BCCC students tell stories of life on the water | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Working on a publication takes a lot of work. For the students at Beaufort County Community College, this takes at least a semester. However, that tenacity is about to pay off, as the 2015 edition of Life on the Pamlico has recently been published online.

    Life on the Pamlico is a student-driven publication produced by the students of BCCC's Cultural Studies classes for decades. These stories capture local history and the unique cultural elements of Eastern North Carolina. For many years, the publication was printed and sold, but more recently it has moved to an online format.

    This year's edition of Life on the Pamlico is focused on the culture of working on and enjoying the waterways of the East.

    "We decided to focus on water because it is one of the essential elements of life and of our culture. Many of our students have grown up on and around the water," says Suzanne Stotesbury, editor of Life on the Pamlico and Cultural Studies Instructor at BCCC.

    This year's edition features crabbers and fisherman, a ferryman, a sailboat racer, and many other profiles of people working on or near the Pamlico. Also this year, we've included history about pirates who visited our coast in years past and an extra special interview from 2001 that has never been published.

    "The students worked diligently to ensure that we represent each of our subjects fairly," Stotesbury said. "However, much focus this year went into bringing in this unpublished story. Several students put in many hours outside of class to prepare this story for publication. Their diligence has resulted in a beautiful piece of both family and Life on the Pamlico history."

    This type of diligence in the students is fostered within the class environment. The class focuses on many levels of research of the culture in the area. Students learn more about topics such as local urban legends, religion and history.

    "This research answers many questions for our students. Many don't know who the mayor of their town is, or why pirates are such a popular sports mascot in this area," Stotesbury explained. "It's amazing how they take what they learn to expand their thinking about the area they live in."

    One element of the class that has been added in more recent years is video. Publication designer James E. Casey spends time each semester teaching students how to effectively capture video of their interview subjects. "The additional time we spent working on composition and framing has really paid off in terms of the video quality that students produced. Video has now truly become an integral part of Life on the Pamlico," Casey said.

    While it takes extra time to incorporate the video, the students report that they enjoy learning about multiple mediums for sharing their research. This enthusiasm has also captured readers.

    "The added element of video has really made our readers happy," Stotesbury said. "We get many positive comments from members of the community about how much they enjoy it."

    Life on the Pamlico is posted online at www.beaufortccc.edu/lotp, and all videos are available at www.youtube.com/lifeonthepamlico.

    To learn more about the course and the written publication, contact Suzanne Stotesbury at (252) 940-6339 or Suzanne.Stotesbury@BeaufortCCC.edu.

    For inquiries about video or to obtain a high-resolution, printable copy of Life of the Pamlico, contact James E. Casey at (252) 940-6338 or James.Casey@BeaufortCCC.edu.

    Contact: Jules Norwood
         Public Relations Coordinator

    Beaufort County Community College

     (252) 940-6387  •  Jules.Norwood@BeaufortCCC.edu

    Beaufort County Community College is a public, comprehensive community college committed to providing accessible and affordable quality education, effective teaching, relevant training, and lifelong learning opportunities for the people served by the College.