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MC Students Help Boy Scouts


When hundreds of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts gather at camps this summer in Central Mississippi, they will be wearing new patches designed by Mississippi College students.

Members of art professor Mike Hataway's graphics design class took on the assignment in recent weeks and crafted the illustrations on their computers in Self Hall.

Their creative work was judged by volunteers with the Andrew Jackson Council that oversees scout troops in 22 counties in Central and Southwest Mississippi. Scout patches get a new look every year on hats, coffee mugs, clothing and other items used by young people, starting at age 6 and up to 20-year-olds, coming to summer camps. When the competition was all over, three of Hataway's students were declared the winners.

"We appreciate what MC lets us do," said Larry Cagle of Clinton, a senior district executive with the council as he joined Hataway in class to congratulate the students recently finishing 1-2-3 in the contest.

Hataway, a former Cub Scout leader for ten years with three sons in scouting, was impressed with the new scout designs for 2008.

From one year to the next, the patches "never look the same," said the veteran MC educator. Hataway used to design the patches himself when he was an instructor at Hinds Community College in the 1990s. Years later, he handed the job over to his students.

Scout patches never really fade away from year to year. Scout leaders like to collect them as a hobby. Youngsters will be wearing their new patches at the Warren Hood Scout Reservation when summer camps begin in June at the site in rural Copiah County.

Laura Creel, an MC junior from Byram and a graphic design major, finished first in the contest on the Clinton campus. In her younger days, Creel enjoyed collecting Indian-oriented dream catchers. She's got other connections to scouting. Her boyfriend is an Eagle Scout. The 2005 Hillcrest Christian graduate spent lots of time tweaking her design. Her winning entry reflects the Hood Scout Reservation marking its 22nd annual summer camp.

In Hataway's class, graphic design major Hanchun "Demi" Chen, a junior from Fujian, China, finished in second-place with her patch dubbed "eagle flight." MC junior Georgia Nelson, a graphic design major from Virginia Beach, Va., took third place with her "early rising hike" scout patch.

PHOTO (l-r): Laura Creel, Hanchun Chen, and Georgia Nelson.