POPLARVILLE – The Poplarville Area Chamber of Commerce honored a Pearl River Community College employee and the son of two other employees Thursday, Nov. 3, during the chamber’s annual Awards Luncheon.
Carol Williams, PRCC’s social media coordinator, received the Citizen of the Year Award and Gabe Entrekin received the Future Leader of the Year Award. He is the 15-year-old son of Taylor and Candice Entrekin, PRCC electrician and nursing instructor, respectively.
Dr. Adam Breerwood, PRCC vice president for the Poplarville campus and Hancock Center, was guest speaker. He talked of strengthening ties between the college and the community and explained the PRCC Wildcat Way – pride, respect, class and character.
“If you come on our campus, we’re going to do things with pride, with respect, with class and with character,” he said. “I would ask you to get behind us as a community with what we’re trying to do.”
Despite the disparity between some of PRCC’s most affluent students and those who come from entirely different backgrounds, administrators and instructors are trying to raise expectations for all.
“It’s important that everybody in our community understand what we’re doing on a daily basis,” Breerwood said. “Math, science, history – that’s the foundation of our curriculum. Everything we do with our clubs and organizations is part of our curriculum.”
Williams retired in 2015 after 25 years of teaching business marketing technology at PRCC. She returned to campus a few months later in her current position. She is a graduate of PRCC and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Entrekin is in 10th grade at Poplarville High School and has a 4.0 grade point average. He became an Eagle Scout at the age of 13 with Troop 28 in Poplarville and is currently the Senior Patrol Leader with Troop 97 in Hattiesburg.
He will represent Mississippi next summer in a 4-H National Shooting Competition in Grand Isle, Neb., and hopes to finish the requirements for the Boy Scouts’ Triple Crown of National High Adventure Award.
Other awards presented Thursday include:
• Fireman of the Year to William Seal.
• Policeman of the Year to Damon Carr.
• City Worker of the Year to Sam Hale.
• Volunteer of the Year to Dale Adams.
Gabe Entrekin, 15, received the Poplarville Area Chamber of Commerce's Future Leader Award Thursday, Nov. 3, from chamber president Maggie Smith. He is the son of Taylor and Candice Entrekin, both employees of Pearl River Community College.
PRCC Public Relations photo
Carol Williams, second from right, received the Citizen of the Year Award from the Pam LaHaye, right, during the Poplarville Area Chamber of Commerce Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 3. Congratulating her are her husband, Jon Williams, and their daughter, Leslie Ortego.
PRCC Public Relations photo
