Beginning and advanced smocking classes will be offered through the Northwest Mississippi Community College's Continuing Education Division in April.

The class dates for Beginning Smocking are April 10-24. The deadline to register for this class is April 3. The class dates for Advanced Smocking, which builds on what was learned in the beginning class, are May 1-15. The deadline to register for this class is April 25.

These courses will focus on the basic stitches needed to create heirloom quality children’s clothes, ladies’ clothes, pillows, baby bibs, and Christmas ornaments. The possibilities are endless.

The courses will be taught by Laurie Maxwell in the Yalobusha Bldg. Room 120 from 6:45 - 8:45 p.m. The fee is $50, plus a $20 supply fee, payable to the instructor on the first night of class.

For more information, contact Patricia Lowder, coordinator of Continuing Education at 562-3349 or e-mail pwlowder@northwestms.edu.

Northwest Mississippi Community College is offering an ACT Preparation Workshop on Monday, April 2 and Tuesday, April 3 from 6-9 p.m.

Deadline to register for the class is Friday, March 30.

The course provides an overview of the ACT format, followed by a review of verbal and mathematics fundamentals for solving typical test questions. Also discussed are management and test taking strategies. Previous students of this course have raised their scores significantly.

The course will be taught by Kim Haas and Kristie Waldrop. It will be held in the Tunica Bldg., Room 129 on the Northwest campus in Senatobia.

The cost of the course is $75, with the book included.

Another class will be offered at Northwest on May 21-22.

For more information contact Patricia Lowder, coordinator of Continuing Education at 562-3349 or e-mail pwlowder@northwestms.edu

The Northwest Mississippi Community College Singers and Faculty Ensemble will present Franz Joseph Haydn's "The Creation" on Tuesday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fine Arts Auditorium on the Senatobia campus. The choirs are under the direction of Susanne Spencer VanDyke. For more information contact VanDyke at 662-562-3337 or e-mail svandyke@northwestms.edu.

“Basic Golf for Ladies” will be offered through Northwest Mississippi Community College’s Division of Continuing Education beginning March 29.

The six-week course will be taught at the Tunica National Golf Course by Lisa Priewe, LPGA Teaching and Club Professional. The class is a learning and playing program designed to create a developmental progression for learning the game of golf that is simple and fun! It is designed to allow students to learn all nuances of the game, including rules, language and etiquette, while developing the specific skills they need. Students will play six holes on May 10, the last day of class.

Equipment needed for the class includes a putter, sand or pitching wedge, mid-iron (6.7.or 8) and a lofted Fairway Metal (3,5,or 7). At registration, students should indicate whether they will need a club, and whether or not they are left-or right-handed. Students will also need a notebook.

The class will be held on Thursdays, March 29 - May 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. The fee for the course is $125.

For more information contact Patricia Lowder, coordinator of Continuing Education, at 562-3349 or e-mail pwlowder@northwestms.edu.

Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail” will be the topic of the March Reading Roundtable at Northwest Mississippi Community College. The discussion will be led by Maggie Moran, Northwest public service and reference librarian.

The March session of Reading Roundtable will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 26. in the R. C. Pugh Library on the Senatobia campus.

The purpose of the program is to provide a forum for senior adults to read and discuss a variety of books during the course of each semester. Discussions are led by library faculty.

For more information, contact the Northwest library at (662) 562-3268 or e-mail mrogers@northwestms. edu.

Julie Correro, director of the Education Division at Northwest Mississippi Community College will speak at the March 21 session of Northwest’s Lunch and Learn. Correro will explore the topic, “The Value of a Teacher.”

Participants are asked to arrive at the Haraway Center between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m. for lunch, which is a la carte. Following lunch, the presentation will begin. It is expected to last about an hour.

Lunch and Learn is designed to give adults 50 and older an opportunity to interact with faculty members and administrators in a relaxed atmosphere apart from the traditional classroom or office.

