By MATT PHELPS Bothell Reporter Regional Assistant Editor December 31, 2012 11:12 AM

The melody from Over the Rainbow echoed through the parking lot of Bothell High School Friday evening as many wept and held candles for a local family. The outpouring of emotional support was palpable, as nearly 300 people showed up at the vigil to show support for the Owen family of Bothell.

I dont know what Id do without you guys. You guys have been my rock, my foundation, Jeremy Mathias Owen, 22, told the crowd.

His adoptive parents Timothy Desmond Owen, 58, and Cheryl Janine Reed, 56, were killed Dec. 21 during an accident on Highway 2. Timothy Owen was driving a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban eastbound, about 21 miles west of Leavenworth on Stevens Pass, when a tree fell on the vehicle at approximately 1:20 p.m., according to the Washington State Patrol.

Both Timothy and Cheryl were pronounced dead at the scene.

Jeremy had a message for his parents: I am going to take care of my sisters. Dad and Mom, I am going to make it. Im gonna make it for you only. I love you so much.

The couples three adult children and son-in-law, who were pedestrians in the vehicle, were all injured.

The Owens children, Jamie Owen Mayer, 24, and Jessica Janine Owen, 27, along with their son-in-law Steven T. Mayer, 24, are still at Harborview Medical Center with various injuries.

Jeremy Owen was the only family member to be released from medical care.

Posters and cards for each family member were signed by those at the vigil. Many in attendance knew the Owens through their church, community sports and other community events and organizations. A jazz choir, made up of 2003 Bothell High School alumni, sang and a minister led the crowd in prayer for the family.

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Outpouring of emotions during vigil at BHS for family injured on Highway 2

For the second year, Mountain State University students, staff, faculty, alumni and the community as a whole have been taken on a roller coaster ride of loss, grief, anger, worry, uncertainty and relief as the university prepared to shut its doors.

The community begins 2013 welcoming University of Charlestons Beckley campus and bidding farewell to the nearly 80-year presence of Beckley College, College of West Virginia and Mountain State University.

But the face of higher education in Beckley differs vastly today from just a year ago. At its height, Mountain State University enrolled 8,200 each semester, but only 1,100 students remained across the schools campuses in Fall 2012, the semester following its accreditation withdrawal.

2012 began with swift changes as the MSU Board of Trustees quickly took the helm of the schools sinking nursing program and fired former president Charles H. Polk in January.

Later Polk would be named in many lawsuits that asserted his winner takes all leadership style in part led to the schools demise. Lawsuits also claim Polk withheld accreditation information from students for more than a year.

On Feb. 16, the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Nurses voted to withdraw accreditation from Mountain State Universitys Nursing Program. The board cited a low licensure exam pass rate and the inability for the university to produce student testing documents and clinical assessment tools.

Students and teachers filled the Charleston meeting room to beg the board to allow seniors to graduate in May.

The board heard the students plea and the nursing accreditation withdrawal became effective Aug. 31.

In following up with the Higher Learning Commissions 2011 Show-Cause Order, representatives from the accrediting body visited MSUs campus and hopes ran high as the community painted the town blue to show support for the local school.

Ultimately on July 10, the Higher Learning Commission decided to withdraw the schools accreditation, effective Aug. 27, stating the school had not met the requirements of the commissions Show-Cause Order.

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University of Charleston takes over MSU’s Beckley site

Houston is known for energy, but the city is also building a budding technology sector.

The world's oil capital is home to scores of hopeful entrepreneurs developing new websites, software, medical devices, clean technologies and other innovations. Research at the Texas Medical Center, NASA, local universities and in the energy industry, for example, has given birth to new ventures.

Here's one of an occasional set of snapshots of local tech startups. Time will tell if they take off.

Olympus Math

Elevator pitch: Online math program for students in grades 6 through 12.

The idea: Traditional math programs such as Kumon focus on practice as a learning tool. Taking a cue from Amazon and Netflix, which recommend new titles based on past purchases, Olympus Math recommends math curriculums for students based on past performance. "Rather than being cookie cutter and getting students to practice, practice, practice, we're trying to get them to be proficient," co-founder Muj Naqvi said. Students start by answering 20 questions based on their grade level. The software then offers a curriculum based on how they do on the initial assessment and continually adapts the curriculum as students progress.

Users: The software is used at about 100 schools across 35 school districts, including at after school programs within the Houston Independent School District. The company also hawks the product directly to parents.

The brains: Co-founders Emmie Chang and Malik Mott also founded Houston-based Wonder-Space Mobile, which develops mobile-based educational content for grade school students. Naqvi previously headed the travel startup Bonvoy, and co-founder Javid Jamae is a programmer.

The competition: The company sees learning centers, online programs such as Khan Academy and tutors as competition. California-based AdaptedMind and New York-based Knewton offer similar online programs, but Olympus Math claims to be the only one that's targeting students in grades 6 through 12.

The money: Naqvi said the company is profitable but is considering outside investment.

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Do the math, with startup's help online

In the AMA House of Delegates, the principal decision-making body of the American Medical Association, nearly one in 25 physicians were of Indian origin.

