Coming up on WCN 247, a Westminster college grad collaborates with writer Nicholas Sparks
on his up-and-coming novel, Two by Two.
Reporter Laura Page goes to the Westminster dorms to meet the girl who's getting national
attention.
Head executive of media for the Pittsburgh Steelers gives his top five tips for Westminster
college undergrads.
And WCN's Joe Ligo takes a walk down Emeryn Lane this holiday season.
Welcome to this edition of WCN 247.
I'm Emily Westwall for the Westminster Cable Network covering our campus and our community.
The holiday season is among us again and New Wilmington helped community members celebrate
with their second annual Christmas parade and Christmas in the park.
People of all ages took the streets to see creative Christmas floats and beautiful lights.
WCN 247 Dylan Mick shows us how the usually quiet New Wilmington streets lit up and came
to life.
It's that time of the year again for pretty lights and Christmas cheer.
New Wilmington celebrated their second annual chamber Christmas parade where families big
and small gathered around to see creative Christmas floats, catch some candy, and of
course, Santa.
Following the parade was the official lighting of the New Wilmington borough park where the
people got to participate in community caroling and got a chance to get out of the cold and
received cookies, hot chocolate, and other warm delicious Christmas treats.
And children got the chance to be greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Claus to receive a candy cane
and a gift.
From New Wilmington, I'm Dylan Mick for WCN 247.
Cranex is a family owned retail store located in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.
The Christmas display at Cranex has been a tradition dating back to 1963.
Westminster alumni Joe Lago shows us a timeless holiday tradition for people in and around
Hermitage in Mercer County.
The sheer number of toys for sale at Cranex could overwhelm a child.
Tractors and board games and blasters and bears and cars and stuffed animals, but the biggest
attraction of this Hermitage retailer doesn't even have a price tag.
The Cranex walk through display known as Santa's Christmas Land has attracted customers to the
store since 1963.
The store started as a garden center and they were wondering what they were going to do
in the winter months.
Of course, there's not a lot of business.
So they decided to try some Christmas trees and Christmas decorations and they started
displaying their decorations on a few trees, purchasing a few pieces of animation and that's
how the display got started.
The display features different holiday scenes with everything from the North Pole to popular
children's characters and lots of music.
Every year showcases a completely new display, however, one theme remains constant.
The last room is always an activity.
We always display the true meaning of the season.
In this little corner of the world rows of new toys can only captivate children for
a moment, for they are distracted by thousands of twinkling lights, waving elves, dangling
snowflakes and a familiar old story.
I'm Joe Ligo and from all of us at the Westminster Cable Network, Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.
The Big Butler Fairgrounds off of Route 422 comes to life with lights at dusk every night
for a big holiday light show.
Lights were claimed as the world's largest drive-thru, fully synchronized LED Christmas
light show.
Shard Racks attracts visitors from all over the area.
The Shadracks famed light show opens for visitors on November 18th and lasts until January 8th.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays tend to be the biggest nights for the show, especially
around the Christmas season.
Along with lights, visitors can expect opportunities to meet Santa, ride the Polar Express train,
jump in the mood bounce, climb a rock wall, do some Christmas shopping and drink hot cocoa.
Food is also offered at Shadracks with everything from burgers to kettle corn.
Up next, the Director of Communications for the Pittsburgh Steelers gives his top five
tips for Westminster College undergrads.
College Emmy Winner, Television Academies Award for Outstanding Documentary, Award for Best
Television Special, CBI Winner for Best TV Reporting, CBI Winner for Best TV Public Service
Announcement, VA Special Recognition for Outstanding Cinematography, Best Television Promo, Festival
of Media Arts Award for Best Music Video, Best TV Feature Reporting, Recognized for
Excellence, Broadcast and Digital Communications at Westminster College, Proud of our students
and Proud of our graduates, wcproud.com.
You know what guys, there's a lot of tree branches and dry brush over here.
We should probably move the bonfire over there.
There's some smokey light that I did.
Use your finger, print your face on a code, At home or work or on the road, two steps
are safer than one, or three or four, And keeping data safe is so much fun, authentic
cage, strong, authentic cage, Make your logins extra safe, protect your identity
from tragic fate, authentic cage, strong, authentic cage.
Burt Lawton is the head executive for the Pittsburgh Steelers Communication Department.
Lawton graduated from Westminster in 1999, WCN 24-7's Justin Wilson recently met with
him to get his top five tips for undergraduate students.
Burt Lawton is the head executive of media for the Pittsburgh Steelers and also a WC grad.
He may not be doing big things on the field, but off the field he shines.
