Kentucky budget gets final legislative approval: No '13th check' for state retirees

This week's Good News: National Merit Scholarships, a Goodwill hire and praise for U of L

Courier Journal Editorial Board

In a world full of political strife, poverty and violence, we are constantly bombarded with bad news. Yes, it is the job of media outlets like us to inform people about the mayhem.

Yet, it's also important to shine a light on the good things happening in the communities on both sides of the Ohio River in Kentuckiana.

This weekly column, written by the Courier Journal Editorial Board, will highlight some of those people and their accomplishments. We hope you will read it routinely and tell us what we’re missing.

"Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshiped and fondled like a priceless diamond," said Hunter S. Thompson, Louisville native and journalist.

With that in mind, here's this week's Good News.

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JCPS National Merit Scholarship winners announced

Jefferson County Public Schools students from duPont Manual, Eastern and Marion C. Moore high schools will join more than 7,600 high school seniors across the country as 2019 National Merit Scholarship winners.

More than $31 million in scholarships will be awarded to these high-performing students who were among about 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools who entered the program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, where the highest-scoring participants became semifinalists for the award. 

To become a finalist, the semifinalists had to complete a detailed scholarship application, which included writing an essay, describing their leadership positions and school and community activities, showing an outstanding academic record and being endorsed and recommended by a high school official, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

The 23 National Merit Scholarship winners from JCPS were selected from a group of approximately 15,000 Finalists. Those students are

duPont Manual High School: Neha Anil, Yash Ghiya, Mark Raj, Sidharth Sundar, Aditya Mehta, Bhargav Remesh, Erin Ramsey, Allison Tu, Elizabeth Keisling, Zakariyya Al-Quran, Audrey Becker, Aaron Chong, Trevor Clark, Cedric Dedina, Jack Fasteen, Emma Heironimus, Srikur Kanuparthy, Francisco Mendes, Ethan Mills, Luke Morgan and Brooke Bollinger

Eastern High School: Mariah Ragsdale 

Marion C. Moore School: Manuel Zayas

Kentucky CEO named board chair of International Goodwill

The president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Amy Luttrell, has been named board chair for the Goodwill Industries International board of directors.

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 158 community based, autonomous organizations in the United States, Canada and 12 other countries. 

Local Goodwill organizations are social enterprises that offer job placement and training services and other community-based programs by selling donated clothing and household items in more than 3,300 stores collectively and online.

Amy Luttrell, CEO and president of Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, was  named Board Chair for Goodwill Industries International.

Luttrell has led Goodwill Kentucky for five years, overseeing the organization’s growth and development of services and donated goods. She is working on the organization’s strategic plan, which is aimed at reducing poverty by working closely with community partners to provide long-term support and other resources to the community’s most vulnerable populations. 

"Goodwill is committed to helping people improve their lives through the power of work,” Luttrell said. “I’m honored to have this opportunity to help advance that global mission, while we continue to increase Goodwill’s impact here in Kentucky.”  

Luttrell will continue her role as president and CEO of Goodwill Kentucky during her tenure as board chair. 

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Secular groups team up to help senior citizens in Louisville

Looking to improve the living conditions of senior citizens at a local apartment complex, a coalition of secular groups comes together every year to donate bedding and toiletries to those in need.

Since 2014, local chapters of  Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Black Nonbelievers, the Kentucky Secular Society and the Louisville Atheists and Freethinkers have donated beds, sheets, silverware, towels and more to elderly residents at the American Village apartments in southern Louisville. 

The groups have received financial support from their national nonprofits including a $1,000 grant from the Foundation Beyond Belief — a Freedom From Religion Foundation charitable non-profit — two years in a row. Members of each organization also have donated money and various items. 

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U of L program receives national recognition for LGBTQ engagement 

The University of Louisville’s Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research will be recognized for its outstanding work and community partnership with Louisville's Fairness Campaign.

The Braden Institute worked with the Fairness Campaign from 2015-2017 on a project aiming to shine light on Kentucky’s relatively unexplored LGBTQ history.

As a result of this effort, U of L has received the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities' 2019 W. Kellogg Awards and will have the opportunity to compete for the Peter Magrath Award for Community Engagement.

“The W. Kellogg Awards and the C. Peter Magrath Award were developed to provide national recognition for the outstanding community-university engagement work of public universities,” Henry Cunningham, U of L’s director of Community Engagement, told U of L News.

As Kellogg Awards recipients, U of L will get $2,500 to produce a two-minute video showcasing its community partnership. The video will be shown at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium Annual Conference and will be part of the review process for the Magrath Awards. If selected for the Magrath Awards, U of L will receive an award sculpture and a $20,000 prize.   

Last week's Good News: Louisville has the best large chamber of commerce in the nation.

Got other good news we should share?

Send an email to vmorgan@courierjournal.com with the subject line good news.