Indian doctors have made extraordinary contributions to the American medical system, Emmanuel G. Cassimatis, president and CEO, Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), has said.

Inaugurating the scientific session of Diamond Medcon 2012 organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College (TMC) Alumni Association as part of the colleges diamond jubilee here on Sunday, Dr. Cassimatis said Indian medical professionals provided quality service in all specialities of medicine in the United States.

Jeremy Lazarus, president of American Medical Association, delivering the Diamond Jubilee Oration, said one in four physicians practicing medicine in the U.S. had attended medical school in India. In the AMA House of Delegates, the principal decision-making body of the American Medical Association, nearly one in 25 physicians were of Indian origin.

Mani Menon, Director, Vattikutty Urology Institute, Henry Ford Hospital, USA delivered the Dr N. Balsalam Memorial Oration on Surgeon controlled robotics a paradigm shift while Kalpalatha Guntupalli, former president, American College of Chest Physicians, USA delivered the P.K.R. Warrier Memorial Oration on Emerging Concepts in Management of ARDS.

The V.S. Mony memorial seminar that followed the orations dealt with prevention of suicide with Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, president, Indian Psychiatric Society, leading the seminar along with C.J. John, Consultant Psychiatrist, Kochi.

M. Krishnan Nair, founder-director of Regional Cancer Centre, moderated a subsequent seminar on recent advances in management of cancer, which had Dattatreyudu Nori, professor of Radiation Oncology, New York Presbyterian Hospital, M.V. Pillai, clinical professor of Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University, and P. Venugopal, associate director, Hemo-oncology, RUSH University Medical Centre, United States, as speakers.

The scientific sessions also had presentations by Sanjeev Kothare, Harvard Medical School, Boston, on recent advances in paediatric sleep disorders and by Shrikant K. Mishra, UCLA Medical Centre, Los Angeles on the history of neurology in India.

A session on diabetes, moderated by Sreejith N. Kumar, chairman of Indian Diabetics Education Association, brought the scientific sessions to a close.

This had Sreekumaran Nair, Professor and Head Diabetology, Mayo Clinic, USA and R.V. Jayakumar, Professor Endocrinology and Diabetology, AIMS, Kochi, as speakers.

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Indian-origin physicians, a dedicated and erudite lot

Salem Computer Center owner Frank Zamarelli said his father, big Frank, taught him to leave his community a little better than he found it.

His unending practice of that advice, and the philanthropic practices of two other local groups, the Salem High School Alumni Association and the United High School cheerleaders, were recognized recently as outstanding.

The Mahoning-Shenango Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored them during the 2012 National Philanthropy Day awards luncheon last month, recognizing Zamarelli and the Salem Computer Center as Outstanding Small Business, the United cheerleading squad as Outstanding Young Philanthropist and SHSAA with Special Recognition for Valley Impact.

For the 2011-2012 United cheerleaders, their efforts focused on helping one individual, former cheerleader and 2008 United graduate Alissa Boyle, who was seriously injured coming to the aid of an accident victim on the side of a Pennsylvania highway. Their Cheers for Alissa campaign, though, not only resulted in much-needed financial assistance to cover some of Boyle's medical expenses, but also brought together the entire United community for a one-day fundraising event.

In the program bio about the cheerleaders, it was noted that "when young people are faced with a great need, it might be easy for them to say that the problem is too large and their resources are too limited to make a difference. But the cheerleading squad at United High School did not focus on the size of the problem. Rather, they focused on what they could do to find a solution."

"We're proud of them," United High School Principal Bill Young said.

He said much like Alissa's positive outlook about what she was facing, "Cheers for Alissa was a positive, uplifting way of letting her know the people in the community were there for her."

With help from cheerleading coaches Renee Congo and Stacey Zines, the cheerleaders put together activities other students would support and came up with a plan the whole community and people in other communities could support. The day-long Cheers for Alissa event included a silent auction, bake sale, face painting, corn hole tournament,, basketball throw, soccer kicking contest and manicures and pedicures provided by a local salon.

Young said they came up with a pretty novel idea and it was an honor for them to be recognized. He said their leadership is to be commended.

"Cheers for Alissa grew to involve the entire community, but it started with the energy and determination of the United cheerleading squad - a great example of young philanthropists," the program bio said.

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Groups honored for philanthropy

By MATT ERICKSON, The Lawrence Journal-World

Internal candidate Douglas Girod will take over the top job at the Kansas University Medical Center, KU announced Wednesday.

Girod currently the senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the KU School of Medicine, will become the Medical Centers new executive vice chancellor on Feb. 1.

A surgeon, Girod joined the faculty at KUMC in 1994. He is also the chairman of the medical schools Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.

One of Girods first tasks after stepping in as the new KUMC leader is likely to be to begin a search for a dean of the School of Medicine.

Barbara Atkinson, who retired in June, had served as both medical-school dean and the executive vice chancellor for the campus. But KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little indicated a desire to split the jobs, and a search for a dean had already begun when Atkinson announced in April she would be leaving KU earlier than expected.

