Regional media chronicles start of fall quarter at CWU

It’s been a busy start to the fall quarter for CWU in the regional news media.

Just in the past two weeks, Central has been featured in three TV spots on Apple Valley News Now out of the Tri-Cities.

Reporter Rylee Fitzgerald paid a visit to campus September 15 to cover Move-In Weekend, and left with two more notable updates on the Health Education Project/Nicholson Pavilion renovation and the new Art History degree announced this spring.

• The first story about Move-In Weekend aired September 18, and featured Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life Tricia Rabel, along with the Movers and Shakers student team.
• The second spot about the Nicholson Pavilion renovation project, aired the following day and featured an interview with Director of Athletics Dennis Francois. He talked about how the upgraded facility will add prominence to the Athletics department and CWU as a whole: “The impact it's going to have on our program is going to be immense, and the arena itself, you've got two video boards in there and ribbon boards and expanded the seating to about 3,013,” Francois said.
• Fitzgerald completed her CWU trifecta on September 20 with a story about CWU’s newest bachelor’s degree program in Art History. She interviewed Professor Erika Pazian and senior Ivy Shearer, who will be one of the program’s first graduates this spring.

Yakima Herald-Republic reporter Santiago Ochoa also was on campus recently to talk about the start of fall quarter and the Nicholson Pavilion and Purser Hall renovations. His story was published September 22 and included interviews with Francois and new ASCWU President Malik Cantu, along with some students Ochoa met on campus during his visit.

Cantu is a native of Granger, located about 25 miles south of Yakima on U.S. Highway 97. He shared his excitement about the Multicultural Center that received funding from the state Legislature earlier this year.

“We already have a pre-design all put together and the hope is to have construction started in fall 2025,” Cantu said in the story. “I hope I can just get more students involved and engaged in the conversation. This is going to be a center for students so I want as much of their input as possible into what the center will look like.”

Meanwhile, Ellensburg’s local newspaper, The Daily Record, shared an account about the CWU Marching Band, led by Dr. T Andre Feagin. Reporter Noah Wright—a 2023 Central graduate—wrote the piece that talked about the marching band’s presence at the CWU football games.

“I’m a firm believer that we need to practice everything,” Feagin said. “Practice how we get places, how we leave places, what it looks like, and what it feels like to simulate the environment as close as we can.”