A dedication ceremony and block party were held Sunday in the Edgehill neighborhood to celebrate four homes that have completed the Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity’s “A Brush with Kindness” beautification and revitalization program for low-income and elderly homeowners. Habitat partnered on this project with Belmont University, eight area churches, Metropolitan Housing and Development Agency and Fifth-Third Bank. In addition, dozens of Belmont students, faculty and staff volunteered their labor in repairing and restoring the properties, working on exterior maintenance and revitalization on the four homes located at 1017 Summit Ave.,1025 Summit Ave., 1024 Wade Ave. 1111 Argyle Ave.
Belmont’s Director of Community Relations Joyce Searcy said, “This pilot project was an opportunity for Belmont University to work alongside our neighbors as we transform our neighborhood. Not only did we renovate homes, we built relationships. It was so exciting to watch as Belmont students, staff and faculty interacted and learned from the homeowners, community church members and each other. A Brush With Kindness is only the beginning. Belmont University will be collaborating with the Christian community in our neighborhood to meet needs and improve the quality of life in our area.”
Patterned after a Habitat for Humanity International program of the same name, A Brush with Kindness offers painting, landscaping, weather stripping and minor repair services for homes in need. The program serves homeowners who struggle with maintenance and helps them reclaim their homes with pride and dignity.
In addition to Belmont, MDHA and Fifth-Third Bank, the following area churches also served as sponsors on the project: Belmont Church, Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church, Greater Christ Temple Church, Southside Community Church, Kayne Avenue Baptist Church, Tabernacle of Glory Church, Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church and John Wesley United Methodist Church.
Each participating community organization contributed funds and volunteers to this $50,000 project. Improvements were made at no cost to the homeowners. Homeowner applicants were selected based on income, need and willingness to partner. Click here to view more photos from the project.
Belmont University alumni Steven Clawson and Courtney Cole are among the final 10 contestants on “CMT’s Next Superstar,” which premieres Friday, April 8 at 8 p.m. Central on CMT. The 10 episode series, produced by “American Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe and his son Simon, is a singing/songwriting competition to find America’s next great country star and opens the door for undiscovered singer/songwriters who think they have what it takes to make it in the music industry. The country contest, hosted by Thea Andrews, differs structurally from the usual TV singing competition. Rather than simply performing before an audience, five men and five women ages 22-50 will take on a range of challenges, including writing songs, participating in radio interviews and making music videos.
Dr. Jamie Adam, a faculty member in the School of Nursing, is presenting her doctoral research at two conferences this month. She will present Depressive Symptoms, Self-Efficacy and Adherence in Patients with Type 2 DM at the Western Institute of Nursing Research and again at the 18th Annual National Evidence-Based Practice Conference.
Danny Biles (Mathematics and Computer Science) and seven of the Pathways Scholars visited Mammoth Cave on Saturday, April 2. The Pathway Scholars included Grayson Carroll, Liberty Foye, Angela Gaetano, Alina Lepkowski, Lee McGill, Rebecca Newton and Corey Schmidt. The group first received a cave tour given by Shannon Tromboli, Education Program Specialist at Mammoth Cave. The tour included cave history and an introduction to the various scientific studies that are being conducted in the cave which relate to water flow, air flow and other factors of the cave climate. Following the tour, they were given an in-depth look at the surface Air Quality Station, where Johnathan Jernigan, Physical Scientist in the National Park Service Air Resources Division and Cumberland Piedmont Network, discussed the various air quality and meteorology sensors and data and their significance. 
The Communication Studies Department hosted 116 eighth-graders from Southside Elementary School in Wilson County for the “Three Cs: Communication College Connection” conference. Lambda Pi Eta members Meg Tully, Kate Harris and Eric Schoen led a large group workshop on speech organization and audience analysis. Students from Mary Vaughn’s COM 1100 classes conducted break-out workshops on speech delivery and led walking tours of campus. Southside teacher Janie Johnson commented, “Belmont has a nationally winning Speech & Debate Team, so we knew this would be the best place to come for instruction in public speaking. I can teach these TCAP competencies all year, but when a cool college student does it, it sticks!”
Editors and staff from the 1987-89 Belmont Vision held a reunion Saturday, April 2 at the home of Journalism Professor Thom Storey, newspaper advisor from 1985-1996. Shown from left with Storey are: Michelle Williams (’89), South Atlantic Bureau Chief for the Associated Press; Chris Villines (’91), East Tennessee Communications Manager for Tennessee Farmers Cooperative; Mark Townsend (’90), Associate Editor of the Cherokee Scout newspaper in Murphy, N.C.; Karin Miller (’88), Communications Director for AARP Tennessee; and Jeannine Renfro (’90), Planning Facilitator for Davidson County Metro Schools. The Belmont grads are all sporting New Century Journalism Program caps as souvenirs of the event.