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  • Publications (documents)
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  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2010-06-18_Vol76_No07_07

Page 7 Wal-Mart to assist students, economy Brittney Burns | Staff Writer Making trips to Wal-Mart is an essential part of being a Catamount. Wal-Mart is the main source for school sup- plies, food, clothes and other everyday items for WCU students because it is the only retail store within a rea- sonable distance from cam- pus. Its all too common for a quick trip to Wal-Mart with a friend to turn into endless hours of entertainment. As sad as it may sound, it is true and I am sure even if you dont want to admit it, you agree, ; Aside from the entertain- ment and adventure our lo- cal Wal-Mart offers college students, on June 3 the cor- poration launched a program for its employees that will allow them to receive a 15% discount on their tuition to attend American Public Uni- versity Online. Wal-Mart es- tablished this program with the intention of making it easier for employees to ob- WESTERN CAROLINIAN tain or continue their college education. The program also is designed to donate a total of $50 million during the next three years to aid work- ers. in paying their tuition and hopefully reduce the stress caused by the financial burden of buying class mate- Bicune is the fir. st part of a series of artic. les. looking $ of WCU Jaculty dnd staff before they were educ aon ee Pa What did. the faculty of Western Carolina do before they began working for the university? Assistant Direc- tor of English Education, Dr. Brian Lawrence, spent. his teenage years in San Anto- nio, Texas rocking out to 80s legends such as Journey and The Police. Dr. Lawrence graduated from Taft high school, home of The Raiders, in 199]. Before ever thinking about becoming a teacher, Dr. Lawrence planned to become a fighter pilot and eventually become a lawyer. He spent a lot of high school years in the R.O.T.C as well as play- ing basketball and baseball and actively participated in the drama club. While in dra- ma, Dr. Lawrence performed alongside James Roday, who now plays Shawn Spencer on USA's hit series Psyche, which ironically is Dr. Law-- rences favorite TV show. Just like every other teen- ager in the 80s, Dr. Law- rences favorite movies were Top Gun and Star Wars and of course had a huge crush on Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years. Dr. Law- rence was amongst the cool- est jocks in his school when he rolled up.in his very first ear, a 1980 two-tone brown FEATURES rials and textbooks. Wal-Marts new college aid program enables: current students to receive college credit while being employed. This aspect of the program is intended to provide stu- dents with the professional job experience and technical June 18, 2010 A look at Speed Street 2010 in Charlotte By Joshua Farmer | Features Editor _ For many college students _ and young adults, the chance to take a cruise or visit a _ foreign country is a water- ; shed event. For younger stu- dents this often involves late _ nights, later mornings and the need for a stuffed bank account or maybe a credit card. However, sometimes a _ simple trip to the Blue Ridge _ Parkway or a picnic by the training that will hopefully _ softball field will suffice. advance them in their edu- cation and allow them to re- - ceive their degree at a faster | This was the case recently _ when | was able to attend Speed Street in Charlotte job. According to the CEO - with my family. Tt would be a stretch to call the festivities of Speed Street a family-themed _event. However, the reason Charlotte holds the festival _ is simply to build excitement up for the Coca-Cola 600 _ race held at nearby Charlotte _ Motor Speedway. As NAS- _ CAR is a sport that prides it- _ self on espousing the family values and ties within its midst, the casual fan would "not be surprised then to see _ a multitude of children in at- " tendance, | Charlotte has been hold- ng Speed Street annually since 1994. For 2010, May 27-May 29 were the sched- uled days for the concert/fes- tivities. Avariety of displays, _ show:,cars and. autographs _ sessions made of the major- _ity of the schedule along rate. Vice Chairman, Eduar- do Castro-Wright said that the new college assistance program will not only ben- efit workers in their personal life, but will also prove to be beneficial in their future ca- reers. With the current state of the economy, an education is a crucial tool in securing a of Wal-Mart, Mike Duke, along with the new program, Wal-Mart will also be hiring 500,000 more employees over the next five years in hopes that the new jobs will help to boost the economy. So the next time you anda couple of friends pack in the car to make that always ex- citing trip to Wal-Mart, take a second to think of what the company is doing for college students other than provid- ing them with a fun-filled afternoon! Dr. Brian Lawrence in his early years. Thunderbird that he and all his friends called the Dream Machine. - Dr. Lawrence wasnt con- sidered shy in school; his most embarrassing moment came during his junior year of high school. While at a school dance with other local high schools, Dr. Lawrences friends dared him to ask a total babe from across the room to dance. Without giv- ing it a second thought Dr. Lawrence asked the girl to dance and just as he was starting to make his move and slip his hands down her back she mentioned being a teacher from one of the lo- cal schools. Joking about the memory Dr. Lawrence said, T moved my hands up so fast and took a step back! When he was only 16, Dr. Lawrence visited the in- famous red-light district in Amsterdam. He stopped in Amsterdam