A blonde teenager balanced a stack of papers in his hand as he spoke with his Honors Humanities professor. He had something to announce to the class. His name is Greg Pierson and he is running for City Council. In order to officially announce his candidacy, Pierson needed at least 50 signatures on his petition. To earn even more signatures, he also carried with him a stack of voter registration forms since only Missouri voters’ signatures on the petition would be valid. Eventually Pierson earned 54 valid signatures and registered 49 voters. He filed for candidacy on Nov. 21 and was approved the next day. Pierson grew up in Missouri and is currently a freshman at MU. He’s majoring in political science and business and involved in a myriad of activities and organizations on campus. “It wasn’t on the agenda when I was looking at college towns where there’s an open council seat in 2020,” the 18-year-old said. “But I knew I was going to be involved in politics wherever I went.” He’s a

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MU Freshman Files for City Council Candidate

To read more about High School 2.0, visit our media partner the Columbia Missourian . COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT Host: Welcome to Exam on KBIA where we talk all education around Missouri. I'm Kassidy Arena. Columbia Public Schools is teaming up with Moberly Area Community College or MACC to help students earn their associate’s degree while still in high school. The proposed plan is set to launch in fall of 2020. The name of the program is still under discussion, but tentatively it’s known as High School 2.0. The goal is for high school students to graduate with their associate’s degree for free. Peter Stiepleman is the superintendent of Columbia Public Schools. The idea for high school students to finish two years of college while still in high school came to him after visiting Ann Arbor, Michigan where the high school there was doing the same thing. STIEPLEMAN1 RT :14 “Moberly Area Community College.” “This got our community really excited. In fact, that was like the biggest takeaway from

Columbia High School Students Can Earn Free Associate's Degree

MU senior Daniel Serres and junior Vanessa Ramírez walked into a room with 15 other student entrepreneurs. Each team had their own business idea and vied for the opportunity to win up to $30,000 in start-up funds after pitching their idea to a panel of judges. The 15 businesses had been chosen from a pool of 50 applicants. “Every room we walk in, we’re constantly thinking like, how we can collaborate with people,” Ramírez said. “So we see competition, but at the same time, we also see potential relationships.” Serres and Ramírez have known each other since middle school. Both are from Kansas City and both are full-time political science majors. But their similarities don’t stop there. Serres and Ramírez both identify within the Latinx community. “That’s why wer’re co-founders because we’re very much so on the same page about the messaging that we want to bring,” Serres said. The two Kansas City natives developed a business “Fresher Than U,” which takes local artists’ work and puts it

Student Entrepreneurs Work to Empower Community

Shaashawn Dial has worn a lot of hats. She’s a poet. A former host of an R&B radio station. A former head of equity and affirmative action in a state capitol. A business owner. But perhaps the most important role is a mentor. She’s helped people leave abusive relationships, adults get their GEDs and undergraduate students navigate college life. And now Dial is the first director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Stephen's College. “I am about women making decisions for themselves mentally, physically, spiritually, economically,” Dial said. Sometimes that work includes advocating for creative writing materials to have people from diverse backgrounds. Other times, it’s finding a place to display original artwork that showcases historical and influential members of the LGBTQ community. “There's not a whole lot of people who always want to sign up for something where you just know, there's not a destination,” Dial said. “I'm never going to get some sash that says, ‘Shaashawn S.

Stephens College Hires First Director of Diversity

The Study Plan Coordinator (SPC) Program started at MU 11 years ago when founder and organizer Yve Solbrekken found her workload was getting too heavy. Solbrekken helped students with time management and study practices. As more and more students began signing up to work with her, she realized there was a pattern in students’ needs. She then hired student tutors to take over the job and called them SPCs. Solbrekken didn’t realize SPCs would be so in demand. “Academic coaching is a big catchphrase right now in the United States,” Solbrekken said. “The SPC program is a form of academic coaching that’s just really efficient, really economical.” In order to keep the bills low, Solbrekken hires students, who are less expensive than professional tutors. But students actually have a leg-up over possible professional tutors. “[Students] are more impacted by what their peers do than by what some older adult is telling them would be good or not to do,” Solbrekken said. The student SPCs, cost

MU Academic Program Gains National Attention

Complete Transcript: Host Introduction: Welcome to Exam on KBIA, where we talk all about education and academic issues all across Missouri. I'm Kassidy Arena and this week, KBIA's Xcaret Nunez went to Centro Latino, a place that provides resources to Columbia's immigrant population. Xcaret Nunez: The availability of resources for immigrants is very limited, especially in Missouri. Since 2017, data shows that four percent of the state’s residents are immigrants and this community continues to grow. As this rate increases, the children of incoming immigrants are faced with having to assimilate into the US in order to thrive in this new environment. One program that recognizes this issue has been offering ESL services to the immigrant community since 2000 in Columbia, Missouri. [students talking] It’s been a long and restless school day for the students attending the Centro Latino De Salud after school tutoring program. As high-school and college student volunteers prepare for homework

