Maryville StoryCast

Stan Skelton is a 2022 online graduate from San Jose, CA. He graduated Maryville with his degree in business administration at the age of 83. His 60+ year college journey is one for the ages! And his May 2022 visit to campus and commencement was so impactful, we still receive feedback from new online students that he inspired them to go back to school and finish their degrees. Stan, you are amazin...

Amanda Golic studies criminal justice and criminology at Maryville. She and her family are from Bosnia, having left the war behind decades ago to start a new life in Florida. Her family’s story is harrowing and inspiring, and we loved hearing of her parents’ dreams of earning a college degree, and how Amanda is living that dream on their behalf.

Goat Day was practically a Maryville national holiday back in the 2010s, a demonstration project designed to show our students different ecologically sustainable methods for controlling the growth of the invasive honeysuckle plant. Kyra Krakos, PhD, professor of biology, hates invasive species and we have quite a bit of honeysuckle on campus. Goats like to eat honeysuckle; hence, Goat Day was born...

Mike Bernier is a 2022 graduate of Maryville's online data science program. Mike was a nontraditional student, finishing his undergraduate degree over 40 years after starting it. In this episode, Mike reveals the everyday reasons he left college and his poignant motivation for returning to school. We are so happy Mike chose Maryville, and we thank him for sharing his heartwarming story.

Reed Huskey is a Spring 2023 graduate of Maryville's cyber security program. He landed a job with a Fortune 100 company well before graduation, and the story of how he pulled that off is a great lesson on what getting involved can mean for students at Maryville.

Maryville English professor Jesse Kavadlo has a deep love of rock and roll, so much so that, from an early age, he just assumed he’d be a rock star. Well, those dreams didn’t 100% come true, but he incorporates his rock roots in the classroom in such cool ways. And if you don't know about his band Top Gunz, you need to know! It's all in this episode of the Maryville StoryCast.

How did Joanna Serenko, a rising senior in our nursing program, land a coveted spot on the TV show The Voice? And did Nick Jonas, John Legend, and Blake Shelton really fight over her? Have a listen to this soulful episode of the Maryville StoryCast for all the details. NOTE: Stay till the end for a song from Joanna's latest album, "Best of Me," which you can find on Spotify or Apple...

Hawo Ismail is a rising sophomore in our nursing program. One of her first-year classes involved an assignment called “out-of-box experience” designed to get her to try something she's never tried before. Perhaps something that would push her out of her comfort zone. What she did next shocked everyone, including her!

Ty'John Barnes is a Maryville University Cyber Security student who dreamed of attending college but wasn't sure he was going to get the opportunity. Family finances were always an issue, and he didn't want to stress out his mother. Fortunately he had her and other people supporting and encouraging him, and he secured the necessary scholarships and found his way to Maryville. He is the...

Maryville's undergraduate Communication program has a pivotal end-of-year final assignment - the Senior Portfolio Defense. Our graduating students share with visiting patrons the best work they've done over their four years at Maryville, and while there are some nerve-wracking moments for them, the exercise is an important rite of passage with lessons learned. In this episode of the Maryvi...

Patrick Fette is a Maryville Online graduate student from Louisville, KY. And he has a better mustache than you. In fact, he's a four-time world champion! What does it take to win in the competitive world of mustache growing? Patrick gives us all the details in this episode of the StoryCast.

Joey Abeles serves as Maryville's Hillel Manager within the Office of Service and Spiritual Life. Our chapter is part of Hillel International, the world’s largest and most inclusive Jewish campus organization. Joey also runs a training for Maryville students called Resetting the Table that's designed to foster dialogue and deliberation across differences. He shares a story of what's po...

Bruce and Hannah Ha are 6th-year PT students who met freshman year, attended classes together, but finally caught each other's eye senior year (and the rest is history). Bruce also discusses being away from home in Vietnam for over eight years and the sacrifices his mom and dad made to give him a better life.

Kirstan Riddle and Ethan Weeks are history majors at Maryville and secured amazing internships at the St. Louis Science Center. Their supervisor, Kristina Hampton, is a Maryville alumna and is proud to provide our students a rich, real-world learning experience at the Science Center's off-site storage facility.

Scott Angus, Director of Maryville's Photography and Digital Art Programs and Associate Professor of Art and Digital Photography in our College of Arts and Sciences, shares thoughts about his iPad Digital World Exploratory course in which students explore St. Louis with iPads in tow. What are the learning takeaways from this experiential learning course? Listen and learn!

Mike Denney has been Maryville University's wrestling coach since 2011. His experience spans 54 years and and he ranks as one of Division II’s greatest wrestling coaches, a multiple national champion, and one of the most prominent figures in the history of the sport. In this episode of the Maryville StoryCast, he tells a stressful story with a happy ending - how he started the wrestling progra...

Jason Williams, EdD, Assistant Dean for the Simon School of Business, Director of the Rawlings Sport Business Management Program, and Associate Professor of Sport Business Management at Maryville University, shares thoughts on the 10th anniversary of our partnership with Rawlings Sporting Goods. Maryville's Rawlings Sport Business Management program remains the only named and sponsored Sport B...

Maryville students Emma Siegfried and Peyton Dietz share the story of an assignment they tackled in their Biology class. Their task was to recreate an 18th century medicinal recipe and, well, let's just say it involved some unorthodox ingredients!

Maryville alumnus Tommy Henry shares his story of overcoming a rare neurodegenerative disorder to make amazing art.

In this inaugural episode of the Maryville StoryCast, we are joined by Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, President of Harris-Stowe State University. Dr. Collins Smith is a Maryville alum and shares the story of how she first arrived at Harris-Stowe many years ago. Hint: another Maryville alum had a lot to do with it! Now in her 11th position at the university, she is the first African-American female pre...