Latest news with #Skipper
Miami Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Man credits store clerk for big lottery win in NC. ‘You've just changed my life'
A North Carolina man almost walked away from a lottery ticket that held a life-changing prize, lottery officials said. Kenneth Skipper tried to purchase the ticket three times, but the card reader wasn't working, he told the North Carolina Education Lottery, according to a May 27 news release. It was the clerk who encouraged him to try one more time, leading him to a $2 million jackpot prize in the $2 Million Vault game, lottery officials said. Skipper said he stared at the ticket after he learned of the win for about five minutes, according to the lottery. 'I called my wife and told her, 'I think I just won the lottery,'' he said. 'She started freaking out.' Then, Skipper told lottery officials he went back into the store and found the clerk. 'I pulled her to the side and said, 'You've just changed my life,'' Skipper said, according to the lottery. He bought the winning ticket from a convenience store in Fayetteville, about a 140-mile drive southeast from Charlotte, lottery officials said. He plans to use the prize to pay bills and give to his church, the lottery said. The $2 Million Vault game began May 6 and features prizes ranging from $20 to the $2 million jackpot, according to the game's web page. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 1,729,430, and the odds of winning overall are 1 in 3.35, lottery officials said. Two out of three jackpot prizes remain to be claimed, the lottery said.
Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Boston's brightest: 33 valedictorians celebrated at annual luncheon
Advertisement After countless hours in the classroom and the dance studio, Pires is headed to New York to attend Fordham University while dancing at the renowned Alvin Ailey school. She will pursue a pre law track with the hopes of becoming a criminal justice lawyer. Pires was celebrated among 32 other Dozens of family members watched their graduates receive a certificate and shake hands with Mayor Michelle Wu, Superintendent Mary Skipper, and School Committee Chair Jeri Robinson. Christina Yang, from the Josiah Quincy Upper School, poses for a photograph with, from left, Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston School Committee chair Jeri Robinson, and Superintendent Mary Skipper during the annual valedictorians luncheon. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff 'You could have taken an easier route. You could have decided just to put off homework or do something that would give you a little bit more time to maybe relax or hang out with friends,' Wu said to the valedictorians. 'You made a hard choice – time after time after time – to invest in yourselves.' Advertisement Wu, a valedictorian herself, congratulated the students on their achievements while urging them to consider staying in Boston or returning to the city if they go away for college. 'This is your home. It always will be, and I wouldn't be doing my job as mayor if I weren't making a pitch that we need your leadership here in this community,' she said. Related : Christina Yang, the valedictorian of the Josiah Quincy Upper School, is staying in the city to attend Boston University. Yang wants to become an educator, maybe a teacher or counselor. She said her experience as a student has inspired her to pursue a career in education. 'I see myself working in a school setting with children and helping to seek advocacy for the younger generation,' Yang said. 'I have a very compassionate heart for younger people, and I love working with little kids.' After struggling her freshman year, Yang said she learned how to advocate for herself and seek support when needed. A daughter of Chinese immigrants, she will be the first generation in her family to attend college. 'From South America and Italy to Vietnam and Dorchester, our valedictorians truly come from all over the world,' said Robinson, the school board chair. 'Your journeys are a testament to the rich tapestry of our community and the strength that lies in our diversity.' Skipper said 60 percent of the valedictorians are the first in their families to go to college, while 40 percent are from other countries. Advertisement 'In a time when we question in narratives — federally — the value of our immigrants, this room is an example of the value of our immigrants,' Skipper said. Many valedictorians worked jobs while in high school, while others were caretakers for young siblings, Skipper added. 'You have the opportunity and obligation to take all that talent that each of you possesses and go to a next level with it,' she told the graduates. The room gave a silent applause for Ahmed Sharif (not shown), from the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Among the colleges the students will attend include Harvard, Northwestern, UMass Amherst, Smith College, and Bowdoin College. Kaylee Nguyen, valedictorian of TechBoston Academy, will attend Northeastern University on a full scholarship, majoring in accounting. As part of the class of 2025, she transitioned from middle to high school during the pandemic and struggled with the social adjustment. 'I was really scared of what people thought of me. But once you surround yourself around people who are like you, then you're free to do whatever,' she said. Pires, who delivered a keynote address to the attendees, told the crowd the valedictorian title is bigger than grades, awards, or a speech. It comes with responsibility. In New York, Pires hopes to dance professionally for the Alvin Ailey company and to inspire younger people to follow their dreams, regardless of the obstacles. 'This is what the next generation is looking for. They're looking at me as an example,' Pires said. 'I really worked for this, but now I have a bigger responsibility of going out there and doing amazing work so that the next generation can follow through.' Advertisement After the program, the students and presenters posed for a group photo at Fenway Park. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Marcela Rodrigues can be reached at
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Former Vermont basketball player is returning to the Catamounts
Jackson Skipper is returning to Vermont basketball. The former Catamount — who left Burlington to play at Oral Roberts this past winter — is transferring back to Vermont, The Athletic's Tobias Bass reported on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on Monday afternoon. Skipper also announced his commitment to Vermont on social media. Advertisement The 6-foot-6, 190-pound Skipper spent his first two collegiate seasons at Vermont, redshirting the 2022-23 year and playing a reserve role in 2023-24, averaging 7.1 minutes per contest in 11 appearances, as Vermont completed an America East championship three-peat. Skipper started 11 of 26 games for Oral Roberts, Skipper's hometown school located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He put up averages of 4.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game while shooting 36.1% on his 3-point attempts. He reached double figures four times, including a career-high 20 points in a 92-54 victory over Texas A&M-Texarkana in December. Oral Roberts went 7-23 this past season, losing in the play-in game of the Summit League tournament. Advertisement Vermont previously picked up forwards Gus Yalden, Ben Michels and Trey Woodyard via the transfer portal this offseason. Head coach John Becker and his Vermont staff still need to fill three more scholarship spots for the 2025-26 campaign. Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@ Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5. This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont basketball: Transfer Jackson Skipper returning to Catamounts
