High Country Audubon Offers Grant for Bird Research
High Country Audubon Society (HCAS) is pleased to announce a grant opportunity to support bird research in the High Country of North Carolina. HCAS is the local chapter of the National Audubon Society and Audubon North Carolina, serving Watauga, Ashe, Wilkes, Alleghany and Avery counties.
The Sue Wells Research Grant will award up to $500 to a high school or college student to support research or field work in ornithology, or in an area of study that will directly benefit birds or bird habitat in this area of North Carolina. Only undergraduate or graduate students currently enrolled in degree-seeking programs or high school students may apply.
The Sue Wells Research Grant was created in 2012 to support local students involved in bird research in the High Country. The first award went to Jessica Krippel, a Master of Science student at Western Carolina University. Jessica used her grant to support her research of song sparrow mating success.
In 2013 HCAS selected Morgan Harris, a graduate student at Appalachian State University, as the recipient of the Sue Wells Research Grant. Morgan looked at reproductive pressures on local eastern bluebirds resulting from tree swallows moving into their territories.
Appalachian State University student Angela Langevin was selected in 2014 and will be studying the interactions of the Western North Carolina cliff-nesting avian community with the cliff-face ecosystem they inhabit. She is a graduate student in ASU’s Biology program.
In 2015 Kristen Content was awarded the grant for her work looking at the relationship between behavior and avian stress hormones of tree swallows. Kristen is also a student at Appalachian State University.
The late Sue Wells was a driving force in the creation of High Country Audubon Society and served on the Board of Trustees until 2010. Sue was also instrumental in creating the National Bird-Feeding Society and led the movement to help make backyard bird feeding the successful hobby it is today.
Grant information and application are available at http://www.highcountryaudubon.org/suewellsresearchgrant.html
Applications are due by July 1, 2016 and the winner will be announced at the July 19 at the HCAS monthly membership meeting.
Vocal Music Scholarships Available Through Watauga Arts
The Watauga County Arts Council is once again offering a grant and scholarship initiative designed to promote training in the vocal arts. In 2015 the Council developed the new funding program to encourage the art of singing in the High Country. These scholarships and grants are open to individuals of high school age, adult vocalists, vocal teachers, and schools.
The Arts Council’s scholarship award program was first developed in 1985 and for twenty years annually assisted local individuals in the pursuit of artistic training in a variety of disciplines. In subsequent years the program continued to provide scholarships for summer arts camp participants and, in 2013, was broadened to also include applicants of any age who needed financial assistance to participate in the Arts Council’s various tuition based programs and activities. This past year, three benefit concerts have been held to help raise funds to assist students specifically with the costs of music lessons.
In 2015 the Arts Council expanded its scholarship and grant program to include vocal music development and performance. Using funds raised through the annual “Celebrate Singing” event which is held in the late fall of each year, this initiative is designed to meet a need within the High Country community for the development of opportunities to support vocalists of all kinds. Applications for funding in the range of $100 to $500 will be considered.
The Arts Council will consider granting awards to individuals to attend workshops, as well as to vocal music teachers who wish to continue developing their skills, and to vocal music programs in schools to help expand or improve their offerings. Scholarship and grant application forms are available at the WCAC office at 377 Shadowline Drive in Boone, on their website at www.watauga-arts.org, and by email requests sent to wcac@watauga-arts.org. The application deadline is Wednesday, May 18th.
Funding for these scholarship programs is raised through special events and from designated donations. Donations to the scholarship fund of the Arts Council are always welcomed and encouraged and can be made online at www.watauga-arts.org or by mailing a check to 377 Shadowline Drive, Boone, NC. For more information on these and other programs, contact the Arts Council at 828-264-1789 or by email to wcac@watauga-arts.org.
Torch: A Forum for Reasoned Discourse: May 9 at Sagebrush
The monthly meeting of Torch: A Forum for Reasoned Discourse will be held Monday,
May 9th at the Sagebrush Restaurant in Boone. Those attending may choose from a $10
menu at 11:30 am and enjoy the presentation at noon.
The topic this month is Promoting the General Welfare: Preaching vs. Policy presented
by Roland Moy as the sixth in an annual series examining issues of the American
political economy and a followup to his 2015 topic Aspects of Liberty: Cornerstone,
Manipulation and Inequality. Guests are welcome to attend.
