Monday, February 16, 2004

Wilmington, NC- Programming for the week of Feb. 23, UNCW Community Link, an interactive, public affairs television show speaks with Marita Bon, Heidi Belcher, and Tonya Boulware about the wonderful opportunities for interns in Wilmington. Dr. Earl Sheridan and Dr. Robert Smith are also featured this week to discuss the issue of neighborhood schools.

H.E. “Hunter” Thompson, Jr. sits down with Dr. Sheridan and Dr. Smith to discuss the problems that “neighborhood schools” may create. This month New Hanover County proposed a plan for neighborhood schools that has received harsh criticism. Segregation and racism within neighborhoods remain a big problem within the Wilmington school system. The original intent behind neighborhood schools was to prevent the students from being bussed very far, it is also intended to create a feeling of community among the parents and children.

The problem, according to both Sheridan and Smith, is that there is an uneven income and race distribution within the county, which culminates in the schools being racially isolated. According to Smith we can begin to solve the problems that neighborhood schools are creating by “opportunities for all, not just educational, and begin with breaking down stereotypes,” we need to strive to create an integrated community.

According to Sheridan what is really important for now is to “keep an open dialogue about the issues so we aren’t doomed to repeat them.”

Betty Ann Sanders speaks with Marita Bon, editor of wilma!, her intern Heidi Belcher, and Tonya Boulware, a wedding consultant at “A Carolina Wedding,” about the incredible opportunities that internships may create. Upon the first anniversary of wilma!, the women’s magazine is still growing. Wilma! has been so successful that they are in need of extra help. Internships are one way to provide this help. Interns at wilma! can perform various tasks from filling in when an extra column is needed to editing the work of others. Of her internship at wilma!, Heidi says she could not have asked for a more valuable experience, and it keeps getting better.

Tonya also works with a UNCW intern. Tonya says it is a good experience to have an intern because you actually end up learning a lot from them, it is a give and take relationship. Tonya’s intern has been on bridal consultations with her and has traveled to a wedding site in Bald Head Island. It has been an enriching experience for both women. Internships in Wilmington are helping to create a stronger link between the community and the university by connecting students to professionals; it is truly a win-win situation.

This week’s Editorially Yours segment is brought to you by UNCW’s Dr. Maurice Martinez.

UNCW Community Link reaches beyond the television studio to allow citizens to sound off on compelling issues facing Southeastern North Carolina. Hosts Sanders and Thompson engage and challenge the region’s newsmakers and opinion-shapers and then ask viewers to voice their opinions. Through collaboration with the Southeast Public Interest Network of North Carolina (www.SpinNC.org), citizens can use the latest Internet technologies to continue dialogue on show topics and community ideas. UNCW Community Link is brought to you in part by the following sponsors: Time Warner Cable, Wilmington Star-News and WHQR Public Radio.

For more information visit these web sites:

Wilma!

http://www.wwaytv3.com/Global/category.asp?C=34568

New Hanover County Schools

http://www.nhcs.k12.NC.us/schools.html

Tune into Community Link:

Wilmington & Brunswick County can tune in on The Learning Network, Time Warner Channel 5 and Charter Communications Channel 12 at 7 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays

Pender County can tune in on Government Channel 8 at 7 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays

Carteret County/ Havelock can tune in on Time Warner Channel 10 at 7 p.m. on Thursdays

Jacksonville can tune in on Time Warner Channel 10 at 7 p.m. on Thursdays