Latest news with #WesternKentuckyUniversity
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Yazoo County middle school teacher selected as 2025 National Stem Scholar
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – Yazoo County middle school teacher Melanie Hardy was selected for the 2025 National Stem Scholar Program. 10 scholars are chosen to study science, technology, engineering and math at Western Kentucky University for a week, as well as develop a project. 'I actually screamed and then I began texting our principal and my family to let them know because this has been a lifelong dream,' said Hardy. The middle school science and math teacher says, her project is to do a year-long study of the Mississippi River and how it has changed over time. In April 2026, she will travel to Anaheim, California to present her project at the National Science Teacher's Association Conference. This is the second time that Hardy has applied for the program. The program is open to middle school science teachers. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Winnipeg Free Press
29-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Second time's the charm for Hall
After every practice, Jaylen Hall takes three tennis balls to the goal line and begins to juggle. From there, he meticulously walks to midfield and back without breaking stride or mishandling a toss, making a skillful task look second-nature. It's a drill that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver uses to maintain sharp eye-hand co-ordination. He picked it up during his time at Western Kentucky University, and it's become a staple in his daily routine. BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver Jaylen Hall (87) catches the ball at training camp. Hall had a recurring hamstring injury that took him out of the running for a roster spot with the club last spring. Hall takes his time with it every day, soaking up every step on the turf inside Princess Auto Stadium, because he remembers how badly he itched to be back here. 'I'm just blessed to be out here again,' the 26-year-old said recently. 'Second time around, kind of getting a hang of the offence this time around, everything's clicking for me. Just thankful for the opportunity, thankful for being back out there. Everything's flowing and going good for me.' Most importantly, Hall is healthy. A recurring hamstring injury took him out of the running for a roster spot with the Edmonton Elks in 2023 and then again with Winnipeg last spring. He returned home to Macomb, Mich., (a county that borders Detroit to the north) to rehab. There, he also coaches a 7-on-7 team for a non-profit while staying ready for his next opportunity. This spring, Hall's training camp has gone without a hiccup, which has allowed him to showcase everything the Bombers liked a year ago. The 6-3, 190-pound pass-catcher stopped short of saying it's all been smooth sailing, noting he's picked up some bumps and bruises along the way, but thus far he's avoided anything major and put himself in the thick of a deep position battle at receiver. 'Liked him before. Like him again,' said head coach Mike O'Shea. 'He's long. He seems to have caught damn near every ball. Haven't seen him really have any missteps. Usually, in your second time go-around, you're more correct. He seems to be a guy you can move around to different spots too. Versatility is always very important.' Hall is one of 18 receivers who will dress for Winnipeg's final pre-season contest against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina on Friday (8 p.m. CT). Players like Nic Demski, Dalton Schoen, Keric Wheatfall and Kevens Clercius all figure to be safe bets to make the roster, but any remaining spots are up for grabs. After the game, the Bombers' coaching staff will begin the difficult process of shaving down the roster for regular-season action. Because O'Shea isn't tracking every rep in practice, he'll turn to offensive co-ordinator Jason Hogan before making any decisions on that side of the ball. He'll also confer with his quarterbacks when it comes to the receivers. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Jaylen Hall (right) is one of 18 receivers who will dress for Winnipeg's final pre-season contest against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina on Friday. In Hall's case, O'Shea might be best advised to speak with Chris Streveler, who has worked with Hall on the second-team offence for much of camp. Their connection has stood out at every level, but especially on the long ball, as the duo has taken the top off the defence several times in team periods. 'He's having a good camp, man, and he's a guy that sticks around after practice and gets extra throws, too. That's just something that me, personally, I just really appreciate from young guys trying to make a team,' said Streveler, adding it's been nice to know he has a trustworthy set of hands like Hall's to work with. 'He's been here for camp before, so I kind of knew him coming in, but man, he's having a heck of a camp. He knows the plays, which is such a big thing in camp, because the more you know the plays, the faster you can play, the more confident.' Hall isn't getting caught up in the position battle. Focusing on himself has been a part of his maturation process. Last year, his mind would wander into the world of 'what-ifs,' and it became easy to stack bad days. This year, the view on his outlook has remained positive, and now he's allowing the chips to fall where they may. 'Mentally. Just thinking positive, no getting down on myself. Nothing is as good as it seems, and nothing is as bad as it seems. You take a day, you might think you had a bad day, then once you watch it on film, it's not as bad. Or you think you had a good day, and then you look on film and you're like, 'Oh, I could correct this and correct that,'' he said. 