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Pomeroy School District hasn’t had a music teacher for nearly four years

In June 2020, Marcus Pederson retired from his 35-year career of teaching band at the Pomeroy School District. Since then, the only district in Washington’s least populous county has been unable to hire a replacement. The reasons are unclear, but could have to do with the smaller district’s ability to offer a competitive salary, pressures on young music teachers or the challenge of recruiting teachers to rural schools.

Martin King, professor of music education at Washington State University, said WSU encourages its graduating students to apply for open jobs like this.

“It is always a concern that if a position like this goes unfilled, eventually the program may be cut,” King said. “We do not want that outcome.” From his perspective, rural schools face challenges in hiring specialists that they may not have in filling other faculty positions.

Part of it is a numbers game. King said there are more open music educator jobs in Washington than qualified teachers.

The majority of music students come from more populous areas, and these students are more likely to want to return to these areas to teach. They may feel uncomfortable moving to a rural town or teaching at a smaller school.

Read the full story:
The Spokesman-Review

Uncovering Ancient Maya

In the third episode of season three, Mae and Alyssa interview Dr. Rachel Horowitz, assistant professor of anthropology at Washington State University.

Listen in as Dr. Horowitz discusses how Classic Maya communities in Belize made and used chert stone tools, and what analyzing tool production processes can tell us about the ancient economy. Alyssa, Mae, and Dr. Horowitz discuss the broader socio-economic implications of chert quarrying and production and what stone tools can tell us about rituals related to the underworld.

Available online:
Soundcloud

Does using weed make you a nicer person? Results may vary.

Some people may turn to weed for anxiety, sleep and creativity. New research suggests it could also make you a nicer person.

The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, suggests there could be a connection between cannabis use and empathy.

A study of 85 regular cannabis users and 51 nonusers asked participants to complete a test that measures empathy. Researchers also used brain imaging to study some of the subjects, analyzing a region of the brain that plays a central role in mediating the empathic response.

The recent research shows an association between cannabis use and empathy, but doesn’t prove cause and effect, said Carrie Cuttler, a psychology professor at Washington State University.

“We have no idea if it’s that the people who are more empathetic to begin with are more likely to use cannabis,” Cuttler said.

Or there may be another reason such as “a personality trait or difference in lived experience, that is driving people to be interested in using cannabis and have higher empathy as well,” Cuttler said. “There’s not enough evidence to convince me yet that the cannabis is causing them to be more empathetic.”

Read the full story:
The Washington Post
MSN.com
Benzinga.com

Pullman student helps bring linguistics event to WSU

Washington State University’s Pullman campus is a host site for the initial round of this year’s North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition.

As part of the annual contest, high school students from around the country use their logic skills to work through complex linguistics puzzles, often centered on decoding ciphers. Students who do well in the open round are then eligible to compete in the International Linguistics Olympiad against students from around the world.

A lifelong fascination with languages and puzzle-solving sparked Georgia Colvig’s interest in NACLO. However, the University of Washington was previously the nearest competition site, and the Pullman High School junior was concerned about traveling all the way to Seattle in the middle of winter.

“I thought it would be cool if people in the area who might not be able to travel to UW could participate too,” Colvig said.

She reached out to Nancy Bell, a linguistics professor at WSU Pullman, to see if the university would provide the space to host the opening round of NACLO.

“This is the sort of thing we love doing,” Bell said, noting that WSU’s Department of English has within it a linguistics major program.

Read the full story:
Daily News
WSU Insider

WSU students lobby state legislature

Eighty-one WSU students from the Pullman, Global, Tri-Cities and Vancouver campuses traveled to the Washington State Capitol in Olympia to lobby in front of Washington State’s legislature Monday.

The students were led by Collin Bannister, ASWSU legislative affairs director and second-year philosophy and political science pre-law major. After training consistently throughout the semester, the team met with legislators, the Secretary of State and the Washington State Treasurer to discuss the upcoming 60-day voting session.

“Washington State’s budget operates in a biennium. At the start of each Biennium, it is called a budget year which is where they allocate funding. That was in 2023,” Bannister said. “Now in 2024, we have entered the second half of the biennium which is referred to as a short session. There are fewer days to pass policy and generally a lot less money.”

Students were broken into groups of four and five on the morning of Jan. 22. Each group was assigned a handful of legislators or their legal assistants to talk to throughout the day. The students were able to get feedback and answer questions from the legislators concerning the bills.

Read the full story:
The Daily Evergreen