Larry Penkava
Staff Writer
ASHEBORO —
One of Randolph Community College’s most iconic figures has been honored with the Distinguished Service Award.
Lenton Slack, who helped establish the college’s Interior Design program as a model for the state and nation, received the award last Thursday night prior to the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Board Chairman Jim Campbell made the presentation.
Campbell said Slack, who was accompanied by his wife Sue, “devoted his life to building and developing the program. ... He has been the longest-serving interior design instructor in RCC’s history. His passion for interior design made RCC’s Interior Design program one of the top programs in the state.”
Students in the program were able to receive hands-on experience through Slack’s annual Designer’s Showcase.
They would team up to redesign houses with very limited budgets.
“Lenton believed in a ‘community’ approach to the showcase and students in the Floriculture and Industrial Electrical/Electronics programs were also used in the projects, and sometimes alumni of the Interior Design program even pitched in,” said Campbell.
“His work with the Interior Design Showcase project is what made RCC’s Interior Design program unique and the showcases also helped the program gain publicity and notoriety throughout the State of North Carolina as well as nationally,” Campbell continued.
Slack accepted the award on behalf of his former Interior Design colleagues, Charles Johnson, Cliff Norris and Sherrill Sykes.
“It was a wonderful time for me,” Slack said as he accepted the award. “The students rose to the occasion (in the face of) insurmountable obstacles.”
He credited Johnson, Norris and Sykes with helping the Interior Design program to grow.
Slack joked that sometimes when faced with another Design Showcase and limited funds for the project, they would look at each other and say, “What the hell are we doing?”
Slack said most of the houses the students restored were “usually fairly dilapidated and required a lot of work. But they were great when we did them.”
As for being honored with the RCC Distinguished Service Award, Slack could only say, “I wasn’t prepared for it. I’m very appreciative.”
The Randolph Community College Board of Trustees Distinguished Service Award was established in 2002.
The nomination criteria states that an award recipient must be an individual, group, or organization that has made a long-term, consistent commitment that is extraordinary and has had visible impact or result directly related to support the mission of Randolph Community College.
Previous recipients include Martha Johnson, longtime community leader and former RCC trustee, 2009; Senator Jerry Tillman, former trustee chair and retired educator, 2008; Charles W. McCrary Sr., posthumously honored as the “Father of Randolph Community College,” 2007; the Randolph County Board of Commissioners for past and continued support, 2006; Marvin T. Caviness, long-time RCC supporter, 2005; instructors Robert A. Heist Jr. and, posthumously, Cecil P. Allen and Jerry W. Howell, for developing RCC’s Photographic Technology Program, 2004; retired RCC President Dr. Larry Linker for his long-time service, 2003; and RCC’s first long-time leaders, M.H. “Mert” Branson, RCC president, and J.W. “Willie” Plummer, RCC board chairman, both posthumously honored in 2002.
