Ferrum College Sweethearts “Have Literally Been Together Half of Our Lives”

Joey and Margaret Cornwell, with their daughters Martha Ellen and Gracie.

“We have literally been together half of our lives,” said Ferrum College alumna Margaret Johnson Cornwell ’02. “This year marks our twenty year anniversary of being together!” This spring, the couple will celebrate their fifteenth wedding anniversary. And it all started with a pre-Valentine's Day phone call on February 13, 2000.

Margaret, a marketing major at Ferrum College, met Joey Cornwell, an agriculture major who also graduated in 2002, through a mutual friend while both were students at the College. About a year and a half passed and though the pair didn’t interact much, they found their paths began consistently crossing. But then Instant Messenger played the role of Cupid. "It was that long ago!" laughed Margaret. 

After talking several times on IM, Joey called Margaret for the first time the day before Valentine’s Day in 2000. He left a voicemail which ended up being deleted, so Margaret had to reach out to several people to get Joey’s number to call him back. They talked for hours during their first conversation, settled on dinner (at Outback) and a movie (“Scream 3”) for a first date, and have been together since. 

Ferrum College Graduation, May 2002

After their graduation from Ferrum College in May 2002, Margaret moved back to her hometown of Tuscaloosa, AL where she began teaching horseback riding lessons and running the local tack shop. Joey, who is originally from Nokesville, VA, remained in Franklin County and eventually landed a job working for Farm Credit as a loan officer. The couple lived in separate states for three years. 

“Honestly, with me being from Alabama, we had already done the long-distance thing a few times in our relationship during summer breaks,” said Margaret. “Although it wasn’t the ideal situation, we knew how to handle it pretty well.”

The couple learned the art of communication during those long-distance years. At first, neither had cell phones so they blocked out certain times of the day to catch up on their landlines. The eventual purchase of cell phones helped but the couple found talking wasn’t quite enough, so they made a pact to see each other every six weeks or so.

Joey knew he wanted to ask Margaret to marry him during one of those visits, so he specially ordered a photo of them made into a puzzle. His marriage proposal was inscribed on one piece, which he held for last while Margaret fitted the puzzle together. Finally, he gave her the last piece. “She kept spinning it and spinning it and meanwhile I’m trying not to throw up on myself,” Joey remembered.

   

On their wedding day, May 2005

On May 14, 2005, Margaret and Joey married in Tuscaloosa. They ventured off to a Jamaican honeymoon but after returning to the United States, Joey headed back to Virginia and Margaret to Alabama for a few more months. “Once we were married I did wait several months before moving to Virginia so I could tie up loose ends with my businesses,” explained Margaret.

“She didn’t arrive here until late January 2006. I was a married bachelor,” laughed Joey.

The couple eventually bought a house in Boones Mill in February 2007, where they live now with their two daughters, Gracie and Martha Ellen. Joey is a regional sales manager at Farm Credit and manages Rocky Mount’s Rotary Club. He enjoys gardening and supplying his family with summer vegetables all year long. Margaret is the head coach of Ferrum College’s Equestrian Program and has taken on the additional responsibility of head coach for Healing Strides’ new Athletic Equestrian League. She is currently training for the April 2020 Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Half Marathon.

“We have certainly had our ups and downs but it’s great knowing that we are each other’s best friend,” said Margaret. “This season of life we are in now with young children and pursuing our careers is probably the most challenging season yet but we are two totally different people and that seems to work for us. Somehow we are able to balance each other out without driving each other crazy!”

Joey agrees. “It doesn’t feel like it’s even been a day, let alone 20 years,” he said. “I’m doing something I enjoy with someone I love. I wouldn’t pick anyone else to do this life with.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, Ferrum College Sweethearts. 

Ferrum College Sweethearts Celebrate 27th Valentine’s Day Together

Aaron Conover ’93 and Hillary Hardison ’94 celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary this past September. These sweethearts met at Ferrum College in 1991 when Hardison visited Conover’s dorm room to watch Fantasia with mutual friends. Hardison was hooked when Conover answered the door wearing an apron and carrying a bottle of 409 cleaner; “I knew she was coming over, so I was cleaning,” he explains. “Four guys living together are pretty gross.”

