WELCOME to the 2008 EXPLORATIONS arts magazine produced by students and alumni of Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, VA.  The writing, photography, and artwork featured here were chosen by a very distinguished panel of judges.  We want to thank our judges David Grace, Marianne Worthington, Darnelle Arnoult, Tamara Baxter, and Travis Graves  (click on the Judges Bios page for more information) for sharing their time and talents with us.

The entire college community is very proud of the originality, creativity, technical skill, and enormous artistic vitality represented in these pages.  We hope that everyone will enjoy and appreciate the talents displayed.   We especially want to thank all the students and alumni who entered the competition, as well as all of the people on campus in Student Services, the Wampler Library, and the staff of the Public Relations office who make this competition and the publication possible.

Faculty Sponsors
Rita Quillen
Alice Harrington
Bill Harris