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Editorials - 01/24/02McConnell, Russell turn vision to reality |
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The year was 1995. The dreamers were Jackson County's school superintendent and Southwestern Community College's president. The goal was securing at least two years of higher education for every local child capable of doing college work.
Today that shared vision is not only a reality for Jackson County kids, but it has spread to Macon and Swain counties as well. And it's about to travel even farther across our region, thanks to a $200,000 grant. Superintendent Charles McConnell and President Barry Russell got together six years ago and dared to propose a school/college/community partnership that would help the students nobody designed programs for - the kids in the middle. "I realized the top students - the straight-A high achievers - always go to college, and they pretty much leave (the region)," McConnell said. "My idea was to help those capable kids who will likely stay in the county and become community leaders to go to college, too." McConnell pitched the idea to Russell, who had just read about a similar project in an urban setting. One philanthropist provided funding for that program; McConnell and Russell decided to hit the road and see what kind of support the local business community was prepared to offer. "We started in Dillsboro at the Jarrett House," McConnell said. "We had Jim Hartbarger's $500 check in about two minutes. We continued toward Sylva and picked up donations from Danny Allison and Orville Coward. In three days, we had commitments from 50 or so businesses." The name, New Century Scholars, was a natural, McConnell said, because the first class was set to begin SCC courses in the first year of the 21st century. Hats off to all who have labored over the last six years to create a model program - first for our county and now for our region. White's milestone is something to cheer |
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We've got another reason to be proud this week. Steve White, the man who knows more about Western Carolina University sports than anyone else in the world, took in his 1,000th WCU basketball game.
Wow. First as a student, then as sports information director and now as an announcer, "Whitey" has been there, and he's seen it all. From the incredible thrill of defeating Davidson in 1996 and securing a berth in the NCAA tournament to the heartbreaking two-point loss to Purdue two weeks later, to the once-in-lifetime thrill of watching high-flying Henry Logan score 60 points in a single game, Steve White has backed his beloved Cats. We here at The Herald owe Steve a debt we've never acknowledged. Back in 1989, the centennial year for both Sylva and WCU, we were counting on Steve for a sports history for our Centennial section. Two days before we went to press, we called Steve to see where it was. As it turned out, a missed signal between our staff and WCU's news staff meant that no one had remembered to tell Steve what we needed. We got it anyway. The next day. It was comprehensive, accurate and fun to read. That's because, in addition to Steve's other sterling attributes, he's a darn good writer. Thanks, Steve, on behalf of this newspaper and decades of WCU athletes and coaches. Few colleges and universities are fortunate enough to have someone like Steve White associated with their athletic programs. Western should thank its lucky star that it's among the chosen few.
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