Western Carolina University WCU University of North Carolina Asheville UNCA

Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Are you looking for…

Subject

Cherokee Traditions (346)
Creator

Cherokee Baskets (340)
Source

Cherokee Women (187)
Location

Cherokee Indians (152)
Subject

Cherokee Language Program (23)
Creator

Cherokee Indian Fair Association (16)

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

items 7 of 20 items

Copyright Download

Item 1 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_01

Item 2 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_02

Item 3 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_03

Item 4 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_04

Item 5 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_05

Item 6 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_06

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_07

Item 8 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_08

Item 9 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_09

Item 10 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_10

Item 11 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_11

Item 12 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_12

Item 13 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_13

Item 14 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_14

Item 15 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_15

Item 16 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_16

Item 17 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_17

Item 18 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_18

Item 19 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_19

Item 20 - Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

Western Carolinian Volume 44 Number 29

HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_20

Item

Details
- Format
  - Publications (documents)
- Type
  - Text
- Source institution
  - Western Carolina University
- Identifier
  - HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29_07
Transcript

APRIL 19, 1979/THE WESTERN CAROLINIAN/PAGE 7 See what a BS from Western will get you? WCU grad lands job in the pits By Jim Rowell WCU News Bureau Mark Wise wakes up each morning with 1,100 hungry alligators and a couple of hundred rattlesnakes on his hands. But don't be overly concerned...Mark says it's only a hobby. Wise is the curator of reptiles for internationally know herpetologist Ross Allen at the St. Augustine (Fla.) Alligator Farm. He's a long way from his hometown of Kannapolis, N.C, a small town where folks figure alligators are best suited for purses, shoes, and other places, and snakes just generally aren't welcome. Wise is also doing a rather strange job for a person with a bachelor's degree in geology. He attended WCU and was graduated last December. So how did Wise become provider, caretaker, doctor and companion for more than a thousand alligators, hundreds of snakes, crocodiles, lizards, and such? Well, he went to a movie. Wise attended a showing of "Hiss" several years ago and much like youngsters who are inspired tobecome cowboys, spacemen or detectives, he was inspired to become a "snake man." However, being a cowboy is one thing. But being a snake man is something else. Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Wise, Mark's mom and dad, would have been more at ease having a cowboy in the family. "They were a little hesitant at first," explains Wise. "My friends were a little leery, too. But 1 read and studied on my own to learn all I could about snakes." Word spread about Wise's interesting hobby and he became somewhat of a local celebrity by working with an area herpetologist in a traveling, educational snake exhibit that toured schools. Then came time to go to college. "I was planning to major in biology," said Wise, "but I wasn't sure I wanted to make a career out of snakes, so I decided to study geology, just in case." Wise studied geology. He also continued to study snakes. His former roommate, Lewis Reeves, will attest to that. Reeves not only shared his room with Wise, but also with Wise's 8-foot pet verticulated python named "Tiny." Tiny slept in the bottom drawer of Wise's bureau and Reeves, an industrial education major from Clayton, Ga., said he "sorta liked Tiny." Wise continued to gain attention for his work with snakes. While most geology majors were interviewing for employment in their field of study, Wise received a stunning offer. Allen, who had read of Wise, offered him the position as curator. "It was like a dream," said Wise. "Just the same, I considered it carefully for a few days to be sure. I just couldn't resist," he says. "Although I work full time, nearly seven days per week, its still a hobby to me. It's like being a stamp collector and having someone offer you a job pasting rare stamps in books for very good pay." Wise has a busy schedule. He looks after the diets and habitats of the multitude of reptiles, treats their diseases, milks rattlesnakes for venom that later becomes antivenin to treat snake-bite victims, and is working on several books with Allen. Although Wise is mainly interested in the scientific aspects of reptiles, he does find time occasionally to wrestle with an alligator and he answers the "sensationalized" questions of the average one to two thousand daily visitors to the Alligator Farm. This is like being in the big leagues to me," says the 23-year-old. "I really can't believe it has happened." Dr. John Bell, associate dean of the school of arts and sciences at WCU can. Bell takes a great deal of pride in Wise's success. "It points out the type of opportunities that can open up when a person excels in his hobby, even to the point of employment in that field," says Bell, an advocate of broad-based educational preparation. "I really studied both herpetology and geology, I guess," admits Wise. "I guess I spent as much time on my hobby as I did on my major, but don't tell anybody," he mused. Wise is also convinced his methods of preparation have left him with broader qualifications. After all, if he tires of lifting rocks to study snakes, he can opt to just leave the rocks put and study them. Med Techs victorious A team of medical technology students from WCU has finished in second place in the North Carolina Student Bowl held during the spring meeting of the North Carolina Society for Medical Technology in Wilmington. The WCU team, one of nine entered in the competition, drew a bye in the first round of the contest as defending state champions from last year's bowl. They defeated teams from Charlotte Memorial Hospital and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to advance to the first round, where they were defeated by a team from Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem. Team members are Kathy Davis (captain), Donna Clay, Darrel Conklin, and Mark Thornton. Alternatives are Fred Mitchell and Kip Ray. All six are WCU seniors in clinical training at St. Joseph's Hospital and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Asheville.

Object

Description

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.
Details
- Creator
  - Western Carolina University
- Format
  - Publications (documents)
- Type
  - Text
- Date
  - Date original: 1979-04-19
  - Date digitized: 2018-09-10
- Extent
  - Dimension: 15" x 11.5"
  - Pages: 20 pages
- Subject - Topic
- Location
  - Jackson County (N.C.)
  - Cullowhee (N.C.)
- Source institution
  - Western Carolina University
- Source Collection
  - WCU Students Newspapers Collection
- Identifier
  - HL_WesternCarolinian_1979-04-19_Vol44_No29
- Repository
  - Western Carolina University Hunter Library

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.