Phoenix Challenge Luncheon keynote speaker Dr. Anthony Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College.
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT COMMENDS FLEXO STUDENT SUPPORT AT PHOENIX CHALLENGE ANNUAL LUNCHEON
CHARLOTTE, NC OCT.22, 2004 - The Phoenix Challenge Foundation fundraising luncheon held October 15th at the Wyndahm Gardens Hotel in Charlotte, NC set new attendance and fund raising records for this annual event. Following presentations by Bettylyn Krafft, Phoenix Challenge Foundation (PCF) chairman, Krafft Printing Systems and other board members on the new additions to the Phoenix Challenge program, featured guest speaker Dr. Anthony Zeiss commended the group on their ongoing commitment and success. “The greatest predictor of career success today is a student’s ability to set goals and have a vision as to what they are trying to become in life,” said Dr. Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College. “I applaud you for your work and success; because the Phoenix Challenge is helping young people get that much closer to their vision.”
To date 215 high school Flexo students have participated in the Phoenix Challenge, an annual flexo skills competition where winners have been awarded $16,000 in scholarships to encourage young people to pursue careers in flexography.
Dates of the 8th Annual Phoenix Challenge were announced by Howard Vreeland, PCF board member, Anderson Vreeland Company. “Nearly 20 teams from high schools in 8 states throughout the U.S. plus two teams from Canada are expected to compete in this year’s competition to be held April 7-8, 2005,” said Mr. Vreeland. “The 2-day competition will include five areas of both hands on and written testing including operating a flexo press, prepress, plate making, flexo knowledge and math skills.” Mr. Vreeland added, “We are very thankful for the 15 event sponsors who have already stepped forward for 2005, however because of the increasing number of students more support is needed from the industry to fund scholarships as well as student and teacher travel costs.”
New Phoenix Challenge Newspaper
Other news announcements at the annual luncheon included plans for a new Phoenix Challenge newspaper printed Flexo. Three 10,000 copy editions will be printed over the next 6 months by the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Frank Anthony, from the Chattanooga Times Free Press and chairman of the Flexo Technical Association said, “The Phoenix Challenge News is a unique communications tool that will help us reach more students with news about the annual flexo skills competition, scholarships, and the wide variety of career opportunities in the rapidly growing field of Flexography.” In addition to PCF editorial news, advertising space is also available in the newspaper. Thanks to the Chattanooga Times Free Press and industry suppliers who are donating the prepress, press time and materials needed to produce the paper, 100% of the advertising revenue will go directly to scholarships and funding for students in the Phoenix Challenge.
Website Launched
Luncheon attendees also participated in the first live demonstration of the new PCF website www.phoenixchallenge.org. lead by Joe Tuccitto head of the Dunwoody College academic program for Graphics and Printing/Packaging Technologies in Minneapolis, MN who designed and hosts the site. “Our vision in building this site was to assure teachers had what they needed and to encourage students to learn more about Flexo and explore possible careers in our industry,” said Mr. Tuccitto.
