by Rhonda Minton
“At that point in time, there wasn’t much I could say,” J. T. Ward, a member of TC’s security staff, said. “But I guarantee you, they had me shocked up.”
This was the response given by Ward after he was surprised on October 28 by a group of student workers.
Earlier in October, Ward’s house was destroyed by fire. So a group of student workers got together and sponsored a campus-wide, three-day bake sale for the unsuspecting security officer.
“It was a surprise to me,” he said. “When you’re at a place like this, you don’t think about students this age doing things like this.”
“They’re a super bunch of kids and I’d like to thank them from the deepest side of my little heart,” he said.
“I don’t miss much around here,” Ward said, “but I don’t see how they sold those cookies and things without me finding out. They really snow-balled me!”
“One morning I saw Daphne getting on the elevator in the administration building with an armload of cupcakes,” Ward said. “I was in a real hurry so I said to her, ‘Save me one of those cupcakes.’ I didn’t have a clue as to what they were doing!”
“I won’t ever see them all together again like they were in that room,” the TC security officer said. “I wanted to write each one a thank-you note, but I didn’t know what to say.”
The girls who participated in this surprise event for Ward were Cathy Boyd, Tammy Lurry, Shana Cox, Sarah Cowart, Rhonda Minton, Kristie Waldrum, Lori Potts, Melissa Duka, Lisa Russell, Michelle McCarty, Vickie Weaver, Tammy Pruitt, Daphne Wilford and Samantha Strickland.