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Voting from bed: WCU, Jackson County election officials hammer out a hopeful home

coverWalking out of the Jackson County Board of Elections offices in Sylva, Lane Perry seemed pleased. A year’s worth of work was about to pay off. 

SEE ALSO: Election laws in the ‘new’ North Carolina

“At the end of the day, we want to be able to get university students to vote where they live for three to five years,” Perry explained on the way to his car.

WCU staff and students improve libraries in area jails

fr librarieswFor most people, the word “jail” stirs up mental images of vertical bars and stark concrete walls, not of rows of books or orange-clad inmates studiously reading them. But bars have, for the most part, turned to Plexiglas and metal doors, and thanks to the collaborative research of librarians and criminal justice faculty at Western Carolina University, an initiative to expand book collections in Western North Carolina jails is gathering steam. 

Schools rebut charge of impeding efforts to start secular club

Haywood County Schools’ attorney has countered accusations that Pisgah High School administrators allegedly hampered a student’s attempt to form a club for atheists and non-religious students. 

From the studio to the classroom

art frThe loud pounding echoed from the end of the empty corridor.

Crossing the threshold of the last classroom on the left at Smokey Mountain Elementary School in Whittier, one could see — and hear — that the source of the sound came from the feverish hands of students during their afternoon art class. Like an army of woodpeckers, the pupils each hammered away at copper sheet metal in an effort to make their designs a physical reality.

Pisgah student persists, forms secular club

A club for non-religious students is being formed at Pisgah High School after a freshman enlisted the help of a national group to go to bat for her.

Private schools, public money, heated discourse: School stakeholders debate new N.C. voucher program

coverIt’s been six months since the N.C. General Assembly passed a budget earmarking $10 million for school vouchers to low-income students, but the issue is just heating up in Western North Carolina. On Jan. 9, Macon County became the first school district in the four-county region to add its name to a lawsuit decrying the program as unconstitutional, but they’re not the only ones talking about it. 

In a unanimous vote at the Jan. 28 school board meeting, Jackson County also added its name to the litigation, and Haywood County discussed the issue at its Jan. 13 meeting when chairman Chuck Francis made an impassioned request that the board vote to join the lawsuit. However, the vote died on the floor without a motion to carry it forward. Swain County’s school board has not discussed the issue, and its next meeting is not until Feb. 10.  

And, goal: WNC soccer players train with Olympics in mind

fr soccerJacob Flannick & Holly Kays • Correspondent/Staff writer

When Scott Cline graduated from Swain High School in the mid-1990s, the community had barely begun talking about forming a school soccer team. And while the sport is gaining popularity in Swain County, football is still the highest platform available to student athletes.

SCC charts course for major Macon campus expansion

Southwestern Community College leaders unveiled a master plan last month outlining a major expansion of its campus in Macon County. 

The campus would double in size from 20 to 40 acres. The master plan has several phases, but the first phase calls for a 38,000-square-foot science building with 15 classrooms and a lab. The first phase also calls for a new law enforcement training center and indoor firing range.

WCU holds commencement for graduates

The fall semester came to a close at Western Carolina University on Dec. 14 as commencement exercises were held in Ramsey Regional Activity Center to recognize the university’s newest graduating class and a group of WCU alumni who were awarded degrees in August.

Faculty, student representatives at WCU frustrated by Raleigh

Faculty and student representatives at Western Carolina University expressed concern last week over recent legislative actions in Raleigh. 

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