Ceillie Simkiss's Archive

About Ceillie Simkiss

Ceillie Simkiss is a senior at Western Carolina University in the Communications program focusing on Journalism, with a minor in art. Currently enrolled in Features and Magazine Writing, she works as Editor-in-Chief for The Western Carolina Journalist. She also works for the Western Carolinian as a Photographer and News Designer. She can be found on Facebook (Ceillie Simkiss), Twitter (@CandidCeillie) and LinkedIn (Ceillie Simkiss).

Stop Legislating Hate, North Carolina!

This post was previously published on CandidCeillie, Ceillie Simkiss’s personal blog. I am disappointed and disgusted with my state this week. For those of you who don’t know, North Carolina’s General Assembly wasted $42,000 yesterday calling a special session in order to pass an “anti-discrimination bill” that gives homophobes and transphobes the ability to be […]

The problems with standardized testing in WNC schools

Testing is something that has brought students together in recent years, especially as more and more emphasis is put on students’ end of grade test scores, not only for the students but for the schools as well. Students like the 4th grader Sara Rusi struggle with the environment of testing in the classroom. As she described […]

Effects of poverty on WNC children’s education

“Growing up in a family living in poverty or near poverty negatively impacts a child’s health throughout his or her life,” according to NCChild’s 2014 Child Health Report Card. In the same report it also says that “education and health outcomes are also tightly intertwined; success in school and the number of years of schooling impact health […]

Why we should be more critical of popular media

  The millennial generation has grown up with our identities being tied up in our favorite pop culture things. I, for example, have always been extremely bookish, but other people I grew up with are movie or TV buffs or gamers. We all have our own beliefs that we ascribe to, and that shows a […]

Volunteering brings new hope, options for Haywood homeless

Everyone who volunteers has a different reason for doing so, whether it’s to get credit for it in a class or because they believe in the organization that they’re volunteering for, but the reason that they volunteer doesn’t really matter in the end. What matters is that they are there and doing what needs to […]

UNC Board of Governors to meet at WCU in September

From the Office of Public Relations The University of North Carolina Board of Governors will hold its September meeting on the Western Carolina University campus in conjunction with the 125th anniversary of the founding of the institution that became WCU. Western Carolina Chancellor David O. Belcher announced the pending visit of the Board of Governors […]