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Week of April 18, 2011 EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK at Southern State Community College SSCC to host Informational sessions about STRS, OPERS offered April 29 National Theatre of the Deaf 10am & 1pm | April 29 | SSCC Central Southern State Community College will host two informational sessions on the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) on Friday, April 29, in Room 107 (lecture hall) of the college’s Central Campus, 100 Hobart Drive, Hillsboro. Both informational sessions are free of charge and open to the public. The OPERS session will begin at 10 a.m. and provide information regarding OPERS benefits as well as legislative changes. The STRS session will begin at 1 p.m. and provide information regarding new legislative changes. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Brennfleck, SSCC Human Resources Office Associate, at ebrennfleck@ sscc.edu or 1-800-628-7722, ext. 2565. To learn more about STRS or OPERS seminars offered at other locations or dates, please visit www.strsoh.org or www.opers.org. In addition to the session offered at Southern State, the OPERS website offers web and video seminars, while the STRS site lists alternate dates and locations for seminars. 130pm & 3pm | April 30 | SSCC Central Actors with the National Theatre of the Deaf will present “Stories in My Pocket” 3 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at Southern State Community College’s Central Campus in Hillsboro. Prior to the performance, they will present a 1:30 p.m. demonstration workshop. The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) will present a free workshop and performance Saturday, April 30, in the Edward K. Daniels Auditorium on Southern State Community College’s Central Campus, 100 Hobart Drive, Hillsboro. The workshop will begin at 1:30 p.m. and the performance will begin at 3 p.m. NTD/Cont’d on Page 2 Payton discusses Counseling Awareness Month If ever there was a person destined to be a counselor, that person just might be Tom Payton. Employed as the Career Services Coordinator at Southern State Community College, Tom also works as a licensed mental health counselor and an instructor in the college’s human and social services program. Greater than the sum of his experience and credentials, Tom is kind, genuine and a self-proclaimed goofball. In five words: he just wants to help. In recognition of Counseling Awareness Month, Tom was able to take a short break from his duties and stop by for an interview. It’s time now for this writer to step back and let Mr. Payton do the talking. TOM PAYTON “Counseling Awareness Month is just a time to remind people that counseling is available and broaden In recognition of Counseling Awareness Month, Tom Payton (above), Career Services Coordinator at Southern State Community College, discusses the free services available through the college. their perspective of what exactly it means to participate in a counseling session,” he said. “It’s a time for people to really look at stressors in their lives and have the tools to sort through problems and have a fuller experience of life. “One of the benefits of counseling is to be able to go to somebody who is not connected, can be objective, and really give you honest and open feedback. The other part is being able to talk to someone and lay out your story and not worry about feeling judged or criticized. “Sometimes you just need to be heard because a lot of times when PAYTON/Cont’d on Page 2 UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE NEWS NTD/Cont’d from Page 1 Both events, sponsored by SSCC, are free and open to the public. “One does not need to know sign language to fully enjoy this experience,” said NTD Tour Director Betty Beekman . “A National Theatre of the Deaf performance unfolds in two languages, signed and spoken, appealing to all audiences. By combining sign language with the spoken word, the company created this dramatic art form which speaks with voices of beauty and power: one for the eye and one for the ear.” The NTD is based in Connecticut and is a professional acting company made up of deaf and hearing actors. The theatre’s signature style, a combination of American Sign Language and spoken words, expands the boundaries of theatrical expression. This double-sensory style enables hearing audiences to see words as they are spoken. The one-hour workshop, which begins at 1:30 p.m., is an animated and informative look at the concept and history of the NTD by the actors of this unique style of visual theatre. The NTD actors will demonstrate the techniques they use in developing their performance. Following the workshop, at 3 p.m. the actors will perform “Stories in My Pocket,” a show that draws on the repertory of stories, fables, poems and riddles the Little Theatre of the Deaf, a division of NTD, has pocketed in its 40-year history. This performance is geared toward audience members of all ages. Earlier in the day, students currently enrolled in the American Sign Language program at Southern State are invited to attend a workshop entitled “Creativity with Sign Language.” The workshops and performance are sponsored and hosted by Southern State, and offered free to students and the community. “This is an