Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Every other week, we 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.
Adventure time!
Thirty-two colleges recently faced off in hopes of being named Blue Ridge Outdoors鈥� 2025 Top Adventure College, a bracketed competition between colleges and universities from around the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Hundreds of campaign posts hit the internet (including one that documents ), and thousands of votes were cast.
But in the end 鈥渢here can be only one,鈥� to quote the signature line from the 1986 film 鈥淗ighlander鈥� (!). And so it was that, in the final round, Radford edged out East Tennessee State University, a two-time champion in years past, to take the title this time.
Blue Ridge Outdoors celebrated Radford鈥檚 win by posting an announcement with .
鈥淩adford is one of those places where you don鈥檛 have to go far to find adventure; it鈥檚 literally all around you,鈥� the article declares. 鈥淭he historic New River is a campus boundary, the Blue Ridge Mountains are as visible as a backyard and there are trails, rivers, crags, caves and campsites in just about every direction.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e into hiking, biking, caving, skiing, paddling, skydiving, climbing or just getting lost in the woods for a while, this place is a hidden gem.鈥�
Gaining insight, building connections
鈥�25, a forward on Radford鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team, is .
She鈥檚 one of just 200 student-athletes tapped to attend the 2025 NCAA Career in Sports Forum, held the last week of May in Indianapolis, Indiana. Attendees of the three-day conference learn about career opportunities in sports and can network with college athletics professionals.
"I'm incredibly honored to be selected for the NCAA Career in Sports Forum," Brown, of Hixson, Tennessee, said in . "It means a lot to be recognized for my passion and dedication.
鈥淚'm looking forward to gaining insight into the industry, building connections and continuing to grow as a future professional in this field."
Brown has had an eventful month. In addition to earning her Bachelor of Science in sport management on May 10, Brown鈥檚 selection to the forum also came the week after , alongside men鈥檚 baseball pitcher 鈥�25. Rice, from Suffolk, Virginia, also just graduated, with a degree in exercise, sport and health education.
Their sports prizes were , the annual ceremony at which 福利导在线观看 recognizes and celebrates the achievements of its student-athletes.
Learning firsthand
Late last month, we told you about six up-and-coming teachers who were completing their training through the Southwest Virginia Teacher Apprenticeship Consortium, a program launched by Radford鈥檚 College of Education and Human Development.
The initiative seeks to address teacher shortages and increase the number of qualified educators, and the group鈥檚 members are now headed for full-time positions in the same Region 6 school divisions where they were trained, including Pulaski, Carroll and Wythe counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke.
On April 30, the half-dozen members of the inaugural class 鈥� Sherri Blair, Lianna Dillon, Cheyenne Hinkel, Alyssa Moffett, Claire Morris and Alicia Noble 鈥� celebrated National Apprenticeship Day on campus at Peters Hall, and .
鈥淲hen you apprentice, you鈥檙e working in the school division where you plan to become a teacher,鈥� the program鈥檚 coordinator, Associate Professor Melissa Lisanti, told the station. 鈥淪o you actually already know the curricula, you know the division policies, you know the school leaders. You already have colleagues.鈥�
Blair, whose training included teaching first grade at Wythe County鈥檚 Spiller Elementary, said of the program: 鈥淲e went from the beginning of the school year to planning everything 鈥� all the way to the end of the school year. So we鈥檝e really gotten what it鈥檚 like to be first-year teachers, which we would not have gotten otherwise.鈥�
The program is on track to expand even further this fall, when the number of apprentices will double to 12 teacher trainees.
Studio sounds and STEM
Another gives viewers a glimpse at the campus' new state-of-the-art recording facility while also introducing them to two faculty members who use music to enhance early education.
The looks at the work of 福利导在线观看 associate professors of music Jennifer McDonel and Dave Rivers, who have collaborated on a multi-album project called Their music integrates lyrics and melody to ease very young listeners into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
McDonel, who is also an associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Research (OURS), and who on April 30 was named one of this year's Dalton Eminent Senior Scholars, started writing children's music in 2022.
Through her partnership with Rivers and their work with the national nonprofit "Zero to Three," they composed 44 songs with a basis in learning, and they鈥檙e now at work on an additional 20 tunes, coming next year, according to the story.
She told WDBJ she conceives the pieces by fusing children鈥檚 language and ideas with STEM content and concepts.
"So I was reinforcing ... the mathematics vocabulary, like counting, shapes, sets and patterning, and trying to write catchy tunes,鈥� McDonel explained.
"This music is an invitation to participate," River said.
WDBJ interviewed the duo in the new sound studio that's part of the Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity, filming them as they used the equipment to demonstrate their songs.
The story also provides , which includes all the songs McDonel and Rivers released.