He gives us his top five tips for Westminster's undergrad.
One is to make sure you build your resume.
Don't wait until your senior year, don't wait until it's too late.
You need to be able to network yourself, you need to be able to show yourself off.
Never hurts having somebody on your side that you know.
One thing that I always see students getting out of college, as soon as I see their resumes,
whether or not they had a job, it's key to be able to balance your academics and your
job.
If you want to get into sports, make sure you work in Westminster's athletic department.
Make sure you work in their broadcasting department, their SID office, whatever it may be.
Work at the different newspapers even to enhance your writing skills.
Pittsburgh is only an hour or so south of campus, there's so many opportunities down
here to work out.
You don't have to go to a big city school to be successful, Burt Lawton is proof of
that.
In Pittsburgh, I'm Justin Wilson for WCN 247.
Friday nights in late autumn turned into a construction party for volunteers gathering
at the Newcastle School of Trades.
This is where the Tiny House Project finally started taking shape.
So what is the Tiny House Project?
It allows Westminster College to develop a unique living and learning educational experience.
A team of Westminster students will help design and plan the building of the first Tiny House.
Ideally, they will construct the Tiny House through a community build, where students,
faculty, staff, community members, and alumni are able to support the building of the Tiny
House to the build, the donations, or other contributions.
Each student enrolled in a Tiny House-linked course will experience Tiny Living for approximately
one to two weeks.
Student learning objectives associated with Tiny Living will be meaningfully involved
into Tiny House-linked coursework.
This novel educational model, which incorporates Tiny Living into the student's academic experience,
will position Westminster College as a leader in sustainability education.
The past, present, and future come together on a five-acre plot of land.
The land is part of the historical biology experiment at the field station.
Reporter Brad Weaver takes on into the experiment as one of a young lady goes in search of a
project left nearly a dozen years ago.
Nicole Gardner is looking for something, something she left here eleven years ago.
I just remembered it, and I felt like it was symbolic of me growing.
She's one of scores of local people who planted trees here when they were in first grade.
I really wanted to see it, like to see how big it's gotten, like, me growing, like, in
a symbolic, weird way.
You want to know where your sibling came from, it came from Wisconsin.
Retired biology professor Clarence Harms witnessed Nicole's original visit.
He keeps lots of records, including pictures, digging through all the data over the past
dozen years, lets him figure out where to find the tree, and if it survived.
You have a live tree!
Okay.
Nicole's tree is a chestnut oak, one of many other trees growing in this historical ecology
experiment.
Nicole is searching these woods that are made up of oaks, maples, and elms, native species
that were growing here during the Revolutionary War, and the reason they knew what to plant
was based on data from property surveys in the 18th century.
Today, they track what's growing here using satellite technology.
This tree is about 15 feet tall, it could grow up to 80 feet, and if it does grow into
a mighty oak, then it will feed the data for Westminster's long-term science experiment,
tracking what happens to native trees over time.
Dr. Harms says the Microforest can teach lessons in science, history, geography, and even philosophy.
You own a tree, but you don't own a tree.
You own the air, but you really don't own the air.
Nicole says she will return to find her tree and may repeat her visits through the decades,
perhaps with her children and even her grandchildren.
In New Wellington, I'm Brad Weaver for WCN 24-7.
Up next, reporter Laura Page takes us into the dorms of Westminster College to meet the
girl who's getting national attention.
Your daughter just had her first breakup.
Do you A. put yourself in her shoes, B. console her, or C. find her a new boyfriend, face single
boys.
That was weird.
As a parent, there are no perfect answers, but you don't have to be perfect to be a
perfect parent.
Thousands of teens in foster care will love you just the same.
My heart doesn't see grace, love is love.
This is the moment I knew, his future had no boundaries.
There are some moments only the forest can inspire.
Find yours at discovertheforest.org.
With the Christmas season beginning, it means the end of the mini high school football seasons
as the state playoffs roll on.
Wilmington area high school football ends their season with a loss in the PIAA state
semifinals, falling 42-14 to Steel Valley.
The Greyhounds end the season with a 14-2 record, including a District 10 regional championship.
The team was led by senior Spencer DeMettle and Reese Bender with Terry Varelli at the
helm for the 39th season, picking up his 300th win in the process.
Congrats on a great season.
Dorm rooms are what you make of them, for some.
It's a place to sleep, for others, a place to wind down, or do homework.
Some students, however, treat dorm rooms as their own artistic sanctuaries.
Westminster student Laura Page shows us how some students take their dorm decorating to
a whole new level.
Meet Hope Radvinsky.
Her dorm room in Ferguson Hall is a warm, inviting oasis, and it's gone viral.
