Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Every other week, we鈥檒l highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we鈥檒l feature their stories.
The 鈥淏orn鈥� legacy
This year marks the 50th anniversary of 鈥淏orn to Run,鈥� Bruce Springsteen鈥檚 landmark third album, in which the New Jersey bard fused his Dylanesque lyrics with music that mirrored Phil Spector鈥檚 bombastic 鈥淲all of Sound鈥� production style.
A half century after that record鈥檚 1975 release, a group of 福利导在线观看 students
drew inspiration from the Springsteen classic and produced a modern dance interpretation
of it, with live music by the school鈥檚 Commercial Music Ensemble.
The show, presented last week at the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity, was choreographed by a pair of seniors, Meridythe Witt and Onajae Edmund, who spoke to .
鈥淭he fact that two student choreographers are producing an evening-length concert, especially in their undergraduate degrees, that is astounding,鈥� Witt told the news station. 鈥淲e are so grateful for this opportunity.鈥�
Lead singer Joseph Williams, a junior, led the ensemble, which played behind the dancers, and he relished an expanded role, saying, 鈥淭his is the first time that I have had a full band behind me 鈥� it is a lot of work to coordinate all the different things that go on.鈥�
The show offered two performances, on Feb. 28 and March 1, but WVTF has posted a quick sampling of Whitt and Edmund, with the band behind them, presenting Springsteen鈥檚 tune 鈥淭enth Avenue Freeze-Out.鈥�
You can and also watch via the College of Visual and Performing Arts鈥� Facebook page.
Navigational skills
A March 4 article by the online education journal EdSurge suggests that growing numbers
of current students struggle as they make the transition from high school to college,
facing difficulty in such areas as asking for help, completing assignments and classroom
participation.
The piece鈥檚 title posed a crucial question 鈥� 鈥溾�� 鈥� and it cited Radford as an example of proactivity in higher education.
Bethany Usher, university provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, told EdSurge that Radford鈥檚 admissions teams examine early performance in Algebra 2 to gauge students鈥� strength levels because that subject teaches problem-solving and high-order thinking, which help students succeed academically.
Radford students also have the option to take University 101, a first-year seminar class that eases their academic and social transitions, Usher said.
Also quoted in the piece was Radford Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs Jerel Benton, who explained that, during the third and fourth weeks of classes, students are expected to meet their academic advisors, a connection that provides them with motivation as well as a voice they can trust throughout their college careers.
鈥淲e鈥檙e giving students a longer runway to adapt to the college experience 鈥� to learn how they are navigating the institution and the resources that are available to them,鈥� Benton told EdSurge.
The diamond in the rough
When Hurricane Helene visited Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium in late September, the match was a shutout.
福利导在线观看鈥檚 baseball ballpark was flooded beneath nearly 5 feet of water,
a force of nature that damaged such areas as the outfield fencing, the artificial
turf, the dugouts, an equipment room and even the scoreboard.
鈥淚f you saw the stadium the Saturday morning after the flood, you would think the
worst,鈥� deputy athletic director Cory Durand recently told , but added, 鈥淚t looked more devastating than the damage actually was.鈥�
Workers still had their hands full, and The Roanoke Times by sportswriter Mark Berman
goes into all the muddy details of the several months鈥� worth of work that was required
to restore the field for the Highlander鈥檚 season opener on Feb. 14.
鈥淎nything that was damaged that was flood-related, everything was done through the
university and their central fund,鈥� Durand explained.
Radford baseball coach Alex Guerra 鈥�11 also praised the facilities staff and subcontractors, including Carolina Green
and FieldTurf, and he said he was deeply gratified that the field was able to open
on schedule.
鈥淚t was awesome,鈥� Guerra declared. 鈥淚t was really a dream come true.鈥