ROI on Eco: Business Going Green
In mid-July, Steve Barton and Bruce Tiejema, of Dana Incorporated, toured the automotive manufacturing company’s 176,000-squarefoot plant in Columbia. Barton, the environmental health and safety manager for the Columbia facility, and Tiejema, Dana’s regional environmental manager, took stock of the recently installed LED lighting on the plant floor, the mountains of cardboard, plastic and Styrofoam […]
Clary-Shy Agriculture Park: Accessible Ag for All
The Boone County Fair has moved around a lot in the 182 years since its inaugural celebration. Fairgrounds of yore have been casualties of urbanization, gradually nudged further and further out of Columbia and into rural Boone County as the city has gotten denser. The fair moved to its current home, Sturgeon, in 2016, after […]
First and Goal: How MU Athletics Can Help Turn the School Around
At 6:14 in the evening on November 7, 2015, MU’s Legion of Black Collegians posted a tweet with two pictures. One was a photo of 31 black MU football players standing, arms locked, with Jonathan Butler, the MU graduate student who was by then on the fourth day of a hunger strike. The other was […]
Maximizing the Impact
Local nonprofit directors dedicate their lives to the common good. Cheryl Howard, Nora Stewart Early Learning Center As a former graduate of the Nora Stewart Early Learning Center, Cheryl Howard (pictured above) never thought she’d be running it one day. Then, 10 years ago, her life hit a crossroads. Having worked for a national nonprofit that […]
Home Away From Home
Local entrepreneurs create spaces where they love to work. Aubrey Rowden and Jessica White, Love Tree Studios Aubrey Rowden and Jessica White (pictured above), wedding and portraiture photographers, opened Love Tree Studios in 2011. For most of the past three years, they called 910 E. Broadway home, nestled in one of the office suites on […]
The Buzz on Family Biz
The pros and cons of working with loved ones. Melissa Murphy, Johnston Paint and Decorating In 1996, then MU student Melissa Murphy started working a few hours a week for her uncle Gary Turner and his business partner, Ron Elder, at their company, Johnston Paint and Decorating. When Melissa was hired on, she says, Vicki Wren […]
Education Options
Columbia is and always will be an education town. While there’s plenty of coverage of MU, Stephens College, Columbia College, and Columbia Public Schools, it’s worth noting the other educational opportunities available for students in Columbia. Get to know some of Columbia’s private school options. Christian Fellowship School Grades: Pre-K through 12 Enrollment 2016-2017: 275 […]
Individual, Instructional Institutional: the CPS Diversity Audit
This story appeared in print as part of “Real Models: CPS Grows Their Own Minority Teachers” Nikki McGruder, executive director of the Diversity Awareness Partnership – Columbia and member of the Worley Street Roundtable, has been conducting a diversity audit of Columbia Public Schools, which began with sitting down with every CPS principal to find […]
Degree(s) Bound: Making Continuing Ed Count
Consider the numbers. Columbia is the most educated city in Missouri and ranks fifth highest among small metro cities in the country, according to Forbes. Nearly 49 percent of Columbians hold a bachelor’s degree, compared to 31 percent nationally. Perhaps that’s not surprising when you consider the sheer number of colleges and universities in the […]
Real Models: CPS Grows Their Own Minority Teachers
EdX intern and recent CPS graduate Tyus Monroe doesn’t like the term “role model” — it’s too lofty, too elite. She prefers a real model, someone “that you can reach and you can feel.” Her real models are Monica Naylor and Nicolle Adair. “I would say that working with both of them is — it’s […]
MSHSAA: Not Inconvenience, but Opportunity
Youth sports and all that comes with it — travel, food, gas, hotel stays, and more — is part of the $8.6 billion sports tourism industry. (That number is according to a 2014 George Washington University sports management program study.) The city of Columbia, along with its tourism partners, is working to increase the city’s […]
Living Heart Healthy
Edie Diel, Jennica Gomez, Jill Stedem, and Michele Cropp are living red these days. According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease claims the lives of roughly half a million American women each year. The worst part is that most of these deaths can be prevented. The AHA crafted the Go Red Campaign to do […]