awesome experience for SSCC American Sign Language students,” said Kathy Carroll, SSCC instructor of American Sign Language. “Students spend a lot of hours in class learning about the language and deaf culture, but, unfortunately, there is little exposure to the deaf world. It is exciting to see them finally have an opportunity to experience a small part of this culture. It will give them an opportunity to see this beautiful language in action. I’m sure they will come away in wonder of the experience.” To learn more about the National Theatre of the Deaf, please visit www. ntd.org. Please contact Kris Cross, SSCC Director of Public Relations, at [email protected] or 1800-628-7722, ext. 2676, for more information about the April 30 event. PAYTON/Cont’d from Page 1 you go to someone close to you, they’re going to try to fix you, because they care about you. And it’s not that a counselor doesn’t care, they just care differently. “Sometimes we kind of need to be guided to think in a different way or at least consider other options to reflect on whether what we’re doing is helpful, whether it’s working. “The fact of the matter is, most people who go to counseling are really well adjusted and I’m not sure people really think about it that way. They might think you have to be out of your mind, and that’s really not what it’s about. “I was talking to a class about counseling services and they looked at me funny like, ‘I don’t need any of that.’ So I asked, ‘How many of you are stressed about school? How many of you think you’ve got people in your lives who are driving you crazy?’ and I got a lot of hands going up. That’s the stuff you talk about in counseling. “My experiences of counseling have been very positive. You’re in a safe place where you can throw out ideas and thoughts in a way that you don’t have to worry about. “Counseling also helps to deepen relationships. You work on getting rid of your own baggage that’s been shoved in the way. And we all have things that we carry, problems from other relationships. Our experiences in life sometimes get in the way and end up like ghosts that appear in current relationships. “I think people would be surprised to find out the stuff we work on are the nuts and bolts of life, everyday life, not anything that exotic. Sometimes, however, it does have to deal with the big questions. You feel stuck in life, you’re asking, ‘Why am I here.’ I do deal with a lot of people who are at midlife and dealing with a lot of regrets. “I was at a high school today and they were taking some of this less than seriously and I said, ‘You know what? I know part of this is because of where you are right now, I get that. But you’re lucky to have this career class because I talk to people every day who have regrets because they didn’t choose differently when they were younger. It’s really tough when you look at having regrets, because you grieve those kinds of things. And that pain is real.” “We work on those kinds of questions: What do you want out of life? What do you want from relationships? What do you want from yourself? That may be the most important question of all. “As for career counseling and mental health counseling, the fact that I am able to do both is ideal for me. There really is no separation between our work life and our personal life, and I try to help people open up to the thought that work is not meant to be a punishment; it is meant to be a part of our lives that fully engages and invigorates us. My clients and my students are a gift to me. Hopefully, I help them grow. They help me grow every day.” MORE INFORMATION And, with that, Tom folded his hands on the desk and smiled, leaving the readers with a lot to think about. Many of the counseling services Tom provides through Southern State are provided free of charge to students, alumni, staff members and the community at large. Those services include career counseling and benefits counseling (provided through the Ohio Benefit Bank and includes tax help and other assistance for Ohio’s children, seniors and families). Mental health counseling is offered free to currently enrolled students at SSCC. “Watercolor Ohio” exhibit April 4-27, 2011 Appalachian Gateway Center South Campus, Fincastle Meet the Artist: Joanne Edwards 6-8pm, April 21, 2011 Learning Resources Center South Campus, Fincastle OPERS/STRS Info Sessions Friday, April 29, 2011 10am: OPERS 1pm: STRS Room 107 (lecture hall) Central Campus, Hillsboro National Theatre of the Deaf workshops and performance Saturday, April 30, 2011 130pm: Workshop 3pm: Performance Edward K. Daniels Auditorium Central Campus, Hillsboro SPRING FLING! May 9: North Campus May 10: Central Campus May 11: South Campus May 12: Fayette Campus Master Gardeners Lecture on “Canning and Freezing” 6pm, May 19, 2011 Learning Resources Center South Campus, Fincastle SSCC Theatre: “Trifles” June 1, 2011 Edward K. Daniels Auditorium Central Campus, Hillsboro American Sign Language Concert “Red, White & Blue Country” 5:30pm, June 2, 2011 Edward K. Daniels Auditorium Central Campus, Hillsboro SSCC Theatre: “The Little Prince” Aug. 5-7, 2011 Edward K. Daniels Auditorium Central Campus, Hillsboro Comments or submissions? Contact Director of Public Relations Kris Cross at [email protected] or call 1-800-628-7722, ext. 2676. 2