Chancellor Belcher receives raise, faculty gets small one-time bonus

Chad Grant co-authored this article. Western Carolina University Chancellor, David Belcher, received a 19 percent pay raise in late October while WCU faculty pay remains stagnant. The University of North Carolina (UNC) Board of Governors voted in a closed-door meeting on Oct. 30, 2015 to give 12 of 17 chancellors in the UNC system significant […]

Elementary Education: Is it worth it? “Yes it is,” says a professor and her students

As a reaction of the profile story on elementary education students, Jessica Shearin,  we received a reaction from Dr. Carrie Rogers and the students of ELMG 495: Elementary & Middle Grades Education. We are publishing the full reaction with minor editing to adhere to AP style.  As a faculty member in the elementary education department, I […]

Majoring in Elementary Education: Is it worth it?

Bent over a wooden table littered with textbooks and sheets of tattered instructions, a Western Carolina senior clicks incessantly on her keyboard, eyes glazing over from looking at the same computer screen for hours—or is it sleep deprivation that is causing her eyes to cross? Creating lesson plan after lesson plan, Jessica Shearin, an Elementary […]

Adding a star to the band’s flag

Who is Julia Sanchez? “Julia was a social butterfly. She was known for smiling all the time. She was determined. Julia never met a stranger,” said Julia’s mom, Dotty Sanchez. Julia is the new star of the Pride of the Mountain Marching band (POTM). Julia Sanchez grew up in Fuquay Varina, NC. When it was […]

Show Review: Mountain Faith @ WCU

One word was bouncing around my head during the Mountain Faith concert on Thursday night: precious. With the harmonies of biscuits-and-gravy angels, and lyrics as pure as a Saturday drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mountain Faith is everything and more you could hope for in a small-town band. Sam McMahan is the patriarch of […]

CPP: WNC voters pick city, town governments

Carolina Public Press published the preliminary results from the local elections held yesterday, Nov. 3. From the preliminary results seems like Sylva will be getting a new mayor. Lynda Sossamon, won 35.16 percent of the votes. The present mayor, Danny Allen, won 34.07 percent of the vote. Here are the the rest of the early unofficial […]