Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 2)

International Coffee Hour with UGA’s Arab Cultural Association

At International Coffee Hour, it’s more than just learning about culture. It’s about immersing yourself in someone’s environment.

“When it comes to coffee hour, really it’s to showcase all the different elements,” said Dylan Schell, one of the Arab Cultural Association’s Event Coordinators. “What I really like about events like this, is that you kind of get a little bit of a window into many different facets of a culture.”

The University of Georgia’s Arab Cultural Association hosted their coffee hour on Friday, Sept. 20. It was held in the Victor K. Wilson Ballroom in Memorial Hall. Between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., 268 students experienced vibrant parts of Arab culture.

“This is really one of my favorite events at UGA, because International Coffee Hour is probably one of the biggest events,” said Maggie Zou, the Senior Programming Coordinator for International Student Life at UGA. “We can get all the international students all together, and we can also attract all the domestic students as well.”

This event featured different aspects of Arab culture, including homemade food, a guessing game to place different Arab countries on a map, calligraphy, and scented items.

Dylan Schell helped create a vision for this event and followed through with the planned details.

Not only is geography important to understanding Arab culture, but so is food.

Soukaina Chaouki, a UGA grad student and ACA volunteer, explained the importance of connecting with the culture through this calligraphy, an important art form for Arab culture.

Having these items allows students to permanently have a reminder of learning about Arab culture.

She also explained the importance of scents and perfumes in Arab culture and history. Strong fragrances are used for rituals and welcoming guests into someone’s home.

With all of these ways to celebrate culture, students enjoyed their time engaging with a new experience.

UGA has been hosting International Coffee Hour for 52 years, and the most important part of these events has been bringing students together to immerse themselves in a new culture to create a strong community.

Skills I Used

I chose to highlight this story because I love featuring different aspects of International Student Life. International Coffee Hour is something that they host every Friday, and I always enjoy being able to go and participate. I think being able to write about such a unique organization and show different aspects of a culture is so interesting, and it has also helped me grow as a journalist. It was great to be able to take the photography skills I learned and be able to put it to use in this setting as well.

For the 2024-2025 academic year, I was a Fink Fellow within the Grady College’s Cox Institute for Journalism, Innovation, Management and Leadership. I covered monthly council meetings for the Town of North High Shoals. This opportunity allowed me to gain experience writing for a local publication and finding newsworthy elements to create a news story that informed the residents of the North High Shoals community. My goal with this news coverage was to have more hands-on practice with real-time reporting and learn how to work with tight deadlines to create interesting news coverage.

September 2024: Town of North High Shoals votes on the millage rate and sidewalks

November 2024: Town Council gets update on speed bumps

January 2025: North High Shoals to improve town park

February 2025: Town of North High Shoals to host a park workday

March 2025: North High Shoals citizens voice concerns over code enforcement

New Jobs, Higher Wages at the new Classic Center Arena

By Shweta Krishnan

Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz speaks to University of Georgia students and faculty on Dec. 1 in the Fine Arts Building Balcony Theater about the amenities in The Classic Center Arena. The arena is scheduled to open in 2024. (Photo/Shweta Krishnan)

The Classic Center Arena is expected to generate 600 jobs that will give Athens workers the opportunity to work at a higher wage per hour and provide overall economic growth to the city. This new facility, located in downtown Athens, holds up to 8,500 people, and it aims to draw people to Athens for sporting events, banquets and concerts. It will also be the home of the UGA Ice Dawgs, as well as a minor league team in the ECHL.

Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz discussed information regarding the economic prosperity the new venue will bring to Athens at a news conference on Friday held in the University of Georgia’s Fine Arts Building Balcony Theater.

He said, “We want to do everything we can to set a high bar and by paying classes that are employed themselves at $15.85 an hour.”

Mayor Girtz said that the service sector is not going away and ensures that the employees will be paid higher than the minimum wage in Georgia. The Athens-Clarke County government wants to push the floor to conform to the living wage calculator that Massachusetts Institute of Technology publishes every year, which is $16.29 in Athens-Clarke County.

Kelley Cantrell, an employee at DressUp, a women’s clothing store in Athens, said that she thinks the new arena will help their business in bringing more customers.

“I definitely think the new venue would help. It would be really nice to have more people come in,” said Cantrell.

Not only will there be personal benefits for individuals that work at the new venue, but The Classic Center Arena is projected to bring in approximately $30 million in revenue.

Mayor Girtz attributes this future financial success to the venue’s strategic location, providing opportunities for pre- and post-show activities, including dining, drinking and entertainment. 

Additionally, he said that the arena’s appeal will extend beyond Athens, drawing people from nearby cities like Atlanta, Greenville, Charlotte, Hartwell and Elberton.

Tourism will also be generated through the Georgia Music Hall of Fame collection, providing education on Georgia’s local music history through an interactive experience. Planners expect that it will attract approximately 400,000 annual visitors from Georgia and surrounding states leading to more tourism and overall revenue.

The mayor said these projects, often discussed in isolation, have effects throughout different sectors of the community, ensuring sustained benefits for years to come. 

Topics: The Classic Center Arena, higher wage, revenue

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Why I Wrote the Story:

This was one of the first stories I wrote as a journalism student. I wrote this story to cover the new Classic Center Arena that is currently being constructed in Athens. At the time, there were not many stories written to cover this arena because of the lack of news outlets in Athens. I chose to write this story from the angle on the positive impact it will bring to the community with the increase in the number of jobs and the amount of total revenue.

By Shweta Krishnan

Athens, GA — The Georgia Disability History Alliance hosts the Georgia Disability History Symposium on Tuesday, Oct. 3 from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. after a three-year hiatus because of the pandemic. The event will be held at the University of Georgia Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Libraries Building.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 passed 50 years ago, marking a significant milestone in the movement for disabled people. This legislation guarantees that “any entity that got money from the federal government can’t discriminate against someone with a disability,” said Joe Shapiro, NPR News Investigative Correspondent.

The symposium will focus on the history of disabilities and underscore its ongoing role as a civil rights movement with the passing of Section 504.

“Most Americans, many people with disabilities, have already realized that their issues were really issues of rights, not the healthcare,” Shapiro said.

Keynote speaker Joe Shapiro will talk about how people with disabilities end up in nursing homes when they don’t need to be. The Children’s Freedom Initiative of the Georgia Advocacy Office aims to showcase alternative living arrangements for people with disabilities, including adult foster care, group homes and personal assistance.

The Athens community addresses disabilities through the Destination Dawgs program. The program was created in spring 2017 in attribution to Gillian Grable, Community Outreach Coordinator at UGA Institute on Human Development and Disability. The organization is a “post-secondary program for students of intellectual disabilities,” said Grable.

Grable also works with the Athens Transit Authority to provide a completely accessible automated transportation system. “It’s feasible, but your ridership is sitting at home, waiting, and your ridership doesn’t know what’s possible because they’ve never seen the on-demand accessible transportation,” she said.

Registration for the symposium can be found on the event website.

Key words: disability, disability history, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

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Why I Wrote the Story:

This was the first story I wrote as a journalism student. I had the opportunity to cover this event as a part of the diversity, equity, and inclusion beat. The Georgia Disability History Symposium is an annual event, held to showcase the history of disabilities and the improvements that have been made since the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act 50 years ago.