Tuesday, May. 11, 2010

Coastal Carolina University baseball | Starting with a strike, kids find home runs within reach

Coastal Carolina University third baseman Scott Woodward, who has a severe to profound hearing loss, smiles as he holds Nicholas Webb, 5, of Ocean Bay Elementary School, and is surrounded by other deaf students from Horry County Schools at Coastal Carolina University.

Twenty-four hearing impaired children from 7 different Horry County Schools came to Coastal Carolina University to meet Woodward and watch the baseball game against Winthrop Monday afternoon. "It means a lot to me to have the kids come out and see me play today and be an example and show them not everything is impossible," said Woodward.

Similar stories:

• Coastal Carolina trustees hear plan for $4 million in budget cuts

  Coastal Carolina trustees hear plan for $4 million in budget cuts

  Coastal Carolina University trustees heard plans for $4 million in budget cuts at its board meeting Friday morning.

  About 15 to 18 employees will be affected, said Will Garland, senior vice president for finance and administration at the university. He said there would be some salary reductions and some layoffs, and that notifications would probably go out Monday.

  Trustees also approved the addition of women's lacrosse as an official school sport. Play is expected to begin in the 2012-13 school year.

• Students find another use for duct tape

  Students find another use for duct tape

  T he 2010 Summer Arts Academy at Coastal Carolina University put on a duct tape fashion show on Friday. Area middle and high school students created about 200 pieces of art during a 14-day residential stay at Coastal. The end of the program was marked with the fashion show and art exhibit at the Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery in the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts on campus.

• Athletic stalemate could be over between Coastal Carolina, Univ. of South Carolina Gamecocks

  Athletic stalemate could be over between Coastal Carolina, Univ. of South Carolina Gamecocks

  CONWAY | The athletic impasse, at least for the time being, appears to be over between Coastal Carolina University and its big brother in Columbia.

  State Rep. Liston Barfield, R-Aynor, has helped facilitate a relationship between Coastal and University of South Carolina officials that could see them soon playing each other in football, basketball and baseball, officials said Wednesday.

  The Gamecocks have been mostly unwilling to schedule the Chanticleers in the three most prominent sports since Coastal became independent in 1993. The schools have never met in football and have played just once in basketball and three times in baseball since Coastal broke away from the USC system.

• Horry County adds jobs

  Horry County adds jobs

  Horry County's unemployment rate improved slightly in July, an exception to overall rising joblessness in the state, according to an S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce report released Friday.

  Horry County's jobless rate fell to 10.1 percent last month from 10.3 percent in June, while the state's average unemployment rose 0.1 percentage points to 10.8 percent. July unemployment in Georgetown County was up 0.2 percentage points to 11.4 percent.

  The state has the sixth-highest unemployment rate in the nation. North Carolina's jobless rate fell from 10 percent to 9.8 percent in July - making it the 14th highest in the nation. National unemployment held at 9.5 percent.

• Area students leaving with a leg up

  Area students leaving with a leg up

  Members of the first graduating class of the Early College High School were honored for their achievements at a celebration Tuesday at Horry-Georgetown Technical College.

  Of the 101 graduates in the class, most are leaving high school with an average of 40 college credit hours, according to program statistics. Some of them will also graduate with an associate degree as well as a high school diploma.

  The program started four years ago to give Horry County students a chance for dual enrollment college credits from HGTC. The program is aimed at students who test in the middle of their class, have good behavioral records and may be in a group that is underrepresented in college enrollment, including those that may not be able to pay for college, minorities and those who speak English as a second language.