For more information, contact Patricia Lowder, Coordinator of Continuing Education at 562-3349 or e-mail pwlowder@northwestms.edu.

The deadline to register for “Glowing Jewels of Glass,” a one day workshop offered through the Northwest Mississippi Community College Continuing Education Division has been set for Friday, March 16, according to Patricia Lowder, coordinator of Continuing Education.

The class will be taught in the Art Building on the Senatobia campus on Saturday, March 31 from 10 a.m.- 3 p.m. The instructor, Carol Stroud, is a Level II artisan of Precious Metal Clay (PMC).

The class will involve cutting different color layers and one layer of Dichroic glass material to create cabochons, which are gems or beads cut in convex form and highly polished but not faceted.

The workshop will include firing and will require waiting for glass to cool down, so students are asked to bring lunch, or plan for a quick lunch. During the class, Stroud will have PMC jewelry with Dichroic glass on display and will discuss how PMC can be an excellent way to create one’s own unique jewelry.

If eight or more students express interest, a four-session PMC follow up will be scheduled for the Senatobia campus.

The fee for the workshop is $175 and includes firing and supplies. Class size will be limited, so early registration is advised.

For more information contact Patricia Lowder, coordinator of Continuing Education at 562-3349 or e-mail pwlowder@northwestms.edu.

Audition dates for the upcoming Northwest Mississippi Community College production of "She Stoops to Conquer" will be Tue., March 20 and Wed. March 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium on the Senatobia campus. Performance dates are May 3-6.

The play, which debuted in 1773, was written by Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith. Enotes.com editor Marie Rose Napierkowski describes the play by writing, “Most everyone has been the target of practical jokes, and most have been out on blind dates. Goldsmith bases his 1773 comedy on two such incidents, creating a complicated, convoluted plot based on miscommunication and mistaken identities.”

According to Napierkowski, audiences reacted favorably to “She Stoops to Conquer” when it was first performed, and have continued to do so ever since. “Significantly, from its debut, it earned popular approval, and remains today one of the few 18th Century plays to be regularly performed for modern audiences.”

The play will be directed by Terry Scott, technical director of the Fine Arts Division. For more information contact Scott at 662-562-3332 or e-mail tscott@northwestms.edu.

Northwest Mississippi Community College is offering Advanced American Sign Language (ASL) this spring through its Continuing Education Division.

Advanced ASL will be offered on the Senatobia campus, March 27-April 24, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m., in the Calhoun Bldg., Room 109. The instructor is Ida Adams.

This course will be a continuation of Basic ASL. Students will continue to utilize elements of the language and learn to improve their communication skills using ASL. Each course is worth 1.0 CEU. The fee for each course is $60.

The Northwest Mississippi Community College Symphonic Winds will present a concert on Thursday, March 8 at the Fine Arts Auditorium on the Senatobia campus. The band is under the direction of John Ungurait, director of bands and Howard Luttrell, assistant director of bands at the college.

According to Ungurait, the concert will offer a diverse selection of music. John Phillip Sousa’s arrangement of “Country Gardens” is based on Percy Aldridge Grainger’s original Piano Roll. It was first arranged by Sousa for his professional band in the fall of 1923 and was performed over 200 times that following spring.

One piece with an interesting background that will be performed is “Ghost Fleet” by Robert Sheldon.The music in “Ghost Fleet” represents the spirits of the James River Reserve Fleet, a group of several dozen decommissioned warships anchored in the James River. The music tells the story of how the ghostly fleet breaks free, returning to the high seas and the glory of former days.

The whimsical “Ride” depicts a 15-minute car ride as composer Samuel R. Hazo followed Jack Stamp home from Indiana University of Pennsylvania to his home. Hazo wrote of this composition, “’Ride’ was written and titled for that exact moment in my life when Jack Stamp’s generosity and lead foot were equal in their inspiration as the beautiful Indiana, Penn. countryside blurred past my window.”

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free to the public. For more information, contact the Fine Arts department at 662-562-3335.