for a couple days while on a 3-week visit to Israel with a church organi- zation. Like all mischievous teenagers, Dr. Lawrence got caught red-handed a time or two; after being selected as a state finalist for a D.A.RE. contest, Dr. Lawrence and a couple.of his friends were caught breaking into Texas Stadium. He said, We just wanted to see where the Rangers played. Dr. Lawrence spent the first two years his college career at an Air Force Acad- emy to pursue his dream of becoming a fighter pilot. Even though he received a C in his freshman composition class, Dr. Lawrence credits the course with being the reason he became a teacher. He recalls sitting in class and thinking This is what I want Photo Submitted admits that having both par- ents having careers as teach- ers encouraged him to pur- at Austin. After graduating, becoming an Assistant Prin- cipal. When he Catamounts, Dr. Lawrence enjoys any outdoor activities, especially hiking and fishing, and spending time with his ve het pecs os on ste : should. The building is mag- lite eal eats on the adres _nificent and architecturally . modern in style, The classic _ stock cars on display are also _ interesting to look at. his hands full with what his family calls their own No- ahs Ark. The family has two sons, two cats, two dogs, two ferrets, two fish and two parakeets. _ with live productions of such shows such as Trackside Live _ on SPEED or cameos by the _ stars of Discovery Channels Deadliest Catch. This variety attracts many diehard NAS- _ CAR fans along with visitors _ from other states who come in for Memorial Day week- end or simply to watch the race. Originally, my family and I were going to visit May 28, | however, Mother Nature in- . tervened and gave Charlotte and the surrounding coun- ties a healthy dose of rain. This didnt dampen our plans for Saturday night though and I found myself heading to Charlotte around 6 p.m. without a clue of what to ex- pect (I had attended Speed Street once before in 2004 and found the crowd over- whelming). It was different _ this timetI wanted to get a _ look at the NASCAR Hall of _ Fame and watch Pat Benatar to do with my life. He also _ perform. The first thing we rotieed upon arriving was that there _wasnt hardly any parking sue education. Dr. Lawrence - that you didnt have to pay transferred to and graduated - six or more dollars for. Luck- from the University of Texas ily, my sister is quite familiar ME, with the downtown area and Dr. Lawrence taught high found anice cheap spot in the | school for a few years before Hall of Fame (HOF) parking deck. The second thing we ae ___ hoticed was the massive po- Asif working lice presence; of course, in: hard to shape the minds of _ the post 9-11 world that is a _ given. After parking we visit- _ ed the gift shop in the Hall of Fameif youve never seen _a picture of it or visited, you : plug After lounging around outside the HOF for about forty-five minutes, we took my little brother, T on a. walk to explore all of the kiosks and show cars on dis- play. ve been to many dif- ferent concerts in my lifetime but it was really exciting to see his eyes light up at all of the people surrounding him. We also tried to convince him to dance on the Food Lion Kids Zone stage but he seemed to get shy then. While T was getting a free pizza bite, my sister and I de- cided to have a drink. I really applaud the city of Charlotte for having the wristband station. Most col- lege students are familiar with the concept: to drink you must show your ID to a designated person who then gives you a band that lets of ficers and other adults know you are twenty-one. With all of the teens and younger chil- dren attending that night it is very important that account- ability for age comes into play. But even with a semi- cold Coors Light in hand and a constant barrage of sound surrounding us, we'd still yet to see Pat Benatar. It took some work to get close enough to the stage to even see the large TVs they had set up for the: crowd. Once we finally found a spot to stand long enough to relax, the fun really began. Other people not as inter- ested in Benatar continu- ally tried to move through the crowd whenever a small path would open. This re- sulted in lots of pushing and shoving, a little bit of curs- ing and finally, my sisters determination to let no one else come through where we were standing. Naturally I became the volunteer dam and found myself bouncing off a man stand- ing behind me and having my arm wiped off by a lady - that spilled her drink. There was also the added hazard of empty beer containers rolling around underneath your feet. But Benatars music was greatespecially when she sang We Belong. Even the music wasnt enough to keep my Mom standing there for long and eventually she mo- tioned my sisterand I to clear a path for her and T. After walking around a bit more and buying numer- ous light and bubble blow- ing toys, we decided to call it a night at 10:30. The streets were beginning to clear and we took our time walking back to my sisters Jeep. On the way out I couldnt help but notice a young couple holding one another in the shadows cast by a streetlight. Then I felt reminded of how it seems that summer is al- ways the season when the longest and best memories are created. But I was also reminded that sometimes the fun of an experience is lost in the details of the cre- ation of it. Be thankful for the simple pleasure of living.

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.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2010-06-18
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 12.5"
  • Pages: 10
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2010-06-18_Vol76_No07
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library