Limited Edition: WKU Exposure Workshops

It’s all about cow comfort –and more milk

WKU EXPOSURE FILM & MEDIA WORKSHOPS | JUNE 3-10, 2023

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Lab all about comfort of cows

The cheese in the “Farm to Campus” program

Collecting campus food waste begins production of compost

A day inside Nashville and its news sources

Kentucky’s Mesonet system can save lives during extreme weather

WKU’S Food Pantry helps students, faculty, staff with hunger

ON THE COVER: Eyes widened, Holstien cows look at Exposure workshop students who visited the Western Kentucky University Farm on June 6, 2023.

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Students power sustainability efforts at WKU

DSOC gives students experience in planning for unexpected

Different kinds of pollution present challenges to different water sources

Spotting white squirrels Q&A

Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School

Butterflies rests on a flower at the butterfly habitat at Lost River Cave in Bowling Green. (Photo by Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

EXPOSURE

STUDENTS

Sioux Jackson Clark, South Warren High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Dawson Daniels, Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky

Genesis Garnett, Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky

Kiana Kirk, Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky

Anna Bell Lee, Texas High School, Texarkana, Texas

Nathan Mueller, Highlands High School, Fort Thomas, Kentucky

David Quintanilla, Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Tibni Valle, Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky

SPECIAL THANKS

Dow Jones News Fund

Canon USA Inc.

Dean Terrance Brown, Potter College of Arts & Letters, WKU

Ron DeMarse, director, WKU School of Media

STAFF

Chuck Clark, director, WKU Student Publications

Sam Oldenburg, assistant director, WKU Student Publications

Bob Adams, retired director, WKU Student Publications

Gary Hairlson, multimedia director, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tessa Duvall, Frankfort bureau chief, Lexington Herald-Leader

Wes Orange, advertising adviser, WKU Student Publications

Hayley Watson, public relations and marketing coordinator, Perelmuter & Glatt Orthodontics

Kayla Golliher, graphic designer, Kimley-Horn

Toni Mitchell, founder, LuBran Media LLC

Kathy Williams, retired coordinator, WKU School of Media

Joe Imel, general manager, Bowling Green Daily News

Ashleé Clark, growth manager, America Journalism Project

Jerry Brewer, national sports columnist, The Washington Post

Nikita Stewart Henderson, real estate editor, The New York Times

Michael Casagrande, enterprise reporter, Alabama Media Group/AL.com

FILM & MEDIA WORKSHOPS

Multiplatform Journalism track

Lab all about comfort of cows

Tibni Valle/Bowling Green High School

Believe it or not, cows at WKU’s Smart Holstein Lab used to spend time resting on waterbeds. Now, they’ve been upgraded to memory foam mattresses.

The farm experimented with waterbeds, but when the lab found them to be too abrasive on the cow’s legs, they switched to Cow Dutch Mattresses, memory foam mattresses from the Netherlands.

Adam Blessinger, the WKU Dairy manager, said the lab works with companies from Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands and the United States to obtain technology that maximizes milk production while simultaneously emphasizing animal health and comfort.

Cow 2571 rests on a mattress at the WKU Smart Holstein Lab. The mattresses are used for comfort for the cows. (Photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School)

In creating a cow-friendly environment, the farm enjoys a prosperous milk production. The average annual production of milk per cow in Kentucky is nearly 20,000 pounds of milk per year. The WKU Smart Holstein Lab produces more than 24,000 pounds of milk per cow, per year, from 56 cows – 80 pounds of milk per day, per cow.

What sets the Smart Holstein Lab so far ahead?

“We know pretty much everything about the cow from when they’re born,” Blessinger said. Each cow carries multiple devices that monitor different functions.

The Cow Manager, a device that clings to the ear, manages heat detection, temperature and food consumption. Smaxtec

technology observes temperature, drinking, rumination and activity. Another device, Nedap, measures how many steps the cows take and the time spent laying or standing.

More familiar technologies used by the lab include camera systems that capture activity and notify when cows are ill. The White Camera counts the number of standing cows. Almost every piece of technology is accompanied by an app that displays the recorded data.

In the milking parlor, a number of cow services are set into place.

Somatic cell counts track the animal’s white blood cell count, as high cell counts are indicative of infection. This can occur

The sun shines bright on a cow on June 6 as she is about to birth her fourth calf. The cow is part of the Smart Holstein Lab at the WKU Farm. (Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

Open barn doors let in fresh air to a barn where calves are held after being born at the WKU Farm. Calves are raised inside until they wean off of milk. (Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling Green High School)

from cow’s leaking, which is then treated with vaccines and antibiotics. Other services that take place in the parlor include pulsation monitoring and automatic footbaths.

What sets the Smart Holstein Lab apart is their prioritization of cow health. “Not every farm is gonna have eight tags on each cow,” noted Blessinger. “They tend to just have one or two devices.”

Aside from the multiple devices used to monitor the cows, Blessinger said the lab ensures its cattle are provided with multiple measures of comfort.

A makeshift sprinkler system cools off the cows. Blessinger shared how a failure with the system cost the farm four pounds of milk per cow and resulted in noncooperative, grumpy animals.

The facility invests in the happiness of its inhabitants. A clear example is the use of memory foam mattresses that reduce the risk of injury and boost production while following the farm’s mission of establishing a comfortable, safe facility. Other expenses include the current objective of purchasing a robot that would eliminate the chore of scraping the barn floor twice a day, and cow brushes that Blessinger said has no proven correlation to production: “It gives them something to do,” said Blessinger.

Regarding the lab’s system of comfort measures and devices, Blessinger said everything works together to impress other farm-owners. “There are a few farms that have picked stuff up because we had it here,” he said.

One recently donated cow made quite the entrance by breaking into a split upon arrival. A few days later, it happened again and the cow was given a pair of matching steel anklets to support her.

20,000 LBS

Average annual production of milk per cow in Kentucky

24,000 LBS

Average annual production of milk per cow at the WKU Smart Holstein Lab

The incident only furthered the farm’s research in genetics. While flexibility could be considered a desirable trait, in cows it’s an optimistic term for bad genetics and hip structure. While some cows are burdened with bad legs and hips, others demonstrate excellent genes. Blessinger said the focus on improving genetics helps not only the herd, but the entire breed.

