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.
Intern-al review
Southport is a fairly small city in Brunswick County, North Carolina. While it boasts a population of just about 4,000 residents, its Fourth of July festival often draws as many as 50,000 guests each year.
This month, Southport is conducting research on the viability of purchasing several internet-connected sidewalk kiosks to assist both the locals and its many visitors, and the evaluation effort is being driven by a Radford student.
Jennings Felt, a senior from Purcellville, Virginia, is conducting an internship with the city, and she’s handling the work of collecting and collating community feedback, according to a March 26 article in The State Port Pilot.
"Felt went to businesses to talk about the idea, answer questions and hand out flyers with the survey," the story explains. "She has also been reaching out through emails and figures she has contacted about 80 businesses."
Early feedback suggests the issue remains divisive, but Felt is still processing information and plans to present her overall findings before her internship concludes at the end of this month.
“So, we will have at least an opinion to move forward with by April 28,” Southport Community Relations Director Allayna Dail Taylor told the newspaper.
Felt, who aspires to become a community planner, previously worked as an intern with Pulaski's Lightning H Ranch event venue through Radford’s Professional Advancement in Tourism course.
“The internship has been incredible so far,” Felt told us this week. “I work with such an amazing team who have provided me with a lot of great opportunities to grow professionally.”
State of change
A recent Virginia Mercury article about healthcare licensing restrictions led with the plight of Ricky Miller ’17.
He’s a certified anesthesiologist assistant (CAA) who’s originally from the commonwealth, but he is currently plying his trade in Indiana.
“The Virginia Beach native’s passion for the work first formed when [Miller] was earning his bachelor’s degree at Radford University in Southwest Virginia because it fused his interest in physiology and chemistry,” Charlotte Rene Woods wrote in the story that ran March 7.
The piece explained that CAAs who have earned master’s degrees can practice in their field in about 20 other states, but not in Virginia due to lack of licensure, as is the case with Miller.
“Though he’s enjoyed his time in the Midwest, he said he misses his home state,” Woods wrote. “When his grandfather became ill and needed surgery, he longed to be closer to home and more easily able to see his family.”
Since that story ran, Miller’s dream has become possible – Senate Bill 882, sponsored by Sen. Mamie Locke of Hampton, Virginia, authorizes the licensure of CAAs and directs the Board of Medicine to adopt regulations governing their practice.
It recently passed both the Senate and the House, and on March 25, it was signed into law by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. SB 882 goes into effect July 1 and is expected to help the state’s anesthesia providers keep pace with demand.
“CAAs working in Virginia can only enrich the healthcare provided in the state and help the shortage that is seen,” Miller told us this week, when asked about SB 882 being signed into law. “After July, many will be on the lookout for jobs there, myself included.
Back to school
On Aug. 1, after 3 1/2 decades of working in marketing and management, Taralyn Nicholson ’90 made a major career change – she’s now teaching third-grade classes at Strasburg, Virginia’s Sandy Hook Elementary.
“I’ve always been drawn to the field of education,” Nicholson told The Northern Virginia Daily in a March 11 story about the shift. “I wanted to make a positive difference in young people’s lives.”
A teacher-intern, Nicholson is earning her provisional teaching license by completing a pre-hire course, often supervised by a mentor, and she’ll ultimately complete her state assessment testing.
“Every teacher has told me that it takes a good two to three years in order to get that classroom management finesse,” she told the newspaper. “I’m hoping that’s what my classroom will be like.
“I grew up in this community, I believe in this community [and] I believe our young people are the future of our community,” Nicholson said.