According to a press release from the Friends of the Madison County Public Library, the organization recently partnered with Berea’s Foley Middle School to create custom painted bookshelves by the students.

The library has a project where they put shelves in the community with a sign that says “Need a book, get a book.” They keep the shelves full of books. When the library was looking to put more shelves in the community, the Friends group decided to purchase shelves. However, the shelves needed to be painted. So Friends contacted art teacher Patricia Weiner at Foley Middle School to see if her class would like to take it on and they agreed.

They painted beautiful shelves inspired by children’s books. Books included “The Growing Tree”, “Hidden Figures”, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “Hidden Figures”, and more. The Friends president said she was amazed at how wonderful they turned out.

EKU professors release documentary

According to a press release from Eastern Kentucky University, while Kentucky is best known for its elegant and athletic thoroughbred horse, a horse that brought a degree of fortune and fame to the privileged few, a lesser-known story surrounds the selectively bred mountain horse. . The mountain horse has earned a special place in the hearts of Appalachians. Known for its strength and endurance, the mountain horse helped a generation accomplish tasks such as plowing hillside terrain and delivering supplies through the most rugged and inaccessible parts of the mountains.

Stephanie McSpirit, professor of sociology at Eastern Kentucky University, first heard about the mountain horse during an after-class conversation with her students. Intrigued, she began to research the horse and asked several colleagues to join her in collecting the stories and recording the history of this unique and relatively unknown breed.

She and Neil Kasiak of the EKU Oral History Center secured grants and support from the Kentucky Oral History Commission to collect the stories of more than 60 breeders. Chad Cogdill, professor of broadcasting at EKU, put his skills to use filming the interviews.

Ten years later, those recorded stories were compiled into a 30-minute documentary titled “The Horse That Built Kentucky.” The documentary will premiere at EKU tonight at 7 p.m. in O’Donnell Auditorium and air on Kentucky Educational Television (KET) beginning Sunday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m.

“Our project has always had the end goal of bringing attention to the beautiful gait, the smooth ride, the beautiful mountain horse,” McSpirit said.

McSpirit is the project director of the oral history project and executive producer of the documentary. It acknowledges the participation of more than 40 students from the disciplines of sociology, animal studies and communication who have assisted in the film over the years.

Telling Kentucky’s history through the eyes of those who raise and use the mountain horse was important to McSpirit and his colleagues as they collected oral histories.

Kentucky rising juniors get chance to win KHEAA scholarship

According to a press release from the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA), a junior rising to one of Kentucky’s public or private high schools will win a $500 scholarship and a photo shoot at their school through the Promote Scholarship Contest. Your School, sponsored by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA).

“The ‘Promote Your School’ scholarship competition demonstrates the power of our educational community to help others and build a stronger Commonwealth,” Governor Andy Beshear said. “In addition to receiving a scholarship, the winner will also be able to view themselves and their classmates in KHEAA publications sent to schools across the state.”

A school must participate in the Kentucky Education Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program for any of its students to be eligible. To be considered for the scholarship, students must submit an essay on one of these topics:

How will I inspire others to improve the way education makes a community stronger?

The essay must not exceed 200 words and cannot mention the student’s name, school or mascot, county, or community. The essay must not identify the student by race, gender, religion or in any other way.

The subject of the essay should be clearly indicated at the top of the page. The student’s name, address, and high school should be listed at the bottom of the essay. The student must be in the first year of secondary school during the 2022-2023 school year. For contest details, visit kheaa.com/site/contest.

Photos of the winning school will be used in KHEAA publications and on KHEAA websites.

To enter, send your essay to KHEAA Publications, PO Box 798, Frankfurt, KY 40602. You can also email your essay to [email protected] KHEAA cannot accept registrations through online file sharing sites.

The winner will be chosen by a committee of KHEAA employees. The deadline for submission is May 31. The scholarship funds will be sent to the winner’s school when he or she enters college in the first year.

COVID-19 Update

COVID-19 numbers continue to decline among Madison County schools. In total, there are 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among students and 15 among staff and faculty.

Madison County Public Schools

•22 active cases of Covid-19 among students, 15 active cases among staff and professors.

Independent of Berea

•35 active cases of Covid-19 among students, zero active cases among staff and professors.

Model Laboratory School

•one active case of Covid-19 among students, zero active cases among staff and teaching staff.