Leslie North, the department chair for Earth, Environmental, and Atmospheric Sciences, cited another of the lab’s praiseworthy accomplishments: “We are able to have our students trained and learn the newest cutting edge technology when it comes to dairy cattle…and animal husbandry in a way that is sustainable, that is respectful of the animals, but still meets our needs.”

She said the university’s duty as a state-funded institution is to “serve the community.” This includes its own students.

“We’re here to train the next leaders and the next academics,” North said, regarding the impact of having students directly involved in programs such as the WKU Smart Holstein Lab. “Figuring out, how do we take that project and turn it into an educational opportunity for students, is what drives us.”

WKU’s 800+-acre farm includes everything on a typical farm and more. In addition to the around 120 cows and a team of WKU alumni, students and professionals, the dairy produces 520 gallons of milk per day. It provides locally raised dairy products to various consumers and programs, including the university’s Farm to Campus project and the Creamery.

“It’s just all interconnected,” North said, “and there’s students at every single one of those stages.”

The sun shines bright on a cow on June 6 as she is about to birth her fourth calf. The cow is part of the Smart Holstein Lab at the WKU Farm. (Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

WKU Farm Dairy Manager Adam Blessinger explains how the farm staff feed calves while standing next to a five-day-old calf on June 6. (Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

THE CHEESE in the “Farm to Campus” program

Story by Jackson Clark/South Warren High School

Creamery Technician Nikki Roof lifts a cheese press while preparing a batch of cheddar cheese at the Hilltopper Creamery on June 8

(Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling Green High School)

In the “Farm to Campus” program at the WKU Farm, one of the best known aspects is the creation of cheese for the Hilltopper Creamery.

The Hilltopper Creamery is not only a creamery but also a research lab dedicated to the creation of dairy products, according to Nikki Roof, the creamery technician. She said the experimentation of cheese and methods of cheese creation helps to educate people on how dairy products are made.

The Hilltopper Creamery plays a minor role in the wider “Farm to Campus” program, which is a program that promotes agricultural education and creates a system where products made on the WKU Farm are sent to the main campus.

The creamery also sells its various cheeses as well as cheese products, meats from animals raised on the farm and produce grown at the farm.

It also provides cheeses to the main campus at certain events.

Roof said they do tests on cheese creation. They primarily test with curds, where they mix them with various ingredients and create them in different ways, testing to see what is of high quality and what isn’t. They experiment with

mixing in ingredients such as peppers and spices to create different varieties of cheese.

In addition, there are other employees who work in maintaining the creamery. These mostly consist of scientists, farmers, cheesemakers and clerks for the stores. There are also students who come to study the creation of various dairy products.

Roof said cheese is created when milk, after a significant amount of time, begins to curdle into two substances known as curds and whey. Sometimes the curds and whey are processed as is, but they usually drain the whey and press the curds into a specific shape.

Depending on the cheese they are making, they are mixed with other ingredients, molded in a different way, or sometimes kept as is. Afterward, the cheese is cut into blocks and locked in a cheese room, where they are kept to age for weeks, months or, for some varieties, years. After this, the cheese can be consumed.

The Hilltopper Creamery is a part of the wider dairy section of the WKU farm, where students can conduct research as well as produce products that can be shared with the campus and people in the community.

Creamery Technician Nikki Roof explains how the WKU creamery operates. Exposure students visited the creamery to learn more about the farm to campus program on June 6.

(Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

The Hilltopper Creamery is not only a creamery but also a research lab dedicated to the creation of dairy products.

Collecting campus food waste begins production of compost

David Quintanilla/Bowling Green High School

Turning onto Compost Lane, the sounds of the gravel road and the scent of waste welcomes you to the blacktop area that houses WKU Compost. Immediately your eyes gravitate to the different colored piles of sawdust, leaves and food scraps.

WKU’s composting process starts on campus in the dining halls and restaurants. These places collect both the preand post-consumer food waste, including fruit peels, rinds and vegetable stems. Next, volunteers pick up the waste and take it out to the WKU Farm.

Once reaching the farm it is then mixed with sawdust. Sawdust is added to the waste for its high concentration

of carbon, which is useful to eat away the nitrogen. This mixture is then combined 50/50 with leaves from Bowling Green’s residential leaf pick-up each autumn. After the combination goes through a device called the recuperator, a screener that separates the new material from the trash that can’t be in the soil.

The final step is to check if the soil is nutritious, said Joey Reynolds, the WKU agricultural technician who works with the program. This is done by sticking a long thermometer into the soil. It’s important that the soil is between 130 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit so a bacteria called thermophilic can be found.

The WKU composting site is seen from on top of a 10 foot pile of leaves at the WKU Farm. (Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling green High School)

Joey Reynolds, an agriculture technician at the WKU Farm, sticks a thermometer into a compost mixture to check if it is the right temperature. (Photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School)

Compost Lane on the WKU Farm is home to the WKU compost site. (Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling Green High School)

“Seventy-five percent of the profits go to a scholarship fund for Ag department students and the other 25 percent goes back to the city.”

JOEY REYNOLDS WKU AGRICULTURE TECHNICIAN

This bacteria is the most efficient at breaking down the compost material. If the temperature is lower, there is oxygen missing, which is poor for plant growth. If the temperature is too high, a different type of bacteria grows which isn’t as efficient at eating the carbon away and could lead to a higher chance that the pile spontaneously combusts.

“It’s a really neat process,” Reynolds said. He not only manages all the process but also handles the sales and delivery for the compost.

The compost sells both mulch and compost in the fall and spring seasons. This past spring, all the compost that the operation produced sold out in just over a month, raising over $14,000.

“Seventy-five percent of the profits go to a scholarship fund for Ag department students, and the other 25 percent goes back to the city,” Reynolds said. That 25 percent

specifically goes toward operating costs such as fuel for both leaf trucks and tractors and labor costs.

“We couldn’t have the product we have without state grants,” Reynolds stressed.

WKU received two grants from the Kentucky Energy and Environmental Cabinet. In 2017 it received $100,000 to expand the composting program and received $250,000 in 2019 for the same purpose. With the grants they purchased new tractors and blacktopped more surfaces. Both have been crucial to the development of the compost program.

Not only is this project giving back to the community, it is also cleaning it. By collecting food waste and creating compost, it is put back into the ground to grow more food. This makes a cycle that supports both a sustainable lifestyle and combats excessive landfill.

Joey Reynolds, an agriculture technician at the WKU Farm, drives a front-end loader to dump food compost into a pile of leaves.

(Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling Green High School)

Above, Editor-in-chief of the Nashville Scene, Patrick Rogers, explains different aspects of the newsroom to Exposure students. Exposure students toured three different newsrooms in Nashville on June 7. (Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

Right, Meg Wrather, managing editor for the Nashville Business Journal, shares advice with WKU Exposure students. (Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

Top right, Chas Sisk, an editor at WPLN, demonstrates to multiplatform journalism students how the radio system works at the Nashville Public Radio station.

(Photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School)

Bottom right, “This is Nashville” host Khalil Ekulona speaks with guests during a live broadcast from WPLN on June 7. The show’s theme for the day was jazz music in Nashville.

(Photo by Dawson Daniels/Caverna High School)

A day inside NASHVILLE and its news sources

Kentucky’s Mesonet system can save lives during extreme weather

Dawson Daniels/Caverna High School

Each site in the Kentucky Mesonet’s network of weather stations takes up just a small fraction of an acre, but the impact it can have is huge.

The Mesonet is a group of 78 weather stations across the state that can help save lives as it frequently transmits data for extreme weather events, including tornadoes, droughts and blizzards.

In December 2021, a historic outbreak of tornadoes took place in Kentucky and other surrounding states. As a violent EF-4 tornado was heading straight towards Mayfield, the seat of Graves County, a Mesonet site there recorded wind speeds of 107 miles per hour.

A rain gauge stands under s dry sky at a weather station on the WKU Farm June 8. The gauges are one of the main tools used to track weather patterns through the Kentucky Mesonet. (Photo by Dawson Daniels/Caverna High School)

Along with the radar used by the National Weather Service in nearby Paducah, the Mesonet helped them declare a tornado emergency for Mayfield, said Shane Holinde, the outreach manager for the Mesonet at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.

Each site has a 33-foot-tall tower equipped with a variety of weather tools. Holinde said those tools are used to collect data on the local temperature, wind speed and direction, the dew point and more. They also have webcams that let meteorologists see a live look at a weather situation. In the next three-to-four months, these webcams will all be upgraded to where they can update every five minutes.

Each tower and its equipment costs between $40,000 and $50,000, Holinde said.

A device called an anemometer records the wind speeds and the wind’s direction.

There are probes all around the tower that measure temperature, relative humidity, dew point and more.

“Those positions are key because it helps us see if there is any temperature inversion going on from top to bottom,” Holinde said.

Additionally, 60 of the stations have soil probes

placed at depths ranging from 2 to 40 inches to measure the temperature and moisture in the ground, he said. These findings are critical to the agricultural community. A lot of farmers will look at the Mesonet website for the soil temperature and moisture to determine when to plant crops, like tomatoes, soybeans and tobacco.

There is also a rain gauge that measures the amount of precipitation that has fallen in a given time.

The solar panels measure sun intensity. The higher the number, the more intense the sun is. It also determines the UV index, which in turn determines how fast someone could get sunburned outside.

Everything that the tools do is calculated and stored in a data box on the tower. It is then sent to the Mesonet office at WKU to then be placed online.

Besides news stations and the National Weather Service, the Mesonet is also monitored by the U.S Division of Forestry. They use the data to monitor drought conditions because of a threat of wildfires, especially in parts of the state that are experiencing a drought.

A probe on the Kentucky Mesonet station at the WKU Farm measures temperature, dew point and relative humidity. The Kentucky Mesonet monitors 78 stations across the state with the newest station brought online June 6. (Photo by Dawson Daniels/Caverna High School)

Leslie North, the director of sustainability at WKU, gives a tour of the food pantry in the WKU Office of Sustainability

(Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

WKU Food Pantry helps students, faculty, staff ease hunger

Kiana Kirk/Caverna High School

Food insecurity is not what anyone wants to suffer through in life. For anyone struggling to decide whether to buy food or make a car payment, WKU’s food pantry makes that decision easier.

The Food Pantry, part of the Office of Sustainability, is supervised by Leslie North and is located at 503 Regents Ave., on WKU’s campus. It’s open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. It offers non-perishable food and toiletries to WKU students, staff, faculty and anyone in the community.

“I started working with the Office of Sustainability in 2018. The pantry started in its original form in 2008. The Office of Sustainability wasn’t fully formed at the time, so it was a student-led project in Potter College,” North said. This pantry’s inventory grows every year by students posting on social media and talking in classes. Some student organizations collaborate with the pantry to help give out items around campus, for example, feminine hygiene products.

North and the Office of Sustainability receive donations from local restaurants across the area and people from the community. North also receives monetary donations from businesses and restaurants to purchase food to stock in the pantry.

Assisting North in the Office of Sustainability are a graduate student and student volunteers who work on the programs. Certain students are required to have semivolunteer hours in order to graduate. Their volunteer hours can be in the form of donations of items. They run food drives and canned-food drives and give them to the food pantry.

Ten to 12 people visit the pantry per day to acquire the food and toiletries. They walk in and grab a bag, which is limited to two bags per person, and take items that they need.

The pantry has frequent spikes because of how many students run out of flex dollars or meal swipes. “We see those spikes in visitation and then you know they’re 10 to 12 people. All of a sudden it goes up to 16 to 18 people averaging per day or week,” North said. It normally happens during the end of the semester when there are low options of food sources.

The community also reaches out to North, when they’re stressed to make ends meet, to provide food for their family. For example, the holidays are a rough time if families can’t buy food to celebrate with loved ones.

Granola bars lay in an open box inside the WKU Food Pantry. The food pantry is open by appointment during the summer. (Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

The WKU Office of Sustainability, home to the food pantry, sits on Regents Avenue. (Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

The pantry creates holiday experiences, like Thanksgiving dinner, for those families who can’t prepare on their own. The pantry makes Thanksgiving packages with traditional foods like mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, etc. Families can drive by the Office of Sustainability and pick up packages to feed their family.

Another example of easing stress for families is for birthday celebrations. The food pantry makes birthday kits that are easier than you think. The kit contains confetti cake mix, birthday balloons, sprinkles, etc. But one special ingredient that makes it complete is a can of Sprite. Mixing confetti cake mix and Sprite can make a delicious but economical way to bake a cake for a young child whose family can’t afford a luxury birthday party.

The summer is the quietest time for the pantry since students are out for break. Some graduate students live on campus and go through food insecurity. North and her graduate student, Grace Herrmann, set up remote pantries in dorms across campus for easy access. Students can check in their dorms and get whatever they need in the remote pantry.