'Ultimately, just having a positive mindset and flowing with that.' Star running back Brady Oliveira, right tackle Eric Lofton, and a host of expected starters on defence will not dress for the Bombers in Friday night's exhibition contest. Defensive backs Marquise Bridges and Jamal Parker Jr. are two expected starters who will play. Otherwise, there will be plenty of snaps to go around for those battling for roster spots on that side of the ball. Meanwhile, it could be a dress rehearsal for the starting offence. RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Chris Streveler (left) has high praise for Jaylen Hall, making the receiver his primary target on the long ball over training camp. Streveler, who is expected to start in place of Zach Collaros (suspension) for the season-opener in Week 2, will start, with Wheatfall, Clercius, Schoen, Demski and Jerreth Sterns as his receivers. The offensive line (from left to right) will be Stanley Bryant, Micah Vanterpool, Chris Kolankowski, Paddy Neufeld and Kendall Randolph. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Quinton Cooley is slated to start at running back, and Matthew Peterson will also see time. 'This game is just as important to the evaluation process,' said O'Shea. 'I think there's going to be some guys that are pulling a few more reps that have to show they're in the kind of shape they need to be to play at this level.' X: @jfreysam Joshua Frey-SamReporter Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh. Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kentucky Republican Party names WKU grad as executive director ahead of 2026 elections
Zach Jordan is the executive director of the Republican Party of Kentucky. (Provided by Republican Party of Kentucky) Zach Jordan, a former Arizona deputy state director for President Donald Trump's campaign, has been named as the next executive director of the Republican Party of Kentucky ahead of 2026 elections. In a Tuesday press release, RPK said Jordan 'brings a background in grassroots leadership and organizational strategy to the role' with his experience in Arizona. In November, Trump won the state's 11 electoral votes over former Vice President Kamala Harris by winning the popular vote by more than five percentage points. Jordan takes over the Kentucky role from Adam Feldman, who was serving as interim executive director after Sarah Van Wallaghen's departure earlier this year. Jordan, who is an alumnus of Western Kentucky University, officially began as executive director on Tuesday. He will oversee daily party operations and assist with strategic planning and fundraising efforts ahead of the 2026 election cycle, when Kentucky will have elections for U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats as well as races in the state legislature. Robert J. Benvenuti III, RPK chairman, praised Jordan's work experience in a statement. 'He clearly possesses the intellect, skill and thoughtfulness required to successfully carry out this critical and difficult job,' Benvenuti said. 'Zach brings a unique blend of experience in grassroots operations, leadership, fundraising and data strategy. He has a wealth of knowledge and is ready to hit the ground running.' In Arizona, Jordan's duties included developing field operation plans and engaging local volunteers, stakeholders and surrogates to build momentum. Before that, Jordan was a vice president of Blair Group, a consulting firm that says it specializes in 'grassroots voter contact, activist and volunteer training, strategic communications and earned media campaigns.' 'It's a great honor to be named the next executive director of such a successful organization,' Jordan said in a statement. 'The Republican Party of Kentucky is considered the gold standard for state parties, both in success and dominance in state and federal elections. I look forward to helping build on that legacy. Kentucky Republicans have a bright future, and I'm proud to be a part of it.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brescia holds commencement at RiverPark Center
Duda Feres hadn't thought about being the student speaker during Brescia University's undergraduate commencement Saturday morning at the RiverPark Center until she got a little prodding from friends. But as she prepared to enter the facility's Cannon Hall with her classmates, she was thankful to have the opportunity. 'This year the student government association president was not a senior, so they decided to come up with an application process, and my friends were like Duda, you should apply,' she said. 'Honestly, I'm glad they told me to do that, because I had such a good time here at Brescia, and I've been involved in so many things.' Feres, who is from Brazil and played soccer for Brescia, said one of the aspects of her college career that stood out was how at home she always felt. 'As soon as I stepped here, everyone was really welcoming; people actually care about us,' she said. 'My friends, all of the professors, the staff, they're really warm with you. 'There is a sense of community. It's a small school, everyone knows everyone, but even though it's a small school, the diversity is so big. I've met so many people from different cultures, people I'm going to take with me forever.' Feres, who double majored in business and psychology, used her speech to talk about how students from so many different backgrounds create the Brescia community. 'It's a mix of my own culture and how that applies here, and how we all came from different places and had to go through so many things, but ended up here for a reason,' she said. 'You were meant to be here, and what we lived was almost unexplainable.' Feres has decided to stay at Brescia for another year to earn her Master of Business Administration. 'I love it too much,' she said of the school. 