That search morphed into an effort to hire a new executive vice chancellor instead.

Girod and two external candidates medical leaders at the University of Washington and Louisiana State University were announced as finalists for the job in November.

The three finalists were selected by a search committee and took part in town hall meetings on the KUMC campus. After that, the hiring decision was in Gray-Littles hands.

Dr. Girod has been a steadfast leader during a time of profound transformation at the University of Kansas Medical Center, playing crucial roles over the last several years as we saw dynamic growth in all of our educational, clinical, research and community engagement missions, Gray-Little said in a release. He is enormously respected by his colleagues, his students, his fellow physicians and our community, and his vision will undoubtedly lead to more significant transformation in the years ahead.

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Internal candidate named new executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center

American Red Cross Northeast Pennsylvania

Polly Patterson is the interim regional chapter executive following the departure of John Hughes, who has accepted a leadership role as regional executive of the American Red Cross, Heart of Carolina Region in Greensboro, N.C. Ms. Patterson is a 21-year Navy veteran, who served in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. She and her husband, Mike, have two grown children and live in Lewisburg.

The Commonwealth Medical College

Marise Garofalo has been named vice president for institutional advancement. In this position, Ms. Garofalo will have oversight for development, alumni relations and marketing communications. She will be directly responsible for planning and executing TCMC's development activities to create widespread and significant philanthropic support of the college's mission. Ms. Garofalo joins TCMC from the University of Scranton, where she was assistant vice president for development. Ms. Garofalo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in liberal studies summa cum laude from the University of Scranton.

First Citizens Community Bank

Mike Barrouk has joined the bank as a vice president and business development officer. As a BDO, Mr. Barrouk will lead First Citizens' efforts to provide commercial services to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton business community as a resource for financial planning, and by providing funding for their growth and expansion needs. He is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Barrouk earned his master's degree in business administration from Wilkes University, and is a 2010 inductee to the Wilkes University Sports Hall of Fame. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Jill, and their children, Sam, Nina and Nick.

Highlights Press

Dolores Motichka has been named to the new post of senior designer of Highlights Press at the Highlights for Children editorial offices in Honesdale. She began her career in 1977 at Highlights and then became a fashion illustrator for the Globe Store in Scranton, and later a textbook designer at the International Correspondence Schools in Scranton. She returned to Highlights in 1980 to work on the Zaner-Bloser spelling series. In 1983, she became a designer for the National Wildlife Federation, and from 1984 to 1995, she was a staff illustrator and features designer for The Washington Times newspaper in Washington, D.C. Ms. Motichka designed editorial products for U.S. News & World Report from 1995 until 2002. The Honesdale High School graduate holds an associate degree in fashion illustration from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Ms. Motichka and her husband, John Kascht, a caricaturist, live in Honesdale.

Inn at Pocono Manor

Robert Baldassari has been appointed director of sales and marketing for the property. Mr. Baldassari was most recently director of sales and marketing for Skytop Lodge. Mr. Baldassari has held managerial positions at a number of properties in the Poconos, including Mount Airy Lodge. He is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport, in Connecticut, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He lives in Canadensis.

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People on the Move, Dec. 30, 2012

They slept in large rooms, a dozen beds to a row. They hitchhiked so they could stash back their dime bus fares to buy fried bologna sandwiches at a nearby bar they weren't allowed to enter. They snuck out to date or get their ears pierced, risking suspension or expulsion.

And they worked, long, long days sometimes 16-hour shifts at Knoxville General Hospital, caring for the sick, the wounded, the contagious, black and white, poor and prominent alike.

These are the memories of Jo Ella "Jody" Tipton McCall and Mary McCall McNamara, and hundreds of the other nurses who came from rural counties and even other states to attend the Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing in Old North Knoxville.

McNamara's daughter, Billie McNamara, is determined that their memories be preserved through a recently launched effort.

McCall and Mary McNamara met and roomed together at the nursing school, which was in a large house adjacent to the hospital on Cleveland Place, near where Knox County Health Department now sits. Mary persuaded Jody to start writing her brother, an enlisted man serving in Korea, and by the time the women were full-fledged nurses, they were sisters-in-law as well.

These days, they're also president and vice president, respectively, of the nursing school's alumni association. For decades, the association has had an annual reunion for graduates of the school, their instructors and the doctors and other staff who worked at the hospital, which closed in August 1956 when what is now University of Tennessee Medical Center opened.

As their numbers dwindled, the annual reunion became a luncheon at St. James Episcopal Church. In June, about 45 attended.

It was about a month before the reunion that Mary McNamara had the idea for a program on the nursing school's history. She assigned her daughter, who has genealogy experience, to pull it together.

"She said, 'That should be easy; all our material is at UT,' " which supposedly took custody of the contents of the nursing school after it closed, Billie McNamara said. But when she called UT, "they didn't have anything" no photos, records or uniforms, nor the silver tea set used during the ceremony where nurses received their caps.

Photo by KNS Archive // Buy this photo

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'Virtual museum' pays tribute to graduates of Knoxville General Hospital School of Nursing