Her eye for design has previously caught attention from refinery29.com and Cosmo magazine's featured
snap story.
Recently, Hope got some exciting news from one of her favorite retailers.
This year, a picture of my new dorm room, like around my desk area, I posted that to
my Instagram, and Urban Outfitters actually reposted it, which I was really surprised
and thought was super awesome because I love Urban Outfitters.
This attention raises Hope from a dorm resident to a dorm designer.
She shared her top tip for students.
Less is more.
You don't want to over clutter your space, whether it be objects or decorations.
She uses simple photo collages.
Even printing stuff out from online, it always gives you something new to look at.
Her desk is minimalist, all giving the space a serene feel.
Meet Chris Israel.
He lives on the renovated floor of Shaw Hall, where he's an RA and gets the entire room
to show off his unique style.
He also shares his top tips for a dorm decor.
Get a plant.
Everybody needs a nice plant, and I think for a college student, a cactus or a succulent
would probably be your best bet because they are very low maintenance.
Chris likes rustic touches, DIY items, antiques, and natural elements.
So my aesthetic would be lakeside cabin mixed with beach house with farmhouse antiques.
Despite their differences in style, Chris and Hope can agree on one decor tip.
Getting a lamp is vital because whether it's a floor lamp or a desk lamp, you always need
some sort of lighting that is not that horrible fluorescent lighting.
Different options for lighting is a good idea, like twinkle lights are really in right now,
but I have like multiple different ones, and then I have bulb lights just because the
lighting in your room can definitely change the feel of the space.
Hope says less is more.
Bring in the natural light, but don't shy away from decorative ones.
Chris prefers to use various pieces, both old and new.
Use unique lighting and storage to make things interesting.
In New Wilmington, I'm Laura Page, WCN 24-7.
Parks Town restaurant lounge located in Union Township is family owned and family oriented.
Parks Town has a full bar and offers great food and live entertainment on Saturday evenings.
After a fire related incident in 2009, Parks Town was forced to rebuild and restart.
Connor Hamilton shows us how Parks Town is thriving once again and is a staple in the
Newcastle community.
Welcome to Parks Town.
It's a family owned restaurant and lounge in Union Township.
They have great food, the nicest workers and fun entertainment.
There's a pool table, dart board, and if you're in the mood to sing, karaoke.
Well, when we had the old place before it burned down, we had the Bowling Alley restaurant
lounge and we had a couple of banquet rooms.
So we had this building existing and we just remodeled it and turned it into the restaurant
and lounge.
And it just wasn't big enough for a banquet room, so we just went with what we had.
They went through some trouble years ago with the fire in the kitchen.
It burned down the Bowling Alley and the old building.
I arrived about 10.30 in the morning that morning.
I was just getting ready to unload my equipment when the cook, we had two cooks back here,
one making the sauce and she yelled that there was a fire.
Grabbed the fire extinguisher, tried to get to it but it was behind the filters, couldn't
get to the fire.
They got here and they tried to put the fire out which, as you can see, didn't succeed.
And after the fire, we went and borrowed money and had a contractor just renovate the whole
place from top to bottom and this is what we come up with.
Their plan worked pretty well because Parkstown Restaurant and Lounge is here and people of
all ages come to enjoy the food, friendship and entertainment.
It's not quite the same as when I was growing up, we were a country bar so we focused towards
the older age group but now I don't think we have a focus.
They had done some remodeling and are ready to take on anything.
We pride ourselves in trying to make it a family place.
So come down to Parkstown one weekend and you can have a good bite to eat and listen
to people sing their hearts out on karaoke.
I'm Connor Hamilton reporting for WCN 247.
The Wall Street Journal came out with their Times Higher Education college ranking.
Westminster College ranked within the top 25%.
Westminster achieved 248th out of 1,061 colleges across the country.
Within the Northeast region, 96 out of 305.
The Times Higher Education ranks the colleges based on four pillars, resources, engagement,
outcomes and environment.
Westminster's strongest pillar was engagement, which is the top 20% of ranked schools.
Up next, the Westminster grad collaborates with Nicholas Sparks on the soundtrack of
the author's upcoming book, Two by Two.
Can you help me with this?
My new dad teaches me all kinds of stuff.
Sure.
He helps me with homework.
That would be 3.675.
Thanks.
Yep.
He helps me with my decision making.
I wouldn't use this one.
Ever.
And he's even teaching me how to drive.
And that's why cars have bumpers.
I'm learning so much.
You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent.
Friends of kids in foster care will take you just as you are.
It's a short one.
It's a short ride from your neighborhood to your nature hood.