Herrmann started working at the WKU Food Pantry in August 2022. She’s a grad student who will work two years at the food pantry. “I really like getting to talk and work with

people that come in. So we have a lot of conversations and we’re able to get to know them, and they get to know us,” Herrmann said.

“To the community, we used to do much more! During Covid, our position as a university was to be open to everyone because there were so many people who were unemployed in our community. So we were distributing probably double or more to the community at that time.”

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food Pantry was closed and couldn’t let students or citizens enter the building, North said. For a year and a half, North captured pictures of the pantry and posted online what they had in stock and people would make delivery appointments by phone or email. The volunteers would package everything they asked for and deliver it to the designated family.

The WKU Food Pantry keeps records by semester of how many people visit the pantry and how many individual items were distributed. In the past academic year, the pantry has distributed over 41,000 items across campus. The most popular items that are frequently out of stock are fruit snacks, pasta and pasta sauce, cereal, ramen, chips, crackers and rice.

A stack of various dinners are stacked in the WKU Office of sustainability. Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

Boxes of rice are stacked in the basement of the Office of Sustainability. (Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

“I really like getting to talk and work with people that come in. So we have a lot of conversations and we’re able to get to know them, and they get to know us.”

GRACE HERRMANN, GRADUATE STUDENT

Students power sustainability efforts at WKU

Students at Western Kentucky University are doing their part to improve the environment and community through their volunteer work with the university’s sustainability programs.

Leslie North, director of the Office of Sustainability at WKU, said student involvement is about 50-50.

“We have a lot of projects that start [as] one thing and then become kind of embedded into the overall institution as a whole, regardless of which, if those students move on,” she said.

One of those programs is the Food Recovery Network (FRN).

“The Food Recovery Network — that is kind of 50-50, so students do all of the work on that, but there’s a lot of paperwork and various things that have to go on behind the scenes that students can’t possibly do or understand,” North said. “So that falls on me to do all of those side of things.”

FRN is an organization that collects items from dining operations on campus, and then volunteers repackage them and distribute them.

“What the Food Recovery Network does is they go and

collect [food] before they’re thrown away,” North said. “They come back to our office. They’re repackaged, they weigh everything so they know exactly how much they collected. And then that either gets distributed through the food pantry, or primarily where that goes is to other food pantries or hot meal lines.”

According to the WKU FRN website, in the United States, about one-third of all food is wasted, while about one in six Americans are food insecure.

The site said food waste has significant environmental impacts, such as wasted energy, soil degradation, water pollution and biodiversity loss.

WKU is one of over 230 colleges and universities with a student-run FRN that works to alleviate food waste’s environmental and social impacts by recovering leftover food from dining locations and donating that food to people in need.

Grace Herrmann, a graduate assistant for the Office of Sustainability at WKU, said student volunteers come in from “time to time” to help at the university’s food pantry.

Grace Herrmann is a graduate assistant in WKU’s Office of Sustainability. (Photo by Nate Muller/Highlands High School)

Genesis Garnett/Caverna High School

“We will have some that will come in once a month,” Herrmann said. “Some that will come in weekly, and they’ll just stay for a couple of hours to help out if they have interest in different projects.”

The students are not paid either, Herrmann said. “We’ve had people come in just to partner with us on different projects that they’re interested in as well. Not so much being paid for; there aren’t a lot of funds, and what funds we have, we try our best to put them towards the pantry itself,” Herrmann said.

The food pantry began as a small idea that grew. Students saw their peers needed basic necessities and took action “It was really students that drove that,” North said. “Things like the food pantry that started off as a student idea… seven or eight years ago, but as I mentioned during the press conference, it was quite literally in the back of a closet and a little tiny shelf.”

.“Their idea was they saw that some of their peers needed food resources, and they didn’t have any place to go on campus or anything that they could really get to help them,” North said. “So that started as a student idea, but it’s led by this office, and [if]every student volunteer stopped coming today and we had no one of those people, the food pantry would still go on. Because it’s one of the programs that we specifically support financially and through staffing power through the Office of Sustainability.”

The WKU food pantry is an open-door organization that allows students, faculty, and staff to get the things they need for free. It enables students to bring non-perishables and toiletries to the office of sustainability for anyone to pick them up at any time.

The pantry is open to anyone who needs it; no proof of anything is required to access it.

Herrmann, who wears several hats for the Sustainability Office, including writing grants and creating infographics, said they work hard to spread the word about the organization and its initiatives.

“We will go out and tell people about the food pantry and about the Office of Sustainability, both to new students who haven’t been on campus but also will go to events being held on campus to make sure that more people know about the food pantry,” Herrmann said.

Another program that gives students a chance to assist with sustainability is Green Toppers.

“It is just the student organization related to groups of students who are interested in sustainability that can come from any major or background,” North said, adding the club brings in guest speakers and offers “fun activities.”

“It’s just kind of like a way to get people with like interest in hobbies. But the hobby or the interest, in this case, would be sustainability,” North said.

Green Toppers Students for Sustainability is an organization that promotes environmental education, sustainable living, and community service, according to its website. The club’s goal is to “bring sustainable practices to the local community by having a volunteer presence and spreading environmental knowledge through student-led educational opportunities.”

Habitat for Humanity is also a part of the sustainability plan at WKU. The program’s main priority is to bring students together to help build homes for families who may have lost their homes or have not had a home.

“[The] last couple of years, we’ve had somewhere around 45 to 55 [students]” said Bryan Reaka, adviser for WKU’s Habitat for Humanity.

Last summer, eight students helped build houses fafter a tornado in 2021 destoryed homes.

“We had students who came in for a week of building; we did 10 houses. Five of those were people who were directly affected by the tornadoes,” he said.

Students at WKU are very involved in their school and community. They bring ideas to the table that go toward helping their peers and those in their community. And they aren’t finished yet.

North said the sustainability program has plans for the future. One of those plans is a sustainability think tank. This will allow students to come together and think about solutions to a presented problem.

“And what that sustainability Think Tank is going to be is we’re going to have various problems that will get brought to the students working in that Think Tank, and they are going to be there to figure out solutions to them,” North said.

“It was really students that drove that. Things like the food pantry that started off as a student idea… seven or eight years ago, but as I mentioned during the press conference, it was quite literally in the back of a closet and a little tiny shelf.”