Centro Latino Offers Haven to Latino Community

The #metoo movement shed light on people in power taking advantage of those working for them, but in many homes across mid-Missouri, the power imbalance is right there…in people’s marriages, dating relationships and other partnerships with people. Mary Beck is looking to change that. She is the director of the Family Violence Clinic where she oversees law students who represent survivors of domestic violence. These students help survivors with a litigation plan, economic plan and safety plan. “The Family Violence Clinic, operating in 46 counties, often is kind of a last ditch place to go where victims have not been able to achieve justice elsewhere,” Beck said. When it comes to the misconceptions folks have about those who experience violence in the family, Beck said people don’t realize the prevalence of this violence. “ Another misconception of the public is that domestic violence isn't pleasant, it's traumatic, etc., but they don't understand that it's lethal,” she said. “Fifty five

Family Violence Clinic Offers Resources to Survivors

Dr. James Wells, professor of Classics at DePauw University in Indiana visited the MU campus to talk about the importance of translation in modern day. Wells himself wasn’t aware of the classics until well into his own undergraduate studies. He first went to school to study science. “A D in Biology and a little note on my first calculus test, which read, I suggest you perhaps drop this course and try again in the future sort of tanked my career as a scientist,” Wells said. Although it did lead him to signing up for a Humanities course. A love for his humanities class developed into a love for the classics as a whole. Wells said “it’s the study of everything. I mean we study history and science and philosophy and rhetoric, and poetry and performance and religion and archaeology and space.” Wells took the mix of everything Classics has to offer and decided he would focus his attention and efforts on translating ancient Greek poetry into a language that fits with modern day, colloquial

Classics Professor Discusses Survival of Art

Thrive Coffee and Creamery has the aesthetic of any Instagram-able business on the outside: tiffany blue adornments, flowers on the counter, homemade ice creams. But the similarities end there. Thrive is a 100 percent nonprofit corporation with the goal of giving every dollar earned back to the community. Thrive opened in the summer of 2019 after president of the board Clayton Kreisel and his fellow board member and wife Amanda bought and renovated an old woodworking shop. Kreisel is a pastor for students attending Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri and has been for ten years. While leading the campus ministry, Kreisel noticed there was a greater need going unfulfilled in his community. Students weren’t able to travel abroad for their mission trips. “The number one prohibiting factor is always what about the funds? What about the resources?” Kreisel said. That’s why 50 percent of the profits go to grants for students wanting to give back to the global community through

Exam - Nonprofit Coffee Shop Funds Students' Education

Kristin Bowen is the leader of Columbia’s local Moms Demand Action group. Moms Demand Action is a locally-funded group that focuses on gun safety with chapters across the United States. Bowen started the Columbia organization in 2015 because she said the issue of gun violence, like many parents, affected her emotionally. “My youngest son is the same age as the children who were in the Sandy Hook classroom,” Bowen said. “And it just felt like, since 2012, and when that happened, there were so many high profile, mass tragic shootings. And I couldn't stand by anymore and look at my kids in the eyes and say I was okay with what was happening.” Bowen began the local group on her own. Columbia Moms Demand Action has grown since, with over a dozen people in leadership positions. The association spends time in Jefferson City working with lawmakers to fight for sensible gun reform. “We're always really clear to say, we're not anti-gun, we are anti-gun violence,” Bowen clarified. “And we are

Exam - Columbia Moms Demand Action Pushes Gun Safety Laws

Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat have more in common than just social outreach—they harm young girls’ self-perceived body image. Studies show the more adolescent females see unrealistic body types and filters, the more likely they will suffer from low self-esteem or poor self-confidence. Toronto, Canada’s York University Professor of Psychology Jennifer Mills and Ph.D. student Jacqueline Hogue recently released their study which found “actively engaging with attractive peers’ social media causes worsened body image in young adult women.”

Exam - Social Media Can Lead to Negative Consequences for Youth

Columbia School Board election winners Della Streaty-Wilhoit and Blake Willoughby were sworn into their positions on the board Monday night, after a handful of months campaigning and one victorious night celebrating. Streaty-Wilhoit and Willoughby are replacing retiring members James Whitt and Jan Mees, who stepped down from their positions Monday. Whitt and Mees both acknowledged they experienced a learning curve when first placed on the board and had some advice for the incoming members.

Exam - Columbia School Board Welcomes New Members, Says Goodbye to Old Members

Stephanie Carlo followed her dream of being in the fashion world by assisting designer Gustavo Arango in Puerto Rico. While working under his wing, Carlo’s friend recommended her for a teaching position at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Carlo spoke briefly to the recruiter and decided to follow a new passion of hers: teaching. Carlo packed her bags and left her entire family on the island to teach fashion design and product development, among other courses, at the all-womens college. Her weekdays consist of teaching back-to-back classes and meetings, but her work isn’t limited to Monday through Friday. On weekends, Carlo helps her students with their collections on her own time.

Exam - Assistant Professor Follows Dreams, Inspires Others Through Fashion

April 2nd is General Municipal Election Day and many mid-Missourians will head to the polls to vote for city council members, school board members, mayors and some areas like Southern Boone, Cole County and Fayette will vote on a few different proposals. Here on Exam, we have spoke with the three candidates running for Columbia Public School's Board of Education: Della Streaty-Wilhoit, Blake Willoughby and Jay Atkins. On today’s episode, we are going to recap those conversations.

Exam - Columbia School Board Candidate Wrap-Up

Columbia Board of Education candidate Jay Atkins said if he could imagine a perfect school district, it would be one that had 100 percent literacy at the third-grade level. For Atkins, who has three children in the Columbia Public Schools and a fourth that will soon enter, literacy is on the top of his campaign agenda. He said he decided to run because he wanted to be more involved and make sure schools are under proper stewardship.

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