'I have to stay around.' Daniel Rusiecki, who earned degrees in English and psychology, arrived at Brescia from Florida to play basketball and quickly found a second family. 'The thing that stands out is the community; I've always said it feels like a family here,' he said. 'I came from Florida, and finding this community that accepts me and actually wants to make me engage with it, it's probably one of the best things I'll always remember about this campus. 'The way they surround you with their energy, no one wants to leave anyone behind. The people around here is what really made my experience.' Rusiecki said he's honored to be a part of Brescia's tradition. 'It means the world,' he said, 'knowing there are a lot of people who have come before me, and the fact I'm able to do this now at this level and make the people who came before me proud, it just means a lot.' Rusiecki will pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting from Western Kentucky University. He wants to be a film director and writer. 'When I was a kid my mom had heart problems, so I always wanted to be a heart surgeon,' he said. 'But my sophomore year of high school I got into a film class, and from there I've always wanted to go into movie making.' While Feres and Rusiecki praised the time they spent on campus, graduate Irene Wainaina was seeing the school — and Owensboro — for the first time this weekend, as she had taken classes through its online program from her home in Seattle. 'I had looked everywhere, but I really wanted an online-only program, and this was the only school that I could find that did strictly online,' she said. 'It worked out amazing, with amazing teachers.' Wainaina earned a degree in social work and wants to be a counselor. 'This means everything,' she said of graduating. 'It means my daughter gets to see me graduate, it means my family gets to see me graduate, and it means I kept a promise to my dad when he was dying. 'This was the last promise I made to him. So it means a lot.'
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Strode aims for accessibility as WKU regional campuses director
Derick Strode felt he was 'floating around' during his formative years at Western Kentucky University before putting an emphasis on English. 'I had two great English teachers in high school; but by the time I got to WKU, I had no idea I was going to be an English major,' Strode, 43, said. '(I was a) young student who was trying to find their way,' Strode said. The 'lifelong Kentuckian' and Allen County-Scottsville High School graduate said it was during undergrad when he encountered 'a couple of very influential faculty members' who helped expose him to 'how great being an English student could be' — developing a keen interest in American literature. 'I fell into it,' he said, 'and loved it very much.' Strode, a first-generation college student, had the opportunity to study abroad in England the summer before the start of his junior year — an experience he deemed 'influential.' '... I had never been in the cities. I had never been outside of the U.S.,' he said. 'I didn't have a passport when I started college. ...I always put it into context historically — it was post-9/11, but this was still before the U.S. and other allies attacked Iraq, and went militarily into Iraq,' Strode said. 'It was a really political moment. The western world was really sort of reeling from 9/11 and there were a lot of protests because the coming war efforts were very established and publicized. 'I hadn't seen protests, peaceful protests, all these different ideas being exchanged,' Strode said. '... It was personal growth and confidence — that's what changed. 'I was never the same,' Strode said. Following graduation in 2003, Strode worked for a 'large, corporate' law firm in Cincinnati for eight months while also freelancing as a writer and photographer. It was following his departure from the firm when working a front desk shift at the Residence Inn by Marriott Cincinnati Airport that renavigated his life course. '... I was working (at the hotel) on the evening of July 4 … and I was not happy with how things were going in life, and I was looking for another job while I was working,' he said. 'I was looking at the classifieds … and I saw the WKU logo … and they were looking for a person who would live in northern Kentucky or Cincinnati and visit high schools as a recruiter.' He found himself back with WKU in August 2004, this time employed as an admissions counselor — the first job in Strode's now-two-decade-plus career in education. 'It felt like it was important. It felt like I had purpose. My salary stunk, but I did not care,' he said. 'I never worked harder at a job than I did for those three years as a recruiter.' The following year, Strode found himself back in the classroom as a graduate student in WKU's master's degree program for student affairs in higher education — all while working his full-time job. After graduating in 2017, Strode went on to become an international student advisor. 'At the time, WKU had a large international student population. Our biggest population were Indian students at that point in time, but we had students from … well north of 40 countries …,' he said. '... It was a blast.' After almost two years, Strode found himself at the then-recently opened Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, a state-funded, specialized early college entrance program. Strode took on two roles during his near-13-year tenure — starting out as the coordinator of research, internships and scholarships in October 2008 before becoming the assistant director of academic services by March 2012. 'There's no reason except for it was special,' Strode chuckled in response to leaving his WKU post. '(Gatton) was one-year-old when I joined it, and the opportunities there were rich and plentiful. '... It was new and everything there was ready to take off and grow,' Strode said. 