The couple spent their days at Ferrum College hiking, caving, and creating art together. Conover graduated a year prior to Hardison and followed his outdoor recreation career to Oregon. She finished her degree in philosophy with a minor in art in May 1994 and the couple was married in September 1994. They spent their honeymoon traveling by moving van from Virginia to Oregon so Hardison could join her new husband out west. 

The couple continued to follow their dreams which eventually lead them back to Virginia. Conover is now employed by Ferrum College as the director of Ferrum Outdoors and adjunct instructor in health and human performance. He also co-owns Down River Outfitters, which offers scenic river tours on the Jackson River, James River, New River, and Staunton River. Hardison teaches gifted art classes through Roanoke County Schools and Aurora Artisans & Frameshop, and operates her own art business, Hardison Art, LLC.

Their story hasn’t always been unabashed wedded bliss. In February 2016, Hardison was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer and underwent extensive surgery with a long recovery. Shortly after, her mother passed away and she was laid off from the job she held at the time. Through those difficult times, Conover remained her rock and once healing began, they decided together that it was time to start living life to the fullest. It was then that the pair really honed in on their entrepreneurial adventures with Down River Outfitters and Hardison Art LLC. “We let each other pursue our passions and we support the other,” Conover explains. 

What word would the couple use to describe their 25 years together? “Adventure,” quips Hardison. “That word dominates our life. I wanted adventure in my life. I knew with Aaron, it would never be boring.”

“Or lucrative,” Conover says, with a grin.

Happy Valentine’s Day to these Ferrum College sweethearts.

Learn more about Down River Outfitters here: http://www.driftboatflyfishing.com/ and Hardison Art, LLC here: www.hardisonartllc.com.

Jevontè Blount '18: My Experience as a Governor's Fellow

This summer, I was part of Governor Northam’s first class of Governor’s Fellows since he took office in January 2018. I was assigned under the Secretary of Natural Resources and worked with the Secretary and Deputy Secretaries on various projects, including one regarding coastal resiliency. 

Throughout the program we had daily brown bag lunches with key figures in Governor Northam’s Cabinet. It was an opportunity to learn about the responsibilities of each department, the agencies they oversee, to soak in as much information as we could about their journey from where they started to where they are now. 

Jevontè Blount '18 (right) with Governor Ralph Northam. Jack Mayer photograph.

My major project that I spent majority of my time working on was with initiating and presenting a plan to the Governor’s Chief of Staff to improve recycling within state buildings like the Patrick Henry Building.

Towards the end of the program the Fellows had a policy project competition. This took five major problems impacting the Commonwealth and the United States and we had to find a feasible solution. My group was given the topic of rising student debt crisis. We won!

Jevontè Blount '18 (far right) with his policy project competition teammates. Jack Mayer photograph.

About Jevontè Blount ’18:

Jevontè Blount ’18 was a 2018 Governor’s Fellow, one of only 22 rising college seniors, graduating seniors, or graduate students from across the state named to the prestigious program by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. Blount, from Hampton, Virginia, graduated from Ferrum College this past May with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. During his tenure at Ferrum College, he was in the Ferrum College Honor Society, on the Dean’s list, and served as Ferrum College Residence Hall Association president. Blount now in studying in the Master in Public Administration program at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

About the Governor's Fellows Program:

(https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2018/february/headline-822716-en.html)

"Governor Chuck Robb created this prestigious program in 1982. Since then, it has offered college students a hands-on opportunity to learn about state government at the top level. Previous members have gone on to pursue careers in various levels of state and federal government, each using their skills acquired during their Fellows experience.

Fellows are given the opportunity to cultivate and sharpen leadership skills by taking on various tasks and projects. The Fellows also learn from special guest speakers from the administration and take field trips across the Commonwealth."

