Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Every other week, we’ll 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’ll feature their stories.
The “Born” legacy
This year marks the 50th anniversary of “Born to Run,” Bruce Springsteen’s landmark third album, in which the New Jersey bard fused his Dylanesque lyrics with music that mirrored Phil Spector’s bombastic “Wall of Sound” production style.
A half century after that record’s 1975 release, a group of Radford University students
drew inspiration from the Springsteen classic and produced a modern dance interpretation
of it, with live music by the school’s 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 Radio IQ/WVTF for a Feb. 27 radio spot.
“The fact that two student choreographers are producing an evening-length concert, especially in their undergraduate degrees, that is astounding,” Witt told the news station. “We are so grateful for this opportunity.”
Lead singer Joseph Williams, a junior, led the ensemble, which played behind the dancers, and he relished an expanded role, saying, “This is the first time that I have had a full band behind me … it is a lot of work to coordinate all the different things that go on.”
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’s tune “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”
You can see that clip here and also watch part of a rehearsal sound check on the album’s title track via the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ 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’s title posed a crucial question – “Can Colleges Do More to Help Students Succeed?” – 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’s admissions teams examine early performance in Algebra 2 to gauge students’ 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.
“We’re giving students a longer runway to adapt to the college experience … to learn how they are navigating the institution and the resources that are available to them,” Benton told EdSurge.
The diamond in the rough
When Hurricane Helene visited Sherman Carter Memorial Stadium in late September, the match was a shutout.
Radford University’s 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.
“If you saw the stadium the Saturday morning after the flood, you would think the
worst,” deputy athletic director Cory Durand recently told The Roanoke Times, but added, “It looked more devastating than the damage actually was.”
Workers still had their hands full, and The Roanoke Times by sportswriter Mark Berman
goes into all the muddy details of the several months’ worth of work that was required
to restore the field for the Highlander’s season opener on Feb. 14.
“Anything that was damaged that was flood-related, everything was done through the
university and their central fund,” Durand explained.
Radford baseball coach Alex Guerra ’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.
“It was awesome,” Guerra declared. “It was really a dream come true.”