LESLIE NORTH DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY AT WKU

DSOC gives students experience in planning for unexpected

Who would’ve guessed that the Chicago Marathon and the Special Olympics in Orlando rely on students from Western Kentucky University to keep their events running safely?

The students involved in WKU’s Disaster Science Operations Center, which provides up-to-the-minute weather conditions and advice for organizers of major events, get hands-on experience in disaster management. And that experience can help them land jobs.

The weather data provided from the DSOC’s headquarters in the Environmental Science and Technology Hall at WKU empowers event managers to make tough decisions quickly, said David Oliver, WKU’s director for environment, health and safety.

David Oliver discusses the weather program in the Disaster Science Operations Center in the Environmental Sciences and Technology building on WKU’s Campus. (Photo by Kiana Kirk/Caverna High School)

Nathan Mueller/Highlands High School

“It’s not about shutting something down,” said Oliver, who also is co-director of the DSOC with professor Joshua Durkee. “A lot of the time it’s about keeping something going.”

It isn’t only about the weather. The DSOC crew has assisted the communications team at Walt Disney World manage an outbreak of Covid-19 while in Orlando for the Special Olympics. They also help coordinate WKU’s response in emergencies, such as the aftermath of the Dec. 11, 2021, tornadoes that struck Bowling Green.

The experience helps students in WKU’s disaster management program get field expertise, which can lead to careers. Former DSOC graduate student John Bowen now works for the National Weather Service as a forecaster.

The students do their work in real-time.

When monitoring the Chicago Half-Marathon earlier this month, students in the DSOC were connected to event organizers by Zoom. The students and professionals at the DSOC, however, were not in control of the event. They merely advised.

The DSOC provides what Oliver calls “decision support,” which helps to mitigate the damage caused by a lack of decision-making, such as the chaotic scene earlier this year in Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon when more than 5,000 runners faced buckets of rain and dangerous lightning strikes.

At an event without comprehensive meteorology and emergency support, staff may be forced to rely on weather apps on their phones without the insight of educated

professionals or the accuracy of specialized teams like the DSOC.

“It’s getting to be that more and more [events] do have meteorology, but there are still a ton that do not,” Oliver said.

Public awareness and community outreach are big focuses for the program, Oliver said. The crew plans to put the DSOC logo on the sides and top of a new mobile command center. A renovated 36-foot trailer is currently being outfitted to act as a mobile command center for the DSOC, replacing an existing 10-foot trailer and expanding the team’s on-the-go capabilities.

With more mobile capacity, the DSOC will be able to provide essential weather and hazard management services to more events, Oliver said.

The new trailer will have air-conditioning, unlike its predecessor, along with seven workstations, wi-fi, and weather monitoring equipment. While they still plan to use the 10-foot trailer in situations where a more agile vehicle is necessary, the new trailer will be a more comprehensive, forward-operating base, Oliver said.

Just like anything else done by DSOC, deployment of either mobile unit requires planning. Foresight truly is at the heart of disaster management, and to cover all of your bases, you need to reliably predict what comes next, said Oliver.

“We know it's coming,” Oliver said, “We can tell them and give them a broader span of time to react and get people to safety and that's really our goal.”

Gesturing to students while holding a YSI EXO water quality instrument, WKU Geoscience professor Jason Polk explains how they use the instruments are used to monitor water for long periods of time. (Photo by Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

A rendering shows the planned exterior of the Disaster Science Operations Center’s new trailer. (Photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School)

Different kinds of pollution present challenges to different water sources

The crystal waters of the blue holes at Lost River Cave may catch the eyes of tourists walking past, but what they can’t see are the invisible pollutants that lie within. In the past few years, scientists have raised concerns about emerging contaminants at Lost River that are not readily detected.

Perfluoroalkyl substances – more commonly known as PFAS – along with different bacterial matter are among top contaminants that are not easily identified, yet a threat to local water sources.

Lost River Cave has a long and intense history with pollution. While the cave is in healthy condition at the moment, it has previously endured contamination from a leaking laundry detergent factory and gasoline leaks. However, these situations are temporary.

Most of the pollution events spark a need for immediate reaction, whether it is short- or long- term. Rain pollution will clear up on its own in a few days, but things like PFAS are more complex to resolve.

BACTERIA

Bacteria, more times than not, are present in the water before it goes through the decontamination process. As any organism naturally does, these bacteria adapt to their environmental challenges. While Bowling Greenarea water sources are still safe, antibiotic resistance could cause a challenge in the future.

Anna Bell Lee/Texas High School

The sun shines through trees as tourists explore the entrance to Lost River Cave on June 6. Lost River Cave offers boat tours into the cave. (Photo by Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

“We’re developing antibiotic resistance in our bodies and our waste stream that’s going out into the sewer system [and] septic tanks. It’s not just evolving in [the groundwater] system.”

JASON POLK, GEOSCIENCE PROFESSOR

“We’re developing antibiotic resistance in our bodies and our waste stream that's going out into the sewer system [and] septic tanks,” geoscience professor Jason Polk said. “It's not just evolving in [the groundwater] system.”

Polk is the director of the Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies at Western Kentucky University and an expert in water resources.

Because the scientific knowledge is still catching up with the newfound issue, Polk said a lot of information is still unknown to researchers.

“There is a lot we hope to do with it,” Polk said. “It is one of those things that is brand new so we don’t know the issues.”

Chlorine, one of the main chemicals used in water decontamination, is one of the substances that some bacteria have developed a resistance to. This could evolve into further problems before scientists are able to find a more effective decontamination process.

Water flows rapidly toward the entrance of Lost River Cave in Bowling Green. Exposure students visited the cave on June 6. (Photo by Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

WKU Exposure students duck under the cave ceiling at Lost River Cave as the underground boat tour begins. (Photo by Sioux Jackson Clark/South Warren High School)

Reducing the amount of antibiotics used by both doctors and farmers provides the ability to prevent the bacteria from becoming antibiotic resistant in the first place.

“All that’s going to end up in your water source eventually,” Polk said. “So if it does, you want to make sure there is treatment for it.”

PER- AND PERFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES (PFAS)

PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, are a diverse group of chemicals found in products from cleaning supplies to non-stick cooking ware. These contaminants enter the water system either through humans that inhale or ingest the substance, or via natural processes. The chemicals can be expensive and difficult to measure because scientists are still developing different testing methods. However, long term effects cannot be determined yet due to the only recent evolution of science in this particular subject.

