Fire in the hole: UA’s Rose Towers implodes on schedule (photos, video)
Al.com – July 4
This morning, 400 pounds of strategically placed explosives brought Rose Towers, a landmark standing tall on the University of Alabama campus for 43 years, tumbling into a dusty 50,000-ton pile of debris. About 1,000 gathered to watch the 13-story building on the north edge of the UA campus come down at 8 a.m. “Obviously this is a momentous day for the university,” said Steven Hood, executive director of housing at UA. “Rose Towers has been a landmark part of our campus. But it does mark a new change, a new day for this university.” It will take about two months, and 2,500 truckloads, to clear the site for construction of the second phase of the Presidential Village, two- and four-bedroom suite-style student housing.
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Many University of Alabama memories raised with Rose Towers’ fall
Birmingham News – July 4
This morning 400 pounds of strategically placed explosives will send Rose Towers, a landmark standing tall on the University of Alabama campus for 43 years, tumbling into a dusty 50,000-ton pile of debris. But for many of the thousands of university students and faculty who once lived in the 13-story campus apartments, the memories — from the humorous to the poignant and the romantic to the smelly — will linger. “We had a lot of good people and a lot of fun people on our hall. … It’s going to be definitely bittersweet,” said Austin Gaddis, of Scottsboro, who lived on the third floor of Rose Towers the fall semester of his freshman year in 2009. He graduates in May.
Process to evaluate schools chief: UA will help city school system grade
Tuscaloosa News – July 4
The Tuscaloosa City School System will work with the University of Alabama’s College of Education to formulate and conduct the superintendent’s evaluation this year. The annual evaluation will be the first for Superintendent Paul McKendrick, who was hired in 2011. The evaluation will be a multi-phase process that will include quantitative and qualitative research methods, according to a description from Jamie Mills, associate professor of statistical methods at the University of Alabama. McKendrick will be graded on scaled items, using descriptions including “excellent,” “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory.” A section for the evaluation will also include an area for comments. The report will take about 20 hours and cost the school system $2,000, which was approved by the Tuscaloosa City School Board during its meeting Tuesday morning. The evaluation should be done by the end of July.
Growing leadership in the state
Anniston Star – July 5
A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see not only some of the history that has been made in Alabama, but I was challenged to change it. I was one of 560 rising high school seniors selected to go to the 75th annual Boys State convention on the campus of the University of Alabama. First things first, I was directed to a room full of boys in red shirts. The energy I felt as I walked down the hallway was unlike any other leadership conference I had attended. High-fives and shouts of encouragement greeted me as I made my way to my room with my luggage. I became a member of the city of Hayes, one of eight cities named after the many men who have influenced Boys State since its first program in 1937. . . . Alex McFry is a rising senior at White Plains High School. In May, he was awarded an honorable mention in C-SPAN’s national 2012 StudentCam competition, for a documentary he made called “Back to the Basics.”