Budget impasse may cause a need for slower enrollment at WCU

Story co-written with Ruth Dahl. Story was published in The Sylva Herald on March 4, 2020. As the impasse between Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Republicans involving the State Budget continues, Western Carolina University faces another financial issue: the cost of accepted students. Chancellor Kelli Brown has asked the university’s Executive Council to begin […]

Student Government Association vice-presidential debates continue tonight, Feb. 27

Western Carolina University’s Student Government Association is holding elections to seek the next student body president and vice president. SGA hosted the presidential debate on Feb. 25 at 6 pm in the UC Theatre. The vice-presidential debates will take place Feb. 27 at the same time and location. Dawson Spencer, current SGA vice-president, is running […]

How to vote @ WCU

Early voting is ending this Saturday, Feb. 29 so you still have time to cast your early vote in North Carolina primaries. You can vote on campus in the U.C. Multipurpose room. Having the polling place on the campus is a major plus, but being a college student and living between school and home can […]

N.C law pushes Jackson county to update voting system

North Carolina General Assemble passed Session Law 2013-381 (HB 589), VIVA Election Reform, requiring all 100 counties to use a voting system that produces a paper ballot, ‘an individual paper document that bears marks made by the voter by hand or through electronic means.’ Prior to 2020, Jackson and the 34 other counties used Direct Record […]

Hunter Safety returns to Smoky Mountain curriculum

Smoky Mountain High School is bringing back its hunter safety course after an eight-year hiatus. The course will be taught by the schools agriculture teacher Blake Fox. He has been teaching agriculture at Smoky Mountain since July of 2019. Fox received his agriculture education and extension education degree from N.C. State University. He has been […]

Smoky Mountain High School spreads loves and breaks records on Valentine’s Day

Story co-written with Sara Stanley. Story was originally published in The Sylva Herald on Feb. 20, 2020 Smoky Mountain High School attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the ‘most people hugging soft toys simultaneously’ on Friday, Feb. 14 in the school’s new gymnasium. Over 800 students and staff from SMHS and the Catamount School […]