Boston Globe
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump administration ends federal oversight of BPS English learner programs
Related : Despite the scrutiny, parents and advocates continued to demand additional services and attention to English learners who still lag behind their peers while making up an increasingly larger percentage of the student population. Advertisement On May 1, DOJ officials wrote to Superintendent Mary Skipper to say the agreement is now closed and the district is no longer subjected to additional review from the federal government. Some parents and education advocates worry that removing the additional layer of accountability will lead to weakened programs for English learners. This comes at a time when they have Suleika Soto, a BPS parent and advocate with the Boston Education Justice Alliance, said she is worried about the district reducing services for multilingual students, leaving parents with fewer choices. Advertisement 'The agreement was put in place because they weren't doing what they're supposed to do,' she said. In a statement, a BPS spokesperson said the district remains committed to providing a high-quality education to multilingual students. 'Our work for our multilingual learners and families will absolutely continue. All federal and state laws protecting the rights of multilingual learners remain firmly in place,' the spokesperson said. In a May 2 letter, Skipper notified staff about the DOJ's decision to end the agreement, saying that earlier this year department officials said several items in the agreement had been fulfilled and no longer required regular reporting from the district. 'While the formal DOJ monitoring chapter is closing, BPS remains committed to our systems of self-monitoring,' Skipper wrote. The district did not answer the Globe's question about what the self-monitoring systems are. DOJ officials wrote that closing formal monitoring does not prevent the department from conducting future compliance reviews or addressing complaints related to BPS's English learners. Ending the agreement now 'struck me as being collateral damage to what's going on nationally with the Trump administration,' said Roger Rice, a lawyer with Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy, a Somerville-based nonprofit that advocates for the education of multilingual children. This comes at a time when the Trump administration is scaling back on funding for the Department of Education and has 'This was a mechanism by which the federal government could hold Boston accountable to show what it was actually doing,' Rice said. 'They won't have to report data and facts to anybody in the world to look at. The parents won't know. The public won't know.' Advertisement Rice said the same reporting the district provided to the DOJ should be available to the general public. The agreement was 52 pages long and had specific requirements for the identification, testing, and placement of English learners. It laid out standards for instruction and teacher training, including guidelines for students with disabilities and those with interrupted education. Another accountability measure is a The district received state approval for 17 new English learner programs and they plan to implement a Cape Verdean Creole dual language program in the 2026-2027 school year, Skipper wrote in a letter to state leaders in March. Suzanne Lee, a retired teacher and principal, said local officials must step in to maintain oversight and accountability. 'Based on history and based on experience, whenever there's not serious monitoring, things don't happen,' she said. 'I learned that as a principal. You only get what you ask for.' In 2023, Lee was one of the nine members of BPS's English learners task force who The district's plan is to integrate English learners into general education classes taught in English with the support of a multilingual educator, rather than spending entire school days in separate programs that include instruction in students' native languages such as Spanish. Advertisement The goal is to have all students under the new plan by the end of the 2026-2027 school year. Research shows that targeted instruction and support in elementary school is critical to make sure English learners catch up by later grades. Learning in one's native language helps students to keep up with other disciplines, Lee said, adding she was placed below grade level when she arrived in the US from Hong Kong at age 11. 'If I had social studies and science lessons in my native language, I would have kept up with that knowledge,' Lee said. Marcela Rodrigues can be reached at
Scotsman
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hearts relief as Lawrence Shankland digs them out of a hole in Dingwall
Skipper scores two and provides another in comeback win Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hearts caretaker manager Liam Fox admits watching his side fight back to beat Ross County came as a relief after a testing week at Tynecastle following the dismissal of Neil Critchley. A double from Lawrence Shankland either side of half-time saw the Jambos overturn a deficit given to County by Ronan Hale midway through the first half in Dingwall. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Jambos skipper then turned provider late on to tee up Alan Forrest to seal a 3-1 win for Hearts with just under 10 minutes to go. Victory in the club's first match since Critchley was sacked as manager came as a welcome boost for a side who now sit eight points clear of the bottom two with three matches to play, and Fox says it was a good moment watching Forrest's clincher hit the back of the net. Hearts' Lawrence Shankland celebrates after scoring to make it 1-1 against Ross County in Dingwall. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group) | SNS Group 'It was probably a bit of relief at the end of what has been a difficult week,' he said. 'I knew how important the game was today off the back of that, and what the supporters would demand from this football club. 'I've been trying to enjoy this week as well, because it's a huge privilege to manage this club, even if it's just for one match. It's been emotional. Now I can personally enjoy the bus journey to Aviemore, and then our focus will switch to Motherwell. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We still have work to do, for sure. We'll be back to work on Monday, and then until someone tells me differently we'll start looking towards the next game.' Ross County manager Don Cowie, on the other hand, was left assessing his side's fight against the drop after suffering sixth successive defeat. It is a run of results that has seen the Staggies go from believing they were in contention for the top six, to sitting two points adrift of Dundee in the relegation play-off zone. The County boss admits his team's form is a concern going into the final week of the season, saying: 'It's a big concern. It's a challenging period, and I'm not going to hide from that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We've had plenty of challenging periods in my career to get to here, so it's nothing I haven't faced before. 'As a group, we know what's at stake. There are three games in the space of a week, and if we win all three we will be in the Premiership next season.
