opportunities, as well as verifies that I am capable of making it in such a high-demand field,” she said. 

Both Collins and Mynhier encourage potential students to consider the AWS program at ACTC. 

“I would tell any new student looking into an Information Technologies education to seriously consider ACTC,” Mynhier said. “This school has some of the most knowledgeable and compassionate teachers I have ever come in contact with.” 

Anyone who is interested in the Cloud Computing Technologies with AWS program should email Cullum, at Randolph.Cullum@kctcs.edu.

Tribute for Betty Joann "Josie" Bush May 9, 1976 ~ December 11, 2020: Malone Funeral Home

Betty Joann “Josie” Bush, 44, of Grayson, KY, died peacefully on Friday, December 11, 2020 at her residence following an unexpected illness.

Josie was born on May 9th, 1976 (Mother’s Day) in Ashland, KY to Glen and Kathy Bush. They decided to name her after both of her grandmothers in honor of being born on this special occasion. Josie was a special gift to everyone from the very beginning.

Josie was preceded in death by her grandparents Joann Mitchell, Leslie Hall, and Ernest and Ruth Bush all of Grayson. Also, an aunt and uncle on her father’s side Phyllis and Ronnie Bush also of Grayson.

Josie worked as a Patient Access Center Clerk at King’s Daughter’s Medical Center where she will be greatly missed by her co-workers. Josie had the most contagious laugh, and always a joke up her sleeve. To know her was to love her, she had a heart of gold, and never met a stranger. She loved people, and she had a special gift of making everyone feel loved and appreciated. Her smile could light up the darkest of rooms. She is still giving to others even in her passing as an organ donor.

She was the proud mother to two wonderful children: Leslie Kate Kitchen of Grayson, and Dalton (Heather) Kitchen of Philadelphia, PA. They were the light of her life. They blessed her with three beautiful grandsons, Ryker, Hudson, and Beau. She thought that the sun rose and set in these three. They adored their Nana Josie and are going to be so lost without her.

Josie was also a loving sister to Pam (Todd) Lewis, and Megan (Brian) Hanners all of Grayson. Josie was affectionately called Aunt by Lindsey Lewis, and Noah, and Lexi Hanners all of which adored her. A host of family, her best friend, Lisa McDavid and friends who all mourn her passing, will sadly miss her.

Funeral services will be 1pm Thursday, December 17, 2020 at the Malone Funeral Home in Grayson with Bro. Bradley Cotten officiating. Burial will follow in the Hall Family Cemetery in Fultz. Visitation will be 6-9 pm Wednesday and after 9 am Thursday until the service hour.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.malonefuneralhome.com

Pallbearers will be Todd Lewis, Brian Hanners, Noah Hanners, David Kitchen, John McDavid, Jr., Chris McDavid, Todd Fields and Derrick Justice. Honorary pallbearers will be John McDavid, Sr., Steve Kiper, Harold Bush and David Bush.

Tribute for Annetta Virginia Dixon November 14, 1936 ~ December 13, 2020: Malone Funeral Home

Annetta Virginia Bagby Dixon, 84, of Grayson went to be with her Lord on Sunday, December 13, 2020 at Oakmont Manor in Flatwoods.

Annetta was born November 14, 1936 in Ashland, KY, a daughter of Kenneth Russell and Myrtle Lucille Meade Bagby. She was a member of Oak Grove Church of Christ and was a retired bookkeeper from A C Lawrence Leather in Ashland.

She was preceded in death by two sisters; Edna Hicks and Mary Dowling; five brothers, John Bagby, James Bagby, Herbert Bagby, Kenneth Bagby Jr. and Levi Bagby. She is survived by one son, Bruce (Donna) Dixon of Grayson; one brother, Robert Elba Bagby of Flatwoods, KY; two grandsons, Jacob (Jessica) Dixon and Luke (Michelle) Dixon; four great-grandchildren, Benjamin, Charlotte “Charlie”, Lucy and Owen; and a host of other relatives and friends to mourn her passing.

Memorial services will be conducted later and we will update soon as possible the dates and times.

To send a condolence or your favorite memory with the family please go to www.malonefuneralhome.com.

Carter County Fiscal Court To Meet December 14

The Carter County Fiscal Court will meet in REGULAR SESSION MONDAY DECEMBER 14, 2020 at 6pm due to the Covid 19 Pandemic the meeting will be held via Zoom. 

