The show brings together a wide array of artwork across media and includes four categories: painting/drawing; printmaking/mixed media; photography and digital media; and sculpture, ceramics and jewelry/fibers. Most of the pieces are generated from original ideas and created by individual students.

Scott McMahon, assistant professor of art at Columbia College and the director of the gallery, said this is one of the largest high school art shows to date. Last year, they received around 130 entries.

“The works kept coming, even after the deadline,” McMahon said. “It is a pretty even show across media with a good balance of material, technique and subject matter.”

Emma Rynkewicz, a student at Hickman, contributed a graphite, pen and ink piece that depicts two abstracted mannequins. She named it “Distorted.”

“I was playing with the idea of the distorted realities,” she said. “I like the appearance of cracked mannequin.”

Traci Bolda is her art teacher at Hickman.

“Even though I am the teacher that gives the assignments and guides the process, I am always impressed with the results and the hard work that my students put into,” Bolda said.

Hickman has participated in this show for several years. After receiving information about the show from the college, Bolda talked about the event in class and encouraged students to participate. Hickman teachers also helped collect works, temporarily frame the 2-D entries and transport them to the college.

She and other art teachers are planning to walk their classes to the gallery.

“This show gives the kids a chance to see their arts in a professional setting, which they may not otherwise at this time in their lives,” Bolda said. “And it shows the kids what other high schools’ students are doing at the same time.”

McMahon said that this exhibition gives the students the experience of seeing their work finished and nicely presented in a gallery setting. “They can step back and look at what they created and feel proud about it,” he said.

After teaching art for 17 years, Bolda believes that art is an essential part of life. “We are teaching them that there are multiple solutions to the same problem; we are teaching them to take risks,” she said.

Students are also motivated by the recognition they could receive in the art community as well as financial support the college provides to the winners of each category. Awards include cash prizes, grants and tuition assistance for an intensive art program during the summer.

“A couple of students currently attend the college that were in previous high school art shows and summer art intensive programs,” McMahon said.

The closing reception will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Sidney Larson Gallery. Awards for the four categories will be announced at that time.

McMahon said that the art faculty at Columbia College will go through the exhibition and select winners based on demonstrated excellence in technique and creativity.

“It is not an easy task,” McMahon said. “There are so many good works there.”

This story is published on Columbia Missourian, a local newspaper.

“I was coaching my boys when I saw on my phone that she is going to resign,” Stewart said.

Stewart, 35, is the Hickman High School freshman basketball head coach. He is also a substitute teacher for Columbia Public Schools and a pastor for North Street United Methodist Church in Marshall and Elmwood United Methodist Church in Elmwood.

Stewart has a passion for youth and for equality for minorities. He believes that “education and communication are the beginnings of every change.”

“I love teaching,” he said. “I love the look on kids’ faces when they finally get something. I enjoy seeing kids improve, not just in grades, but in how they treat each other.”

But Stewart is concerned that some minority youth might have the mindset that they are not good enough to be leaders with few examples of minority leadership around them. He pointed out that the minority representation of students in the Columbia district is greater than that of classroom teachers.

Stewart said his world opened up when he saw Cleaver working in a leadership position.

“He had that much of an impact on me,” Stewart said. “I could imagine what it can do for an 8-year-old kid in a minority position.”

Stewart grew up in Columbia and got his undergraduate degree at MU in middle school math and social studies in 2003. He also played basketball for MU from 2002 to 2003.

After working in Kansas City and pursuing a four-year master’s degree in divinity at Saint Paul School of Theology, he came back to Columbia in 2012.

Stewart has been an active member of the Human Services Commission and the Kiwanis Club, a global volunteer organization. He said his experience on the commission made him realize the importance of effective communication.

“We can get things done if we communicate correctly and effectively — really listen to people, regardless what they look like, regardless of what stereotypes society puts on people, just listen to them first,” he said.

Growing up in Columbia and living in the First Ward helped him become who he is and accomplish his goals, Stewart said.

“I am very thankful for those people,” he said. “I think this is the best place for me to help others. This is just a way of giving back.”

A special election to replace Chadwick will take place on April. 7. Stewart is in the process of collecting signatures of support to file a petition of candidacy.

This story is published on Columbia Missourian, a Columbia local newspaper.

The city provides the bags for free. In a few neighborhoods, residents put their recyclables in plastic bins.

“We need a new system,” Glascock said. “We need something better than what we have.”

Roll carts also would allow a “pay as you throw” system in monthly bills that would rise with the amount of trash discarded. City staff is proposing the city offer three sizes of roll carts with a monthly charge of $15 to $20, depending on the size of cart a resident wants.

The proposal calls for continuing to offer trash bags as a premium service that would cost more. The city would charge a base rate of $12.50 per month, plus $1.50 per bag.

Public Works Department spokesman Steven Sapp said all of those charges are good estimates but remain subject to approval by the council.

Officials at the Jan. 5 meeting emphasized the automated system’s potential for increasing the city’s recycling rate. According to the presentation, Columbia’s diversion rate — the percentage of refuse that does not go to the landfill — is 17 percent. That’s half the national average.

Roll carts also would be expected to bring down employee turnover in the Solid Waste Division, which is now 68 percent. The city’s overall turnover rate is 8 percent.

“Nobody wants to do that type of work anymore,” Sapp said of trash collection.

Sapp noted that the job is labor intensive work, requiring employees to pick up 900 or more trash bags per day, regardless of the weather, for $10.75 to $12.75 per hour. Twenty-six employees are needed to cover all residential pickup routes. The city is short employees now.

Glascock described the job as dangerous, noting there have been fatalities, serious injuries and numerous minor injuries. Research indicates that workers’ compensation claims drop when automated systems are adopted.

Sapp said trash collectors would be put to work at the city recycling facility if an automated system is adopted.

“Our intention is not to lay any current employee off,” Sapp said.

A timetable proposed at the meeting shows the city moving toward an automated system by October 2017, when it would order carts and required equipment. It would expand the city recycling facility in fiscal 2018 and could have a roll cart system fully operational by fiscal 2019.

“We would not need to replace trucks to be able to handle automated collection,” Sapp said. The department plans to mount Curotto-Can attachments, at a cost of $35,000 to $40,000 apiece, on the front of existing trash trucks.

Over the long term, the reduction in workers’ compensation claims and other savings would offset the cost of adapting the trucks and buying and distributing carts, Sapp said.

“There is a capital outlay first, and then it has a return on the investment that helps pay for that,” he said.

City staff plans to launch a community “trash talk” over the next several months. It plans meetings in each of the city’s six wards from the middle of February through early May, along with one or two Saturday forums for those who can’t attend the ward meetings.

Sapp said the intent is to have a conversation through which the city can learn more about residents’ concerns.

“We’re not trying to tell people what type of collection method they must choose,” Sapp said. “We are trying to offer options. We do need our customers to understand the difficulties we are having delivering the current service. We’re looking forward to a two-way conversation with our customers at the ward meetings and forums.”

Switching to roll carts was proposed and heavily discussed in 2012, but many residents talked. They complained about potential employee layoffs and about the inconvenience and ugliness of the carts.

Chuck Headley, a member of the Solid Waste Action Group, remains opposed to roll carts.

“We would really like to have a public hearing, and we would like to talk about our issues, make our presentations and ask a few questions,” he said.

Columbia resident Richard Shanker said the city is trying to sell the idea of roll carts.

“This time they are using the recycling aspect to get it pushed through,” he said. “The presentation gave us both good information and inaccurate information; I just thought that it is going (the) wrong way.”