Museum Wants You! Local facility expanding membership
February 19, 2014
Shirley Lajaunie Gautreaux
February 19, 2014
Moving higher education forward and creating more opportunities for students graduating in the region was the message behind Bayou Industrial Group’s annual membership banquet last week.
Over the past year, BIG awarded $6,700 to students enrolled at Nicholls State University, Fletcher Technical Community College and South Central Louisiana Technical College.
Dr. Bruce Murphy, the newly appointed president of Nicholls State University, said industry and higher education are inextricably linked.
He encouraged the crowd, the majority of whom were Nicholls alumni, to keep the university informed about how they can better prepare its students to serve the region and state.
“We are a public institution so we have to be responsive to the needs of the region and we have to be responsive to the state of Louisiana,” Murphy said.
Murphy also wants to concentrate on unique programs such as marine operations and culinary arts since those industries have such strong roots in the area.
“Those are unique aspects and we can build upon those,” he said.
And although the university has international students and international programs, Murphy told the business group the university can benefit from more cross-cultural education.
“I think business in the 21st century is a global world,” Murphy said. “If our students are uncomfortable living in that world, they will not be successful.”
Nicholls’ new president also wants “a spirit of innovation” to give students accessibility to classes, which will allow them to achieve success. Often times, he said, many students are held back from graduation by the lack of one course credit.
Murphy outlined a timeline at last week’s banquet that showed a pattern of change in his family’s history.
The story begins with his great-grandfather who did not receive much of an education past fourth grade. The story progressed to his father, George Murphy, who “had access to affordable, relevant and high quality public education,” and went on to become a human-factors engineer and worked in the aerospace business.
And the story ends with Murphy, Nicholls top official, who is determined to help students attain that same high quality public education to propel their careers.
“Knowledge is good,” he said. “A lot can be done to change lives through education.”
Ricky Melancon, incoming president of BIG, said the organization will do their part and continue to sustain more scholarships for students in need.
The inaugural Crawfish Crawl 5K race, raffle and boil-off more than doubled the amount allotted for the BIG scholarship program last year.
With funds raised at the Crawfish Crawl, BIG awarded 12 new scholarships to students in the region and renewed 3 scholarships for continuing students at Nicholls.
“I think among all of the support we give to political movements and local issues, (scholarships) stand out the most,” Melancon said.
One of the motivating factors for his involvement in the organization was to help provide scholarships to students since both he and his wife held part-time jobs to pay their way through college.
As he takes on the role of president for the next business year, Melancon said he wants to increase the amount of money raised at events such as the Crawfish Crawl to help benefit students.
“I care about our future and I want to make sure that our next generation is secure,” he said.
Additional officers sworn in at the annual banquet were Executive Vice President Howell Chiasson of Nicholls State University, Vice President Dwayne Bourgeois of the North Lafourche Levee District and Secretary/Treasurer Steve Gaubert of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center.
Board members also installed were Immediate Past President Jimmy Ledet, Raylan Alleman, Denny Borne, Henri Boulet, Monique Crochet, Shane Guin, Lori LeBlanc and Raymond Richard.
The 2014 BIG Individual Achiever Award was awarded to Hugh Caffery and the BIG Company Achievement Award was awarded to Bollinger Shipyards.
Bayou Industrial Group installed its 2014 Board of Directors at last week’s annual banquet held at the Cypress Columns in Gray. Pictured from left are President Ricky Melancon, Executive Vice President Howell Chiasson, Vice President Dwayne Bourgeois, Secretary-Treasurer Steve Gaubert, Immediate Past President Jimmy Ledet and board members Raylan Alleman, Denny Borne, Henri Boulet, Monique Crochet, Shane Guin, Lori LeBlanc and Raymond Richard.