To find a neighborhood park or green space near you, visit discovertheforest.org.
Lawrence County's biggest employer teams up with Westminster College to launch a new
nursing program next fall.
The Westminster College School of Nursing begins its inaugural program in fall semester
of 2017 in a collaborative agreement with UPMC Jameson School of Nursing, this leading
to both a nursing diploma and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in the new four-year program.
UPMC Jameson collaborated with Westminster College to create another major for the students.
The new major being brought to the college is a Bachelor's in Nursing.
This program, though, is not designed for the students to take all their classes at the
college.
The way this program will work, a traditional high school age student will enter Westminster
College as a freshman, living on campus probably, and completing a pretty much traditional freshman
year.
The sophomore and junior years of the program will occur at Jameson Hospital School of Nursing.
At the completion of the junior year, the Westminster student will graduate from our
school, get a diploma, and be eligible to sit for NCLEX.
They will sit for their state boards and NCLEX between the junior and senior years in the
summer.
Once they pass, they return to Westminster, in a figurative sense, to finish the RN to
BSN program in their senior year in a live, full-time format.
The field of nursing is a growing industry, and UPMC Jameson students' exam pass rate
is above national level.
This gives Westminster students the best of both worlds.
It's not the first time that Westminster and Jameson have worked together successfully,
and I'm confident that what we're doing here is timely, it is important, and it's critical.
The first graduating class to walk across Old Main with a Bachelor's in Nursing will
be the class of 2021.
I'm Emily Westphal with WCN 247.
On December 3rd, Westminster Broadcasting Seniors, Dan Swank, Kalingersky, Dalton Sneddon,
Zach Hynes, and Connor Hamilton presented their capstone projects in Mueller Theater.
Viewers watched as the five students showcased their hard work over the past eight months.
Each student was handed the task of shooting, writing, and producing a documentary.
The students had the freedom to choose their own topics and share the stories to their
liking.
Zach Hynes produced Land of the Living Dead, a story about the town of Evans City and its
hidden zombie culture.
Connor Hamilton produced A Journey Down Academy Avenue, a story about a country club in Swickley,
Pennsylvania.
Kalingersky produced The Gift of Motherhood, the story of Kaling Fielder and her surrogacy
experience.
Dalton Sneddon produced What's Behind the Trees, and gave an inside look of Intu deforestation
in Costa Rica.
And Dan Swank produced Restripped, a tale of transformation and growth in one of Pittsburgh's
urban neighborhoods.
All documentaries are online and can be viewed on the Westminster Vigno account.
Westminster graduate J.D.
Eicher has been carving his name into the walls of the music industry for the last five years.
This summer, he caught arguably his biggest break to date when New York Times best-selling
anchor Nicholas Sparks handpicked Eicher to prove the soundtrack for a new novel.
2x2 WCN, 24-7's Dan Swank, shows us how the collaboration was sparked.
Little by little, singer-songwriter J.D.
Eicher is carving his name into the walls of the music industry.
Arguably his biggest accomplishment came in July when he caught word that he'd be responsible
for writing the soundtrack for New York Times best-selling author Nicholas Sparks' upcoming
novel 2x2.
Writing songs comes somewhat second-hand to Eicher, who has been touring full-time since
graduating from Westminster College in 2009.
I sat down with Eicher to discuss how the opportunity with Sparks was sparked.
The Nicholas Sparks thing kind of came about through a connection through our management.
We have a small record label that represents the band.
Nicholas Sparks was looking for someone to write a song for his soundtrack for his book.
So they got in touch with our label and said, can you send us some ideas, some artists?
And so we were lucky enough to be in that pool of artists and those selections and whatnot,
and they ended up selecting us from that group of people.
So it was really kind of a lucky thing.
There are plenty of artists and musicians that deserve this, and this was our lucky break.
You may recognize Nicholas Sparks from his previous works, Safe Haven, a walk to remember
and the notebook, which were all made into successful box office movies.
Last month, Eicher took a trip to Sparks' home in North Carolina to help promote the
book.
Hey, Nicholas Sparks here, kicking off the day with JD, an amazing songwriter who wrote
a beautiful song in support of my new book, 2x2.
We've got something exciting on the way, so stay tuned.
2x2 will be released on October 4th.
The soundtrack, which is made up of four of JD Eicher's original songs, will be available
for download on both Sparks' and Eicher's websites, free of charge until early December.
You can follow JD Eicher on Instagram and Twitter, and continue to watch his journey
towards stardom.
That's it for this edition of WCN 24-7.
Thanks for watching, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, recovering our campus
and our community.