AGENDA

Call to Order

Prayer/Pledge of Allegiance

Sheriff’s State Advancement Application

Sheriff’s State Advancement Bond

Sheriff’s 2021 Budget

Sheriff’s 2021 Annual Order Setting Maximum Salaries

CDBG Resolution

Treasurer’s Report/Claims/Transfers

Department Reports

Executive Session

Minutes

Adjourn

Roads To Recovery (Part Two): “I said 'What are you doing? What have you done?” – Brianna McCleese

Editor’s Note: This is the second story in an ongoing series, sharing the experiences of people in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions who now work with other people seeking a sober life.

Brianna McCleese accepts full responsibility for her decision to start using Oxycontin, even though it would be easy for her to blame someone else.

“It would be easy to blame him for it, but I was the one who made that choice,” McCleese said, sitting in an office at A Center 4 Change in downtown Olive Hill as she shared her story.

“It may sound cliché, but I fell in love with a guy that used (drugs),” McCleese said, recalling the year 2010, two years after graduating from West Carter High School. Her friends warned her that she was getting into a potentially dangerous sitiation, she said, explaining she saw things differently.

“I felt I was in a great relationship … And, I was pregnant within one month of when we started dating,” she said, adding “He was my prom date, but he was in jail.”

Roughly halfway into her pregnancy, McCleese said “Stuff got bad” as her boyfriend’s drug use escalated.

“I was still kind of young and oblivious,” she said, skipping ahead to explain her baby was not breathing when she was born, and died at six days old.

“Of course I was devastated and not coping at all. When you are young and pregnant you think you will have it all be perfect … sometimes it’s not always picture perfect.”

McCleese recalled the moment she decided to have her partner help her inject a 30 milligram dose of Oxycontin.

“We were sitting on the couch and he was shooting up OC 30s,” she said, noting she was struggling badly with the grief of her daughter’s death. For three hours, her boyfriend tried to talk her into trying Oxycontin herself, “saying it would make me feel better.”

Even though she had barely dabbled in drugs or alcohol as a teen, McCleese said she instantly embraced the once popular painkiller.

“There I went. Yeah, I liked it immediately. It numbed me. The feelings just weren’t there.”

McCleese said drugs essentially became her life – “The only things I never done was crack and hallucinogens.”

Early on, she developed a massive infection at an injection site on her arm. “Finally, my arm busted,” she said, explaining medical staff told her she likely would have lost her arm if she had waited one more day before seeking help. The incident also resulted in her losing her job.

More than a year later, she was again pregnant although she was able to “get clean” while carrying her son. “I had my son on the day my daughter died. Exactly two years later.”

She stayed sober for the first two months of her son’s life, then reunited with his dad.

“We were just bad for each other – fire and gas.” she said, adding it did not take long for her to lose custody of her son, who was placed in the care of her mother and father, Barry and Connie Rayburn.

“So then, I really went crazy with meth – the kind that’s cooked in a two-liter Mountain Dew bottle.”

Meth sold for around $100 a gram at the time, but McCleese notes “It was next to nothing when you knew people.”

She described herself a a “binge addict” with a predictable pattern, isolating herself from her parents for months at a time. “My parents tried, but I stayed away from them. I would use for seven months and then be sober for two months. Then repeat the cycle.”

McCleese remembers the moment she decided to take control of her life.

“I had been wide awake for two days and I was covered in poison ivy because I hid from my dad in a patch of poison ivy on Armory Hill. It was dark and I’m severely allergic to it,” she said, explaining she sought shelter in the home of a now deceased friend who lived on Ben’s Run.

“There was no food, no drink and no drugs there and I was just thinking ‘What are you doing? What have you done?”

She made a decision to call Joey McCleese, who she had met in a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. He contacted her dad, who soon picked her up and took her to a doctor for a steroid shot before bringing her back home where she “showered for the first time in a while.”

McCleese said she changed three factors – “the people, places and things” associated with her addiction, in order to stay sober. At the one-year mark, however, McCleese said she made a serious error and tried to help a friend get away from drugs.

“At one year sober I tried to help someone get sober and it didn’t work. Instead of getting her sober, I got high.”

“At one year sober I tried to help someone get sober and it didn’t work. Instead of getting her sober, I got high,” she said, adding they used drugs together for about two weeks and took a trip out of state and found themselves stranded due to a failed promise for gas money.