“We have to create some kind of way to test for it and regulate it [to] try and minimize it,” Polk said. “We don’t have the technology or the money to effectively remove everything.”

Even though science is constantly evolving, there has been no policy put into place by the government concerning how much PFAS is allowed to be in products. Scientists have taken multiple precautions to ensure that they will be prepared for when those policies are put in place.

“When the state law and federal law comes in and says ‘All right, you must keep the water in this limit’ we’ll analyze the data and tell them, ‘Yeah, you’re good,’” Polk said. “Giving us a policy is important because they need to find a way to regulate the allowable amount of PFAS in order to make sure it is safe for human consumption.”

The only solution as of right now is for people to be aware of the problem they could possibly face in the future, Polk said.

While there are temporary solutions for solid pollution, both antibiotic resistance and PFAS have proved themselves to be more complex problems that scientists have not seen before.

“The overall outcome is the same, which is we are trying to prevent any harm to human or aquatic health,” Polk said.

A turtle swims in the spot light at a blue hole at Lost River Cave. (Photo by Kiana Kirk/Caverna High School)

A butterfly rests on a flower in the butterfly habitat at Lost River Cave. (Photo by Genesis Garnett/Caverna High School)

Spotting white squirrels

A white squirrel scales the wall of Potter Hall on WKU’s campus. (Photo by David Quintanilla/ Bowling Green High School)

A white squirrel leaps across a branch of a tree on WKU’s campus. WKU is known for its white squirrel population. (Photo By Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

A white squirrel sits on top of a trash can outside Southwest Hall at WKU. (Photo by Dawson Daniels/Caverna High School)

Exposure workshop student Kiana Kirk covers her nose as she approaches a barn full of Holstein cows on the WKU Farm. (Photo by Anna Bell Lee/ Texas High School)

Genesis Garnett (left) and Hayley Watson photograph flowers in downtown Bowing Green. Workshoppers took a coffee break in downtown June 9. (Photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School)

Kiana Kirk photographs flowers at Fountain Square Park in downtown Bowling Green after she and the rest of the 2023 Exposure Multiplatform journalism participants visited a local coffeehouse on a break. (Photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School)

DAWSON DANIELS

High School/mascot: Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky, Colonels

Grade: 12

Age: 17

Favorite subject: Math

Extracurricular activities: none

Favorite cartoon character: Deku

Favorite song: “Daechwita” by Agust D

Favorite slang: “Bet”

Parent: Shannon Sharpensteen

Sibling: Nolyn Daniels

Dream college: Western Kentucky University

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the story line be? Who would star as you and what’s the movie’s title? He said he would want it to be a biographical documentary about his life story, the documentary would be voiced by himself. The movie title should be “Double D”.

What are your three must haves?

The first item he chose was CocaCola, The second item he chose was the music he listens to. The third and final item he chose was his phone. What’s the best part about social media and the worst? His answer for the best was the amount of inspiration you can get from the internet and the potential to connect with loved ones. His answer for the worst was that there was a lot of hate and toxic political discourse on the internet.

What do you admire about Gen Z?

What do you dislike about Gen Z?

He said he admired their strong sense of moral perception and justice, but disliked their general stupidity. Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? He responded that it changed the way he interacted with people and how he took social interaction less for granted as a whole.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? He said that he sees himself having a degree in meteorology, and him getting a job at a news station. (Meteorology is the study of the weather and atmosphere.)

What is your ideal life/dream job? He said that he wished to live life with a partner and no children, and wished to be a meteorologist as his personal dream job.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? He said he would like to live in Japan because he finds it has a

unique culture, cuisine and artifacts. Who or what inspires you and why? His answer was simple, saying Chris Allen, who is a meteorologist, inspired him as a small child.

If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? He said that he would pass several bills that would prevent anti-LGBTQ laws from passing.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? “Living life in the free world.” And he elaborated that he primarily referred to never going to prison.

What do you see as your biggest regret? He said giving his “ex” a second chance.

Story and photo by Jackson Clark/South Warren High School

KIANA KIRK

High School/mascot: Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky. Colonels.

Grade: 11

Age: 15

Favorite subject: Math, because she said it’s the only one she’s good at.

Extracurricular activities: Dances for the Colonelettes dance team.

Favorite cartoon character: Spongebob Squarepants. “It’s just Spongebob, man,” she said.

Favorite slang word/phrase: “Man.”

Parents: Kim and Billy

Siblings: Older sister, Kiara

Dream college: Eastern Kentucky University because of its nursing program and nice campus.

If you could have a movie made about your life what would the story line be? Who would star as you and what’s the movie’s title? The movie would be called “Sassy,” and Kirk would be played by Keke Palmer. The movie would be about the struggle of trying to balance dance and a nursing career

What are your three must haves? Phone, headphones, Dr Pepper

What’s the best part about social media and the worst? Kirk said she loves the communication and hates the hate present on social media.

What do you admire about Gen Z? What do you dislike about Gen Z? “Our generation sucks!” Kirk said.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? No

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Kirk said that she hopes to be in college studying nursing.

What is your ideal life/dream job? After Kirk took an interest in nursing, she now wants to become a nurse practitioner.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? She said she would live in South Korea because she loves K-pop.

Who or what inspires you and why? Kirk said her

grandmother is the number one woman in her life.

If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? Improve healthcare.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Kirk said getting a scholarship for nursing is her greatest accomplishment.

What do you see as your biggest regret? Kirk said trusting people she shouldn’t have is her biggest regret.

Story and photo by David Quintanilla/Bowling Green High School

ANNA BELL LEE

High school/mascot: Texas High School, Texarkana, Texas. Tiger

Grade: 12

Age: 17

Favorite subject: Newspaper

Extracurricular activities: Softball and journalism

Favorite cartoon character, anime, or superhero: Tinker Bell

Favorite song: “Lotus Flower Bomb” by Wale (Feat. Miguel)

Parents: Melissa Bennington, mother

Siblings: Nathan Fisher, brother

Dream college: University of Texas

If you could have a movie made about your life. What would the story line be? Who would star as you and what is the movie’s title? It would be about someone with a busy life. Ellen Pompeo would star as me. The title would be Busy Bees.

What are your 3 must-haves? A/C, phone, Dr Pepper

What’s the best part of social media and the worst. The best part about social media is that it can bring people together from all over the world. The worst part about social media is that people with a limited point of view judge others.

What do you admire about Gen Z?

