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Pulitzer Prize Finalist Sarah Ladd to Teach New WKCTC Class, Journalism 101

by Kathy McHaney

Paducah, KY (07/24/2024) — Beginning fall semester 2024, West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) will offer a new class, Journalism 101, taught by Pulitzer Prize finalist and 2017 alumna Sarah Ladd. The class is online and open to all students.

After graduating from WKCTC, Ladd earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in journalism and creative writing, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Spalding University. A Kentucky journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, she has covered topics ranging from higher education to COVID-19 and health. She currently works for the States Newsroom network, stationed in Frankfort, KY, where she covers health and health policy for the Kentucky Lantern. In 2020, she covered the protests in Louisville over the police killing of Breonna Taylor for The Courier Journal, work that was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Ladd said she has reflected back to what advice helped her the most in the past, particularly as she was starting her educational journey at WKCTC. She plans to pass those lessons and memories on to her students in the journalism class, adding she hopes they will help them as much as they have helped her.

"About nine years ago, I arrived on the WKCTC campus early in the morning, completely green and terrified of what college meant for me," said Ladd, who said it was her first experience in a public education space at 21 years old.

She said her first class was English 101, and the professor gave an inspirational talk before class, words Ladd said she remembers it to this day. "They gave me this feeling of awethat I had something special in me that could help others," said Ladd, adding that each student has something special inside them as well "that if cultivated and honored, can add something of beauty to the world."

English coordinator Dr. Kim Russell is honored to have Ladd as a member of the WKCTC faculty, sharing, "When I approached Sarah about teaching writing for West Kentucky, she told me it had been a dream of hers to someday come back and teach here because the college had had such a profound impact on her life. In working with our students, Sarah is paying forward what West Kentucky did for her. It's one of the most special success stories I've seen in the course of my career."

Ladd is an adjunct teacher at WKCTC, and is also a regular panelist on Kentucky Educational Television's Comment on Kentucky.

Fall semester begins August 19. New students - to sign up for the Journalism class contact the Admissions office at wkctcenrollment@kctcs.edu or 270-534-3435. Returning students, contact your advisor or the advising office to enroll in this class.

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