Continued from Page 25 Bernard’s attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and graduated with honors. Her degree is in economics and international trade/finance. Since graduating, she has worked for a major banking institution in the New Orleans and Monroe markets until 2001, when she transitioned to Shreveport and is a senior vice president serving as a commercial relationship manager at Community Trust Bank. Shortly after moving to Shreveport, Bernard met her husband, Roy. Her Shreveport family includes her husband, his son Eric, and three beautiful grandchildren, Skylar, Shane and Brooks. Bernard loves to travel and is keenly interested in physical fitness. She began running at an early age with her dad and his brigade while stationed with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg. She continued running throughout her college years and has run competitively in numerous races and marathons. Her list of marathon accomplishments include the New York, Chicago and prestigious Boston Marathons (twice). Bernard is also active in our local community and participates as a second-grade teacher in the local Junior Achievement program. She also serves on the executive board of the Susan G. Komen Northwest Louisiana affiliate.

Katie Bickham

Katie Bickham is an instructor of English and creative writing at Bossier Parish Community College, where she also serves as a faculty adviser to BPCC’s literary magazine, Savoir Faire. Bickham has been the recipient of a commendation from the Louisiana House of Representatives, has won the Lena- Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry and The Missouri Review Editor’s Prize for Poetry, and her writing can be found in multiple national  The Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, and Pleiades. Katie’s first book of poetry, “The Belle Mar,” is forthcoming from Pleiades and LSU Press in 2015. At a local level, Bickham recently won the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s Critical Mass Award for literature in which her poetry was selected and reviewed by LA Times book critic David Ulin. In addition to teaching at the college level, Bickham also runs community-wide creative writing workshops in the Shreveport-Bossier City area and founded a poetry reading group open to the community at large. Bickham earned her bachelor of arts in English literature and master of arts in liberal arts