This week: Haley Brown ’25 is one of about 150 of Radford's newest nursing graduates; CoWorks@The Hub now offers downtown office spaces; find out which Highlanders recently won scholarships; and take a last look back at Spring Commencement 2025.
Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. In this column, we highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
Loyal endeavors
Virginia currently employs approximately 58,000 registered nurses against a demand for about 83,000 – a need that’s expected to expand still more by nearly 5,000 positions over the next five years, according to a May 20 report by Roanoke’s WSLS-TV.
That’s a significant employment challenge, but across the commonwealth, many are stepping forward to take on those jobs, including some 148 graduates of Radford University’s latest nursing class.
WSLS’s story featured one of those grads, Haley Brown ’25, on her way to joining a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Roanoke.
Brown told the station she wasn’t daunted by the ongoing shortages in her field: “I always knew that I wanted to be a nurse. It was like I never thought of anything else, so it drove me harder.”
The story also notes that Radford is due to receive additional funding to support nursing students, part of more than a dozen bills supported by the Virginia Nurses Association.
Office supplied
Last week, we let you know about Radford's latest facility – CoWorks@The Hub.
Among countless other amenities, CoWorks@The Hub offers its patrons private offices and desk spaces, conference rooms, high-speed internet, printing capabilities, kitchen access and, of course, the fuel that drives most progress: coffee.
CoWorks is located downtown, within The HUB at Radford University, and provides member access seven days a week, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The workspace recently got virtual tours via WFXR-TV and a spot on WSLS and appeared in stories posted on Yahoo.com as well as at Cardinal News.
Lateral support
Each year since 2002, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley (CRNRV) has presented dozens of scholarships annually to students who are either from the area or studying locally. Those awards are funded by families, individuals and businesses, and this year, the CRNRV handed about $170,000 worth of awards to some 93 scholars, six of whom are from Radford University.
The Highlanders and their awards include:
- Kylie Douthat: $1,850 from the Auxiliary of Radford Community Hospital/CNRVMC
- Silas Ocampo: $1,000 from the Williamsburg Consort Symphonic Band Scholarship
- Kailin Phillips: $2,000 from the Juanita Shelor Hall Memorial Scholarship
- Kasey Rosenbaum: $600 from the Teel Family Scholarship
- Owen Saunders: $1,370 from the Warren Lloyd Holtzman Freedom Scholarship
- Kaitlyn Steele: $2,000 from the Josephine D. Shotts Memorial Scholarship
“The talent and intelligence of our scholarship recipients, the support they receive from friends and family, the incredible generosity of our donors and the unique character of the New River Valley, all of these remain certain,” CRNRV Chief Executive Officer Jessica Wirgau said in a story that ran in The Pulaski County Patriot. “The future of the NRV is limitless with these scholarship recipients, and we are grateful to be a part of their journey.”
The CFNRV’s scholarship application opens online each October at cfnrv.org/scholarships.
Also: On May 17, five local students received $5,000 awards through the Smith Mountain American Association University Women scholarship – and one of those winners was Sarah Gillespie, a sophomore from Franklin County who’s majoring in finance.
“The scholarship committee honored these women from our tri-county area as they continue studies in their chosen fields,” a May 23 story in the Smith Mountain Eagle (Moneta, Virginia) said.
Also: Sophomore Miah Leadbetter, a management major from Lexington, Virginia, is this year’s recipient of a scholarship from the Reeves-Whitehurst Fund at Oxford Presbyterian Church in Rockbridge County.
A May 21 article in the Lexington News-Gazette said Leadbetter “enjoys the variety of courses available to her at Radford and loves the many new friends and contacts she has made. … She is ambitious and wants to accelerate her studies and graduate after just two more years.”
Since 1995, Oxford Church has provided scholarships to more than three dozen students. The fund was created by former teacher Elizabeth Whitehurst with the goal of helping young people attend college; it was expanded in 1999 by educator John H. Reeves, according to the News-Gazette.
Lastly, in a May 29 post on social media site X, the Virginia Sheriffs' Association announced that senior Zoe Alderson, a criminal justice major, had received a $1,000 scholarship from the Virginia Sheriffs' Institute.
The post also said Alderson will begin an internship this summer with the Danville City Sheriff's Office.
In closing ...
Spring Commencement 2025, held May 9 and 10, is now consigned to the books, but here's an in-depth overview of Radford’s graduation events.
Local newspapers also offered coverage, including the Pulaski County Patriot and the Smith Mountain Eagle, while WDBJ-7 spent some time with two graduates who share more than just an alumni bond – they're father and son Donald Tinsley ’25 and Brandon Williams ’25, who undertook and completed Radford University Carilion's respiratory therapy program. They were also the subjects of a Radford graduate profile on May 9.