What do you dislike about Gen Z? I admire that Generation Z is fearless. I

dislike that Generation Z can be really sensitive.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? Yes, in the moment of the pandemic happening. But now, it is back to normal.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Working and building a family. What is your ideal life/dream job? My dream job is working at the Texas Tribune.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? Mexico, because I want to experience a different culture that is still close to where I live.

Who or what inspires you and why?

My mother because, despite having hard times, she has still supported me.

If you could trade places with the president of the United States, what would you do as president? I would want to find a way to improve school safety throughout the states.

What would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment? I would consider my independence to be my greatest accomplishment.

What do you see as your biggest regret? Not taking the classes I wanted when I started high school and taking the ones other people were taking is one of my biggest regrets.

Story and photo by Dawson Daniels/ Caverna High

School

JACKSON CLARK

High School/mascot: South Warren High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Spartans

Grade: 10

Age: 15

Favorite subject: Physical education

Extracurricular activities: Clark said the only extracurricular activity he’s participating in is the multiplatform journalism workshop.

Favorite cartoon character, anime, or superhero: Spiderman. “He has interesting powers, and he’s an interesting character,” Clark said.

Favorite song: No favorite song, but he does have a favorite band, Taley Hall.

Favorite slang word/phrase: “Ballin’”

Parents: Brittany Lloyd Gatlin and Dennis Clark.

Siblings: A half-brother, Duncan Clark.

Dream college: Western Kentucky University. “I’ve just been here a lot, and it seems like a nice place,” Clark said.

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the storyline be? Who would star as you, and what’s the movie’s title? The movie would be about a time when he cut his hand on a can of ravioli. Clark said the can cut him so deep it hit an artery. Clark said that Chris Pratt would play him in this movie, and that the title of the movie would be “That one time Sioux Jackson Clark cut his hand on a can of soup”.

What are your three must haves?

His phone, food and his computer. “I’m addicted to them, quite frankly, and they’re also great sources of information and entertainment,” Clark said.

What’s the best part about social media and the worst? Clark said he liked that anyone from anywhere can get their voice out. Anyone can share their experiences and talk about

things they’ve experienced or just want to share. Clark said this is also a disadvantage to social media.

What do you admire about Gen Z?

What do you dislike about Gen Z?

Clark said he admires how carefree they are and how they don’t listen when someone tells them they can’t do something. “I admire how they do whatever they want,” Clark said. But Clark also said there are some things he didn’t like about the generation. “They don’t care about the things that I care about,” he said.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? Clark said that COVID-19 did not change anything for him. “I’m still a gremlin. I just sit in my room,” Clark said.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Clark sees himself having a job. He said he doesn’t have a specific job in mind and will be “just a regular guy with a regular job.”

What is your ideal life/dream job? Clark said he would want to live in a golden mansion, but if he were speaking realistically he would have a nice house and he’d be an astronaut.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? Clark said he would want to live in Ireland because it’s a nice place to live, and the culture of the place is cool.

Who or what inspires you and why?

Clark said the one thing that inspires him is the internet. He thinks it has a very diverse landscape that has opened him up to many different things and resources.

If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? Clark said he would pass a labor reform law. “Put more restrictions on corporations and the like,” Clark said.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Clark said his biggest accomplishment was receiving a medal for a quiz bowl.

What do you see as your biggest regret? Clark said his biggest regret was not caring about life until now. “I just think that if I had gotten myself together sooner, I could get myself into a better position in life,” Clark said.

Story and photo by Genesis Garnett/Caverna High School

NATHAN MUELLER

High School/Mascot: Highlands High School, Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Blue bird.

Age: 16

Grade:12

Favorite subject: Math

Extracurricular activities: Runs sprints on the junior varsity track team.

Favorite cartoon character: Does not watch many cartoons; Snoopy was one of the first characters that came to mind.

Favorite song: “Meantime” by Spacehog, which he listens to consistently throughout the day.

Favorite slang word/phrase: “I have no idea.”

Parents: Lori and David

Siblings: None

Dream college: University of Cincinnati because it is close to his home and offers his major of choice, computer science.

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the story line be? Who would star as you and what’s the movie title? The movie would be about someone trying to be a programmer since he wants to be one when he grows up. Brad Pitt would be the star because they look alike. What are your three must haves? His three must haves are his laptop, protein powder, and running shoes. Mueller runs track, making his running shoes a necessary part of his attire. He also drinks protein powder every morning for breakfast and loves to write stories on his laptop to fill out free time.

What’s the best part about social media and the worst? Does not use social media unless necessary for professional purposes because of personal preference.

What do you admire about Gen Z? What do you dislike about Gen Z? He likes how confident they are because it makes them easier to talk to. He dislikes that they can oftentimes be pretentious and self-centered.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? The pandemic severely affected his school work and shifted it from a paper-based program to an online-based program. At his job, they have to sign in on a paper where they agree that they do not have COVID-19 even in 2023.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Mueller has set goals of having a good job and building a good family. He wants to own a house and have a consistent income.

What is your ideal life/dream job? He wants to be a software developer for either Google or Amazon. He hopes that his experience in journalism will allow him to build his

skills in communicating when he starts his desired career. Who inspires you and why? His mom inspires him because she works hard to keep them on their feet. His mom usually works late hours, causing her to not be there when he gets home.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? He would live in Venice, Italy, because of all the boats and canals. It is a dream of Mueller’s to visit Venice at least once in his lifetime.

If you could trade places with the President of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? He would make LaCroix illegal. He has gathered a strong dislike of LaCroix over time because his dad will leave cans in a pile beside his recycle bin.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? He was awarded best editorial writer in Kentucky because he put a lot of effort into the stories that won. Mueller’s favorite style of writing is opinion.

What do you see as your biggest regret? He regrets quitting football at a young age because he would have liked to stay in it and play during high school. He says football would benefit him.

Story by Anna Bell Lee/Texas High School Photo by David Quintanilla/Bowling Green High School

TIBNI VALLE

High School/mascot: Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Purples

Grade: 12

Age: 17

Favorite subject: Math and English

Extracurricular activities: None

Favorite cartoon character, anime or superhero: Killua-Zoldyck. “He’s just cool.”

Favorite song: “Hey Big Star”

Favorite slang word/phrase: “Anyways”

Parents: Areli & Agustin

Siblings: Itai, Shari, Joanna, Ezri, Ahinadab, Adami

Dream college: “NYU because my sister goes there”

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the story line be? Who would star as you, and what’s the movie title? Valle said she gets a lot of compliments because of her comparison with Jenna Ortega. Her storyline would be moving around from place to place. Valle also said the title of her movie is, “I Wish I Was Making This Up!”