'It was not what I (thought) would be my next move, but there it was — and it was the professional ride of my life.' While Strode's time at Gatton still allowed him to connect and network with WKU faculty, he notes the new setting came with some learning curves. 'I didn't know how to create a research program. I didn't know how to create an internship program for people who aren't 18 years old yet,' he said. 'But there were two things — there was a vision that had been laid, and my first job was to bring it to life; and then second, there were peer schools around the country for us who had already been doing it that we got to learn from. 'I had a lot of support to take an idea, learn how to do it and bring it to life,' Strode said. During this chapter, Strode enrolled at WKU two more times — receiving his master's in English in 2012 and a doctor of education in educational leadership in 2016. About five years later, Strode found himself back at his alma mater, albeit not in one central area or building. In August 2021, Strode became the director for regional campuses — overseeing the college's satellite locations in Elizabethtown, Fort Knox, Glasgow, Owensboro and Somerset. 'I was still having a great time at Gatton, so I wasn't in a huge hurry to leave there. But I just grew ready for a leadership role,' he said. '... At Gatton, I worked with this select group of Kentucky students to propel them to .. reach for things that otherwise they wouldn't have necessarily been easily able to. 'This job is more about the access for every person,' Strode said. 'That value of this job, making sure that no matter what one's personal circumstances (are) that they still have access to higher education wherever they live. 'It speaks to a lot of what I believe,' Strode said. While Strode found his prior experiences in education have been helpful in the role, he said his past with admissions has been instrumental. '... If we try to get people to pursue a degree, we have to find them, understand them and communicate back to them on how to get enrolled,' he said. 'The recruitment aspect of what I do and what we do with our staff here (in Owensboro) and at other regional campuses — it's every single day.' And he's found leading the charge in different parts of the state has opened his eyes about how to best serve each campuses' students specifically. 'The needs between here (in Owensboro) and other communities … are not the same,' Strode said. 'There's a lot of gear switching in this job, and that's nice. I don't go to work in the same place tomorrow ever as I did today, and the challenges are always new.' Strode started the role when education was still plagued by the coronavirus pandemic, though he noticed online course enrollment '(absorbed) a lot more of our students.' '... We did a lot of evaluation first of what did students want? How did they want higher ed to take place? Did they want to be online? Did they want to be in-person?' he said. 'And the answer was everything above and in between — everybody had different feelings about it. '... We started forging more ways for our regional program to be hybrid touches,' Strode said. 'We insist that we get students to our regional campuses so that we have relationships with them, and so that they have relationships with their faculty and with their peers. But we also, probably, have more of an online modality inside of what they do now than before Covid. 'I think we're finding some sweet spot in that — trying to take advantage of what online education can do for flexibility of degree progress, while insisting that the in-person components are really important to their development,' Strode said. For the Owensboro campus, the city's only four-year public university, enrollment has been in a five-year high regarding on-campus students and 425 total students being enrolled as of fall 2024. According to comprehensive data from fall 2023, the average out-of-pocket cost per semester is $1,842, with 57% of students receiving a Pell Grant, 61% receiving an automatic WKU merit scholarship — average $1,400 per semester, and 60% receiving additional scholarship support — averaging $2,771 per semester. According to the data, 41% of WKU-Owensboro's full-time undergraduates ended up not paying anything. 'We work on that public education pipeline to help local residents complete bachelor's degrees and graduate degrees,' Strode said, 'and nobody else in Owensboro does that.' The university is also Owensboro Community & Technical College's largest transfer partner, which Strode stresses he and the university 'work really hard to make it as smooth and seamless as possible' in an effort to 'create purposeful transitions.' 'We meet with their administration every month — it's a standing meeting — … and we nurture the good things we've got going,' he said. 'We constantly work to make sure that they're smooth for students, and that it's affordable and that their faculty know how to advise them ….' Though the students enrolled with the satellite locations may not get the exact experience one would at WKU's main hub in Bowling Green, it doesn't deter the educational value. 'We're one Western Kentucky University; we just happen to have a different zip code,' Strode said of the Owensboro campus. 'The 13 degrees that we offer here (are) offered by the same departments and the same faculty at WKU — the same quality, the expectation, rigor, accreditation standards. 'Everything is measured by the same ruler …,' Strode said. And though Strode stays busy traveling from one location to the next, his interactions with students — former and present — make it all worthwhile. 'I'm always going to be the happiest when I hear from a student,' he said. 'That's where my heart's at.'
