For her senior year of college, Hannah Adams is staying home. Although Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, is open, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life on campus. “Meals are all takeout. Student groups can’t meet. I felt like I’d be more isolated there than if I stayed home,” Adams […]
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When Fad Industries Aren’t Enough, Coal Communities Have to Market Themselves for a New Economy
As the novel coronavirus pushed American into sheltering at home in the spring, Travis and Staci Swiney were thinking about their future in Dickenson County, Virginia. After the pandemic hit, Staci, 26, was partially furloughed from her job as a registered nurse at Clinch Valley Medical Center, while Travis, also […]
Read MoreBecoming the ‘Next Pigeon Forge’ Can’t be the Economic Savior It Once Was for Appalachia
In fall 2014, Michael and Betty Gill, in their 50s, were ready for a new adventure in their lives, so they got in their RV and headed for the place they’d spend the better part of the next four years. Dollywood. The amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, has been […]
Read MoreEducation, Automation and Migrant Workers: How One Appalachian GA County Became an ‘American Maker’
Tuesday afternoon in late January and the campus of Lanier Technical College in Gainesville, Georgia, bustled with students pursuing career education, with a near-guaranteed job awaiting. Healthcare students studied for likely jobs with Northeast Georgia Health System, while two buildings down, others attended classes in welding and automotive mechanics in […]
Read More7K Foster Kids in W.Va. Are Returning to School Amid COVID Risks. Their Often-Vulnerable Caregivers Don’t Get to Choose How.
Peggy Elkins’ grandkids may be returning to school this week, but life won’t be back to normal. Elkins, 62, plans to have them take off their clothes and shoes at the door and have hand sanitizer waiting on the porch. But then again, what is normal, anyway? Is it raising […]
Read MoreProject-based Learning Gets Its Moment During the Coronavirus
Shelby County Public Schools, a district serving about 7,000 students halfway between Louisville and Lexington, has had state approval for “nontraditional instruction” for several years. That means if a bad snowstorm hit the county, they could keep school going remotely and count the days like any others in the school […]
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