Kierra Holloman, a junior in biochemistry from Kansas City, Kansas, was selected by the Johnson Cancer Research Center at Kansas State University for its undergraduate research mentoring and award program.
She was one of 22 undergraduates selected for the program. Her topic is, “Regulation of protease inhibitors by oxidation of cysteine residues.”
Holloman is mentored by Michael Kanost, university distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics.
The Cancer Research Award program promotes undergraduate student participation in laboratory research. It encourages students to consider careers in cancer research and medicine early on while they are still deciding what academic and professional paths to take.
“This opportunity allows students to apply what they are learning in classes to real-life laboratory problems, and engages them in their education, a critical factor for success,” said Sherry Fleming, the center’s director and a professor of biology. “Many of these future cancer researchers and medical workers will undoubtedly go on to be some of the top professionals in their fields.”
The award program, which is open to undergraduate students interested in doing cancer-relevant research, provides $1,500 awards to students and $1,000 per student for research expenses. The funds allow them to spend more time working on research rather than a non-academic job.
Students apply for the awards by co-writing research proposals with faculty members who will serve as their mentors. The awardees conduct their research in the mentors’ laboratories throughout at least the spring semester.
The seven-story old tower building, formerly the Providence Hospital building and recently, part of the Donnelly College campus, is being demolished. (2018 file photo by Mary Rupert)The new Donnelly College academic building at 18th and Barnett in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo from Donnelly College)
About a hundred years ago, Providence Hospital opened its building at 608 N. 18th St. in Kansas City, Kansas. This week, demolition started on the hospital’s building, which became part of the Donnelly College campus in the 1980s.
It was home to Donnelly’s academic programs until a new building was recently completed on the campus. Donnelly College moved into its new academic building this year.
Demolition on the old building is taking place now, starting with a smaller structure attached to the main tower, according to a Donnelly College spokesman, Craig Doty.
The smaller structure was the original chapel when Donnelly was in that building, he said. The stained glass windows from Donnelly’s original chapel have been removed and installed in the college’s new Blessed Seelos Chapel.
Doty said the chapel is being removed first in order to position equipment that will be needed to get to the top of the seven-story building to take it down piece by piece.
While he’s not sure how long demolition will take, they’re hoping a large portion of it could be done by mid-January, he said. A lot depends on the weather and if they run into any problems, he said.
All abatement is being done, and the building is being taken down slowly out of consideration for neighbors and the college’s existing structures, he said. They have been actively working on abatement including asbestos removal for several months now, he said.
According to Doty, the area will become greenspace and a campus quad. The smokestack will remain standing as a familiar landmark at the college.
Doty said the old hospital building was originally a three-story building, then other three-story buildings were added. Through the years, after additions, it became seven stories tall.
Donnelly acquired the building after Providence moved out, and it took a few years to renovate the hospital building, with Donnelly starting classes there in 1982. The spring of 2020 was the last class in the building, he said.
Doty said there had been years and years of planning for the old building, including plans that were drawn up to keep the building. The decision eventually was made that Donnelly would stay at its current location in Kansas City, Kansas, and build a new academic building there.
A lot of people were born in that hospital building, including three or four current Donnelly College faculty members, Doty said.
“One faculty member joked that he was born in what is now his office,” he said. “He remembers going as a child to get his tonsils taken out and other outpatient stuff, and ended up working there as an instructor.”
Donnelly will be doing a commemorative brick campaign with bricks from the existing building, and many people are showing an interest in the campaign, he said.
“We’ve been so pleased with the outpouring of support from the community,” Doty said.
Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Providence Hospital moved to a new building at 89th and Parallel Parkway in the mid-1970s, when it was Providence-St. Margaret Health Center before eventually becoming Providence Medical Center. Providence was sold to Prime Health in 2013.
Donnelly College, a Catholic archdiocesan college, was founded in 1949 by the Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, who taught at the college, and by Bishop George Donnelly.
To see more information about Donnelly College, visit https://www.donnelly.edu/explore/blog/1623451/the-next-100-years.
In this early photo of Providence Hospital at 18th and Barnett, the building was three stories. (Photo from Donnelly College)A photo of construction on the new Donnelly College academic building in September 2019. (File photo)
Starting Monday, Dec. 7, the number of meal sites for the “grab-and-go” curbside meals will be reduced for Kansas City, Kansas, Public School students and patrons.
There will be a little more than half the number of school nutrition sites now available for meal pickup. Students may go to a nearby open site to pick up the meals.
According to a school district website post, the consolidation of the meal sites was necessary to help the staff and the community stay safe.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools’ Board of Education voted Dec. 1 to reduce the meal sites after hearing a district staff report with that recommendation.
According to the staff report, there was a difficulty in trying to staff all the sites adequately, with an increase of COVID-19 in the community. There were more absences being reported among the staff recently, according to the staff report.
According to the district’s website, meals will be available for pickup Dec. 7 at these schools:
High schools: Harmon, Schlagle and Washington. Middle schools: Central, Carl Bruce, Gloria Willis and Rosedale. Elementary schools: Banneker, Claude Huyck, Douglass, John Fiske, Lowell Brune, Mark Twain, M.E. Pearson, New Chelsea, Stony Point South and Welborn.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools currently are in remote learning and are not in the classrooms.
The nutrition program provides meals for students, who pick them up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Breakfast and lunch are included, and milk and juice are available. Students pick up two lunches and two breakfasts on Monday, one lunch and one breakfast on Wednesday, and two lunches and two breakfasts on Friday.
Students must pre-register to pick up a meal; pre-registration is available by calling 913-627-3900. There is also a pre-registration form on the district’s website. The nutritional services department wants to know if students have a food allergy, when registering.
The meals are free for ages 1-18, and participants do not need to be a KCKPS student to have access to the meals, according to the district’s webpage.
School board members were concerned that the distance might be too great for some students to pick up their meals. Those who have transportation problems may call their school principal or school social worker to see if other arrangements can be made.
Members of the community with children using the grab-and-go meal program without a home school may call the district at 913-627-3900 to share any challenges around picking up meals.
Schools that will no longer serve curbside meals after Dec. 4 include Bridges, Caruthers, Eisenhower, Emerson, Frances Willard, Frank Rushton, Hazel Grove, KCKECC, McKinley, Quindaro, Silver City, Stony Point North and Edison.