What are your three must haves? Phone, AirPods, hot fries

What’s the best part about social media and the worst? “The best part about it is you can connect with a lot of people, but the worst part is it’s dangerous and there’s a lot of fake people.”

What do you admire about Gen Z?

What do you dislike about Gen Z?

Valle said a positive benefit is that the

generation takes a lot of action but a negative side is that the generation takes things overboard.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? “Yes, it changed the way I lived because I wore masks everywhere I went.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? “In college at NYU or wherever life takes me”

What is your ideal life/dream job?

Valle said her dream job would be a lawyer because she loves to argue and they make loads of money.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why? “Mexico, because I like to be around the culture, and my family.”

Who or what inspires you and why?

Valle said her family inspires her

because they encourage her even when she doesn’t believe in herself. If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? “Find a way to make healthcare more affordable and accountable.”

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Valle said her greatest accomplishment is being a person anyone can trust and can rely on.

What do you see as your biggest regret? “Moping because I spend a lot of time being miserable.”

Story by Kiana Kirk/Caverna High School Photo by Genesis Garnett/Caverna High School

DAVID QUINTANILLA

High School, Mascot: Bowling Green High School, Bowling Green, Kentucky, Purples

Grade: 12

Age: 17

Favorite subject: English

Extracurricular activities: David works on his school newspaper and runs a movie critic Instagram account.

Favorite superhero: Batman.

Favorite word: David calls his dad, among others, “bro.”

Parents: Miguel and Ana

Siblings: Two younger brothers, Christian and Mateo

Dream College: UCLA, because he has family nearby and an aunt who works there.

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the story line be? Who would star as you and what’s the movie’s title? David says his movie would be titled, Best of Days, a story of a kid who sits in his room all day, starring Xolo Mariduena.

What are your three must haves?

Pen, glasses, GQ (magazine), hat.

What’s the best part about social media and the worst? David likes that he can communicate with international families but hates the fakeness (filters etc.).

What do you admire about Gen Z?

What do you dislike about Gen Z?

He hates modern movie remakes (Disney Live Action, White Men Can’t Jump, BangKok Dangerous, The Karate Kid, etc.). David could not

think of anything positive at the time of our interview.

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things? Nope.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In a cubicle writing for a newspaper.

What is your ideal life/dream job? David aspires to be an English professor because he has a love for English and doesn’t believe there are enough minority professors.

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be? Mexico City for the food, culture and family, but mostly the food.

Who or what inspires you and why? His dad because he went to WKU for journalism and writes for a Catholic newspaper.

If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president? He would reinvent DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) to be better accommodating to those born to undocumented parents.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? 1st in Educational Rising, which is a competition for high schoolers who show interest in teaching.

What do you see as your biggest regret? Not having any real interests until seventh grade..

Story and photo by Nathan Mueller/ Highlands High School

GENESIS GARNETT

High School/Mascot: Caverna High School, Horse Cave, Kentucky, Colonels

Grade: 11

Age: 16

Favorite subject: Bio Med

Extracurricular Activities: Majorette dance team

Favorite cartoon character, anime, superhero: Captain America. “It’s less of Captain America and more of Chris Evans, but if we’re being realistic, he’s dedicated and doesn’t mind making sacrifices for the people, or whoever he’s saving.”

Favorite song: “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder

Favorite slang word/phrase: “Get you some business and stay out of mine.”

Parents: Jenese Coats and Finius Garnett

Siblings: Mercedes Stewart, Dillion Maxey, Cornelius Maxey, and Adrian Garnett

Dream College: WKU

If you could have a movie made about your life, what would the storyline be? Who would star as you and what’s the movie’s title?

“‘A Change is Gonna Come’ and the storyline would be how I go through life. Me! I would star as myself.”

What are your three must haves?

Headphones, phone, bracelets

What’s the best part about social media and the worst?

“The best part is that there’s a lot to learn on there, and the bad part is that there’s a lot to learn on there. You see a lot of things you don’t need to see.”

What do you admire about Gen Z? What do you dislike about Gen Z?

“I like that we have a lot in common. They are very sensitive.”

Did the pandemic change the way you live and do things?

“Yes, I got really reclusive and didn’t want to go out anymore.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

“Either still in college or working in one of my potential career paths.”

What is your ideal life/dream job?

“I have three. Either a doctor, a nurse… or a journalist.”

If you could live anywhere in the world for one year, where would it be and why?

“Brazil, because of the culture. The different people that come from different backgrounds but they come together to do the same thing… Like we’re all different but we came to do the same thing. And like we all just met each other a little bit ago, but we’re having fun.”

Who or what inspires you and why?

“My nieces. I want to do good in life so they can get everything they want in life.”

If you could trade places with the president of the United States for one day, what would you do as president?

“I would fix school lunch. It’s just not good anymore. So, I would make it healthy, but good.”

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?

“Placing fourth in a statewide competition for an essay I wrote because I never thought I would place in something like that. And fourth may not seem that big, but to me it was.”

What do you see as your biggest regret?

“Not taking enough risks and not putting myself out there.”

Story and photo by Tibni Valle/ Bowling Green High School

About this workshop

This is the 38th year for the Multiplatform Journalism track of the 2023 WKU Exposure Film & Media Workshops, an immersion program that gives aspiring journalism students experience in reporting, writing, photography, video and editing. The track, which pairs students with award-winning professional journalists, focuses participants on the fundamentals of journalism from early morning late into the night throughout the workshop.

Launched in 1981as the Urban Journalism Workshop and later as the Minority Journalism Workshop and Xposure, the Multiplatform Journalism track has built a reputation as one of the best programs for aspiring journalists and draws participants from across the country. Today, it is part of the WKU Exposure Film & Media Workshops, a collection of workshops hosted at Western Kentucky University by WKU Student Publications and the WKU School of Media.

The Multiplatform Journalism track for 2023 was supported by the Dow Jones News Fund, which provided funding for scholarships for students to attend the workshop, and by Canon USA Inc., which provided professional-grade photography and videography equipment for the students to use in their work.

We applaud our students for the work that appears in this issue of Limited Edition, and we are grateful to our alumni and friends for their ongoing support and partnerships that make this workshop so special and so enduring.