“I watched her go into a hotel with two guys to get gas money … just enough to get home.”

Seven Years Sober

McCleese now works as a Peer Support Specialist at A Center 4 Change and Jenkie’s Journey, which is a program named in memory of her late friend Josh Jenkins. In July, she will celebrate her seventh year of being drug free. She sees her son, Paxton, daily and enjoys life with her husband, Joey, and their six month old son, Lennox.

She admits she was initially hesitant to take the job at A Center 4 Change, explaining “I was known as an addict.”

“Then I thought, what better way to honor him than by helping the people we’re both friends with in the community.”

She offers encouragement to people who are now where she once was.

“More than anything I would tell them that they are worthy of a good life and being in a relationship with their kids … just worthy of whatever they want. I know how it feels to be down so low that you don’t care.”

“More than anything I would tell them that they are worthy of a good life and being in a relationship with their kids … just worthy of whatever they want. I know how it feels to be down so low that you don’t care,” she said, sharing a memory of a time when she was at Olive Hill’s only motel and took “so many Percocets that I knew I wouldn’t wake up,” but was unfazed by the circumstances.

While pregnant with her son Paxton, she was also diagnosed with Hepatitis C as a result of her sharing needles with her friends who were fellow drug users. The disease has been inactive in her for several years following treatment, although there is no actual cure at this time, she said. That experience is her reason for remaining a strong advocate for clean needle programs.

For more information about A Center 4 Change visit http://www.acenter4change.com/

Or

https://www.facebook.com/A-Center-4-Change-Counseling-1688561234724885

Or call – 606.475.0334

Story & Photos by TIM PRESTON

Carter County Post

Extension Notes: Bring Your Garden Inside - by REBECCA KONOPKA

If the thought of facing a long winter without straight-from-the-garden freshness makes you sad, weep no more. It’s easy as tomato pie to grow your own produce indoors.

There are a number of indoor gardening systems on the market today. They range in price and require anything from 2 square feet in space all the way to a multi-tiered 5-feet wide rack of shelving and grow lights. But if you don’t have the money or space to invest in one of these systems, don’t worry. There’s plenty you can do without them.

The biggest challenge people usually face when growing plants indoors is light. Some plants, like tomatoes, which can be grown in a pot indoors, require close to 10 hours of light a day. You might not be able to get that much light relying on windows alone. However, if you have a table or deep windowsill, you can position a grow light over your plants. Grow lights are bright, wide-spectrum lights that approximate sunlight. They come in all price ranges and styles, from desktop to hanging versions. You can also use a full-spectrum fluorescent light if you have a fixture nearby. There are also LED plant lights that are a bit more expensive but use less electricity than fluorescent lights. Incandescent bulbs do not emit the right spectrum of light for plant growth.

Containers should have proper drainage. Greens and some herbs only need a few inches of depth, while tomatoes will require a 12-inch deep pot. Use potting soil, which has better drainage, rather than garden soil.

Here are some easy plants to consider growing indoors this winter:

• Scallions and garlic greens. For scallions, also known as green onions, you can cut off the tip with the roots and place it in a glass with about an inch of water. When the roots are 2 or 3 inches long, plant them in potting soil in a shallow container. You can either harvest the green tops and let the plant continue to grow or use the entire green onion. For garlic greens, plant a garlic clove in a few inches of potting soil mix. You won’t be able to grow bulbs, but the green portion tastes garlicky and serves as a good substitute, either raw or sauteed.
• Carrots. Small carrots are easy to grow in potting soil. Sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil in a pot or long window box, lightly cover with damp peat moss and water well. And don’t throw away those carrot tops. They’re edible and nutritious and can be used in soups and sauces and even smoothies.
• Salad greens. Spread the seeds across the top of a 2-inch to 4-inch deep container filled with potting soil. Lightly press them into the soil and mist to keep the seeds moist. Wait until the leaves are at least 4 inches long and then harvest the leaves starting from the outside of the plant. These plants will keep producing all season long, if you harvest them leaf by leaf.
• Herbs. Basil, chives and parsley are extremely easy to grow indoors. Parsley demands more humidity, so misting the plants will help them flourish. Use an organic fertilizer to help your herbs reach their full potential.

For more information, contact the Carter County office of the UK Cooperative Extension Service.  Educational programs of the Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.