Financial Literacy Workshop for Teens and Young Adults May 4
The Watauga County Public Library would like to invite you to join us for the next in a series of Financial Literacy Workshops for teens and young adults on May 4th from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Amber Mellon, Lecturer in Mathematical Sciences at Appalachian State University will be presenting.
Moneytopia, an online game, will be used as a fun tool to introduce teens to real-life applications of financial skills. The following skills will be emphasized: budgeting, saving, smart spending, minimizing credit card use, and establishing financial goals.
Food will be served at the event! To learn more visit http://arlibrary.beta.libguides.com/smart_investing , or call us at (828) 264-8784 ext. 2.
Weekly Events at Lost Province Brewing Co.
Monday April 25
Family Night-Buy any regularly priced pizza and receive one free kid’s meal.
Tuesday April 26
Oyster Roast. $12 gets you a bucket of one dozen oysters and house made saltine crackers. Featuring oysters from Jarret Bay, Carteret Co., NC.
Wednesday April 27
½ Off Beer and Wine Specials.
7pm-9pm Trivia Night: Beginning at 7pm, Lost Province will be hosting Trivia Night with John Fortenberry. Compete on your own or on a team! The competition gets started at 7pm so come a little early for a pizza and a pint and get your seat!
Thursday April 28
$3.00 Thursday-$3.00 pints on all Lost Province brewed beers (except high gravity).
College Night 7:00pm-International Trvia with iPALS. iPALS is a friendship program that promotes cross-cultural understanding between new international and U.S. students at Appalachian. iPALS is led by Appalachian students interested in providing a welcoming environment for new international students and cultivating friendships with students from other cultures.
Friday April 29
Tapped at 5pm, we feature something fun and new every Friday. Get it while it lasts; there is only a limited amount!
7:30pm-Closing Live Music: The Klee & Mike Show is an acoustic duo featuring Klee Liles on guitar and vocals and Michael Robertson on percussion and vocals. Having played together for over 20 years, Klee and Michael have a built a huge repertoire of pop/rock songs ranging from well-known to obscure, from both artists you know and love and performers you may not know quite as well.
http://www.kleeandmike.com/
Saturday April 30
7:30pm-Closing Live Music: Boone’s own gypsy band “Swing Guitars” has been active for almost a decade performing acoustic “Hot Club” style jazz in area restaurants, music festivals and civic concert series. Playing a mix of gypsy jazz standards, swing classics, originals and modern jazz tunes, the acoustic group focuses on the music of Django Reinhardt and other early jazz pioneers. Guitarists Andy Page, Jim Schaller and Jay Brown along with Ben McPherron on bass are experienced musicians widely known to High Country music fans. An evening with Swing Guitars promises a variety of sounds perfect for socializing, eating, drinking and dancing!
Sunday May 1
Lost Province Sunday: Residents of “The Lost Province” (Watauga, Ashe, Avery and Alleghany) receive 10% off food with verification of residency.
Mabel UMC Yard Sale May 7
April 30 Author Visit: Eva Nell Mull Wike
Saturday, April 30, 11 am
Meeting Room, Watauga County Public Library
Author Visit: Eva Nell Mull Wike, author of Fiddler of the Mountains
Storyteller and author Eva Nell Mull Wike, PhD., travels to Watauga Library to present her book, Fiddler of the Mountains – Attuned to the Life and Times of Johnny Mull.
In the author’s own words:
“My book won the North Carolina Historical Society Award and it comes with a CD of my Uncle Johnny’s music. You may view it and read reviews on AMAZON.COM. The music was restored in the National Recording Studio in Rome, Georgia, from the old acetate records which were recorded in Canton, Ohio in the 1940s & 50s. It all seems like some kind of a miracle that I ‘accidentally’ got my Uncle Johnny’s personal photos from a dear friend who had worked with Johnny up in Canton, in the 1950’s. I no sooner got the photos from him, ‘til a few days later he upped and died during open-heart surgery in Atlanta!
About the same time, the Ohio landlady sent me the old acetate records which had been stored away in her closet for decades! Then just a few days later, her son called me to say that she had passed away. So in between sad times, I got down to business and wrote Johnny’s story. And dog-on if my book didn’t win the North Carolina Society of Historian’s AWARD!”
Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and each copy includes a CD of rare music performed by mountain fiddler Johnny Mull.
Persons with special needs please contact the Library five or more days before the event so that reasonable arrangements may be made. Thanks to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring our events.