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When Western Carolina University alumna Kara McMullen stands on the wet stone of Salt Rock Gap, thousands of acres of chirping forest span before her, a sprawling network of trails buried just beneath.

Brett Riggs is heavily involved with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, so when the tribal librarian asked him to come to council to support a resolution for the library, no questions were asked.

“Impressive how we find Brazilians everywhere, right?” The words, spoken in Portuguese, broke Luca Brunetti’s concentration. He ended his phone call with his family and looked more closely at the young man standing before him.

Unearthing history is nothing new to Cherokee Language Program director and associate professor Sara Snyder Hopkins. Thanks to a federal grant, she and a group of colleagues will continue to do so.

Western Carolina University’s College of Engineering and Technology is expanding its engineering programs again this fall with the launch of a new bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a new industrial engineering concentration.

During her four years on the soccer field at Western Carolina University, Endye Frazier showed the kind of growth coaches love to see. Off the field, her work with the Special Olympics displayed the type of compassion everyone should seek to have.

As the son of two athletes, a lifetime career in athletics could have seemed defined for Onno Steger. His mother was an ice skater and his father played collegiate basketball. But, his parents never forced him to become an athlete. He found his own way into sports.

In this edition of Cat Chats, current football student-athlete Mike Murphy talks with former player Dan Brooks '76. Dan went on to coach at Tennessee and Clemson. He is also a member of the Catamount Club Board of Directors.

In this edition of Cat Chats, we talk with Curtis Roach and Clyde Simmons. Clyde played for the Catamounts in the 1983 National Championship game and was drafted in the ninth round by the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.

Mike Wade, a former two-time Academic All-American at Western Carolina University, will tell you that football is the greatest metaphor for life: to survive you have to get back up every time you get knocked down — and you will get knocked down, he insists, many, many times.