Month: April 2016

High school plays host to Iraqi delegates

Several Iraqi delegates were expected to visit Bishop Ward High School on Monday, April 25.

Students will have the opportunity to engage in a live face-to-face international conversation about what they are learning about their government, press and interaction between the two. They are anxious to understand how easily accessible government information is to high school students.

“What a special opportunity to connect with these international visitors and be able to provide a real-life interaction. Our students will be able to ask questions and learn directly from one another. As a Catholic high school, we have a unique perspective when it comes to integrating government, religion and even science. We are lucky to share our distinctive position with these visitors,” said Devon Whitton, Bishop Ward social studies teacher.

Thriving in the urban core for more than 108 years, Bishop Ward High School is diverse in its own right, representing students of many nationalities and religions. The school welcomes all students and reminds students that there is a larger world beyond their backyard by taking students on an international mission trip and by having a strong partnership with a school in Uganda.

The school was selected by Global Ties KC as the only high school institution in the Kansas City metro to be a host of a visit from this group. The Iraqi delegates are in the United States under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. The program in western Missouri and Kansas is arranged by Global Ties KC, an organization whose purpose is to improve global understanding and make peace through exchange programs between international leaders and their American counterparts in Kansas and Western Missouri.
The Iraqi delegates are high-level government officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Media and Awareness, and the Independent Human Rights Commission. They will be following the “Running a Government Press Office, A Project for Iraq” program.

– From Josh Sukraw ∙ Bishop Ward marketing and social media manager

Ag Hall receives $150,000 grant from Bayer Foundation

The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs has been awarded a $150,000 Bayer USA Foundation grant, according to a news release today.

The three-year grant will help create a new children’s exhibit within the Ag Hall’s Children Agriculture Science Center, according to the announcement. The new exhibit is scheduled to open in 2018. Bayer has been a major supporter of the Ag Hall.

“We are so thankful to Bayer for its generous support of the Ag Center through this grant from the Bayer USA Foundation,” said Dawn Gabel, executive director of the National Agriculture Center and Hall of Fame. “It is exciting to imagine that a child who will visit this future exhibit could one day become an inductee into our very own Hall of Fame thanks in part to what they learned here about agriculture.”

Through this new children’s exhibit, as well as other educational initiatives like “Making Science Make Sense” – a program advancing science literacy across the United States through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning – Bayer seeks to inspire students of all ages to learn more about what makes agriculture not only exciting, but also essential to the future of the planet, a spokesman said.

More than 900 million people in the world suffer from chronic hunger. When the global population reaches 9 billion by 2050, that number will increase drastically unless farmers can produce at least twice as much food as they do today – all while using less water and less land in the face of a changing global climate, according to a spokesman. Bayer is engaged in the effort to make agriculture faster and more efficient through agricultural innovations.

High-quality science, technology, engineering and math education is necessary to fill the nearly 58,000 jobs open each year in the agriculture industry, and Bayer is committed to supporting programs that instill a lifelong love of STEM in students at an early age.

“The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame is truly one of our country’s greatest treasures, and Bayer is proud to support its mission as part of our own efforts to inspire the next generation of leaders in the agriculture industry,” said Paul Nagy, site leader for Kansas City Bayer Crop Science. “In all of our local communities, it is essential that programs and initiatives like this exhibit are available to support parents, teachers and other leaders in providing these sorts of educational opportunities for students of all ages.”

Lady Blue Devils sweep Cottey; to Indy for playoffs Saturday

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Rapping out 32 hits in two games, Kansas City Kansas Community College closed out regular season softball play with 15-7 and 11-0 wins over Cottey College at Steineger Field.

The sweeps sends the Lady Blue Devils (25-19) to Independence Saturday for the first two games of a best-of-three playoff series. Games will be played at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday with a third game if necessary Sunday at 1 p.m.

Brittany Gustin (17-10) pitched a 5-hitter and struck out five in the 11-0 shutout after getting a save in the opener. Gustin also had a big day at the plate, driving in seven runs, two in the opener with a double off the top of the fence in her only plate appearance and then five runs in the nightcap on a 3-run home run, double and single.

Geena Harris drove in three runs with her sixth home run and two singles in the opener. Mekayla Foskett also had three hits including a double while Reagan Clough drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and Mekayla Guerrero and Tiffany Killam each singled and doubled.

After taking a 1-0 lead on a Foskett double and three walks in the first, the Blue Devils scored five runs in the second. Hannah Moore started the uprising with a double and scored on Serena Escobar’s triple. After a Guerrero single, Morgan Oroke doubled in a run and Harris drilled a 2-run home run.

Clough’s first double came in the fourth after singles by Killam and Harris; her second came in a 6-run fifth that also included singles by Kennedy Rasmussen and Harris and doubles by Killam and Gustin. The Blue Devils needed the big fifth inning after Cottey had closed to 8-7 on a grand slam home run in the fourth and a 2-run homer in the fifth. KCKCC then closed out the game in the sixth on a single by Foskett and triple by Guerrero.

The Blue Devils scored in bunches in the 11-0 nightcap. In addition to Gustin’s three hits and five RBI, Oroke had three hits and Foskett two.

After singles by LaTisha Thomas and Killam, Oroke, Harris and Gustin rapped run-scoring doubles in a 5-run first inning. Gustin’s 3-run home run was the big blow in a 4-run second inning and the Blue Devils plated three more runs in the fourth on five straight hits, singles by Oroke, Harris and Gustin and RBI doubles by Foskett and Savannah Dungen.

Thirteen sophomores were honored between games including seven starters – Tiffany Killam, Morgan Oroke, Geena Harris, Brittany Gustin, Mekayla Foskett, Savannah Dungan and Mekayla Guerrero. Others included parttime starters Elizabeth Seimears and Kennedy Rasmussen and reserves Serena Escobar, Reagan Clough, Hannah Moore and Lauren Johnson.