History club plans Churchill events and annual fund drive
History is all things Churchill in March and early April for the Centurion History Club and history instructor Dr. Brett Shufelt at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
It is also the culmination of the club’s annual fund drive. The drive is held each year to raise money for the club to be used for future guest speakers, field trips and other historically related events.
This year the club is holding a drawing for a limited-edition print with original art remarque. Created by Dr. Shufelt’s father, longtime artist Robert “Shoofly” Shufelt, the museum-framed work of art is titled “Hawk on the Wing.” The work is an intricately detailed “cowboy print,” depicting rider and horse in great detail.
The long-accomplished Shoofly also designed the Co-Lin Wolfpack logo, used to represent the college since 2004.
Last year, the Centurion club raised more than $6,000 for the drawing. While off to a slower than usual start this year, Dr. Shufelt is optimistic about the last week of March.
“We hope to raise as much as possible by the end of the month. So far, nearly all of the effort has fallen in the students’ hands. Hopefully, once the word is out there, people will contribute,” Shufelt said.
Drive tickets are $10. For purchasing information, Shufelt encourages the public to contact him personally at (601) 757-8330 or the Co-Lin Foundation at (601) 643-8332.
The club will also sponsor a presentation by guest speaker, Dr. Michael Reinhard, titled “Winston Churchill: Lessons in Leadership.” Reinhard is a political science instructor from Millsaps College. He will speak at Co-Lin Wednesday, March 26, at 11 a.m. at Smith Hall on the Wesson campus. The Co-Lin Foundation is sponsoring the event. The presentation is free of charge and open to the public.
Also in the first week of April, 16 students from Co-Lin will be attending the 31st International Churchill Conference titled “Churchill: Fighting and Writing” in New Orleans April 4-5.
Student tickets totaling $1,600 were given as gifts from the Churchill Centre and the Churchill Society of New Orleans, who partnered with the National World War II Museum in honor of the 70th anniversary of “Operation Overlord,” better known as the D-Day Invasion of Europe, on June 6, 1944.
“Churchill was an amazing man. Interest in Churchill, and that particular time of history, seems to stretch across age, political affiliation and economic status. There is so much to learn from him,” Shufelt said.