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WCU Stories

senior toast

Senior Toast celebrates student philanthropy, ongoing engagement with WCU

More than 50 soon-to-be graduates raised their glasses in a celebratory salute to their forthcoming designation as alumni.  

kenny messer toast

Gratitude for education, experiences at WCU inspire decades of support for Catamount athletics

Kenny Messer, who grew up in rural Haywood County plowing tobacco fields behind a mule, providing philanthropic support to WCU is a way to show appreciation for an institution that saved him from a future of staring at the back end of a pack animal.  

fac staff awards '24

University faculty, staff awards announced for ’24

On Tuesday, April 24, the university’s faculty and staff were celebrated during the annual Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards ceremony.  

kaitlyn burn horizontal

Communication student crowned Miss North Carolina Collegiate

Kaitlyn Burns, a senior communication major, has been crowned Miss North Carolina Collegiate USA 2024.   

john riddle

Alaska to Appalachia: One family’s ties to WCU

When John Riddle came to Western Carolina University, he was worried about the change in lifestyle he would face.   

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Nearly 1,150 donors make gifts to WCU on ‘One Day for Western’

Nearly 1,150 donors made gifts and pledges totaling more than $494,000 during the second annual ‘One Day for Western,’ an all-in day of giving designed to provide financial support to multiple areas of WCU.  

dan grube and camille casses

From anthropologist to educator, alumna shares unconventional journey

Alumna Camille Casses had an unconventional path to becoming an educator, but her journey to becoming a middle school principal in Mexico has proven she was on the right path all along.  

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WCU celebrates 40 years of cleaning up the Tuck River

On Saturday, April 20, WCU will hold the 40th annual Tuck River Cleanup. The event is one of the nation’s largest single-day river cleanups with hundreds of volunteers working a 15-mile stretch of the Tuckesegee river, from Cullowhee to Whittier.  

Cherokee Language Summit

Cherokee Studies Program works to revitalize language

Recently, the annual Cherokee Language Summit brought together students and educators from multiple universities and tribal programs to discuss Cherokee language education and revitalization.  

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