The Most Fulfilling Prospect of My Life: The Fight for Educational Equality

By Trinity Welsh '16

Trinity Welsh '16 & Seth Chamberlin

August 2, 2017: Hi there! Recently, I began my new career as a teacher. It isn’t quite where I thought I’d go, but here we are! I’m writing as I sit outside of a Starbucks in Arkansas, a state that I never thought I’d live in. I started the summer having only worked in retail, ready to try anything new. I was pretty surprised when Teach for America extended me an offer, and I was thrilled when a high school in Helena-West Helena, AR, offered me a job before I’d received any training. I had no idea what I was doing, but I wasn’t about to say ‘no’. So, I packed my whole life in my car and drove to Mississippi. 

I stayed pretty tired-my summer was kind of like teacher boot-camp. I was up at 4:30 every day to eat and get coffee, and make my lunch, so that I could catch the bus for the hour-long ride to school in Marks, MS. My days at Quitman County Middle School were something I can’t forget. I was pretty homesick the whole time, but I won’t ever be able to forget my 8th graders. They were worth it. We were only in school until 1 every day, but in those few hours we came to know each other pretty well. I can tell you now, that there is nothing like watching a student become less concerned with popularity and more excited to show their brilliance, or watching children grow into classroom leaders.

After school, we tripped it back to Delta State University to spend a few hours in class ourselves, learning to develop classroom culture and cultivate working relationships with students, as well as devise strategy for classroom learning. We were finished by 6 every day, when we would take some time to eat dinner, work out, and lesson plan for the next days.

At the time, it felt like the summer would never end. But, tomorrow is my first day of work as a certified teacher, and there is nowhere else I’d choose to be. Helena is a school district that suffers from a lack of industry and funding. It’s a beautiful ghost-town. But it’s home, now, and I’m eager to fight for her survival.

I believe that everything happens for a reason. I was a politics major, and it seems like I’ve been given the opportunity to affect change in areas where I am most needed. The fight for educational equality might be the most fulfilling prospect of my life. Our motto at TFA is “One day, all children.” I’ll meet my kids next week, but I started fighting for them in June.

Wish me luck tomorrow! It’s going to be a big day.

Robert Cunningham: A True Ferrum College Success Story

By Tom Steele, Ferrum College Director of Academic Outreach Initiatives

Robert Cunningham '17 is a true Ferrum College success story. He defied the academic odds makers by earning his degree in Sports Management, which he completed in only four years! Robert accomplished this milestone while managing more responsibilities than did most of his peers. 

When asked what the past four years at Ferrum College have taught him, Robert replied, “Work hard. There are no shortcuts; you gotta grind through it.” One might say that Robert has excelled in the grind.

Robert first learned about Ferrum College at a wrestling camp in his home town of York, SC, which was hosted by Ferrum Head Wrestling Coach Nate Yetzer. Robert explained, “Coach Yetzer and Jason Byrd (Director of Admissions), stayed in contact with me. They helped with everything and got me thinking that I could make college a reality.”

During his years at the College, Robert earned membership in the Ferrum Scholars program. He was selected captain of the wrestling team. He shared his wisdom and positive outlook by mentoring new freshmen in the Brother4Brother program. Robert also became a devoted husband and loving father. These have been busy, exciting years for the Cunningham family.

However, Robert wasn’t always confident that he would earn his college degree. Robert shared, “I am a first generation college student. I didn’t come to Ferrum for academics. I came to Ferrum to wrestle. But, I used my resources, I had success early, and I began to gain confidence. The discipline I learned from wrestling was a big help, and my coaches kept pushing me. I had to learn how to study and how to balance my time and responsibilities. I had a lot of support at Ferrum.”

Between his sophomore and junior years, Robert married his high school sweetheart, Ki’Aira. They have been blessed with a daughter, Kylie. Before they joined him in Ferrum, Robert was a frequent traveler to Rock Hill, SC to spend time with his family. The couple talked nightly on Facetime. Ki’Aira says the times she and Robert were apart while he was in school were the most difficult, especially with an infant in the home. Robert's family joined him at Ferrum for his senior year.

Robert has a plan for the Cunninghams' future. His goal is to become an athletic director. He will begin his career journey as a wrestling coach for nearby Patrick County High School. The journey will be a grind, with no shortcuts, and this is the way Robert expects it to be. His success as a student-athlete and as a family man have more than prepared him for the work that awaits. 

Note: Casey Fabris also profiled Robert in The Roanoke Times. You can read her article here.