Among the most eminent artists of our time with local origins is Letcher County native Doug Adams. His career as an independent artist and educator has spanned 40 years. His artwork can be found in many of our homes,...

I have been teaching a Journalism class for 26 years. In my early years at Fleming-Neon High School, the class mainly focused on creating and selling the school yearbook. If we were lucky, we were able to produce a...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and members of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative visited the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) in Hazard, KY on Sunday, September 24th. The visiting team was there to learn from students and teachers about the innovative...

Join the discussion on the KVEC Educonomy Summit 9:00 – Welcome to event: Vision for the day 9:05 – Video message from Gov. Matt Bevin 9:10 – 9:55 “The eastern Kentucky I Want”...

Devils, Giants, Feudists, & Physicians Spellbinding stories from Appalachian history will swirl through the mists of Breaks Interstate Park at a storytelling convention to be held Sept. 21-24. The third gathering of “Tales of the Cumberlands: Devils, Giants, Feudists and...

In this episode, we have a conversation with one of the most multifaceted persons I’ve ever met; Dr. Bruce Parsons. From film, to graphic novels... from website/coding, to being a professor at a university. Dr. Parsons has a lot...

These are the best days of our lives they say. 700 days, from first day of freshman year to the last day of senior year. Wow, how the time has flown and drug on all at the same time....

Breakout EDU is bringing innovation into classrooms at Hazard Middle School. Based on “escape rooms” that have recently become popular, Breakout EDU’s small boxes—which include an assortment of locks, invisible ink pens and UV flashlights to read the secret...

https://youtu.be/2RlByVYjYXQ 78 students from 8 KVEC schools arrived at Hazard Community and Technical College to participate in a drone building workshop and indoor race. Betsy Lane, Belfry, Sheldon Clark, Wolfe County, Lee County, Owsley County, Knott County and Middlesboro received...

KVEC is teaming with Hazard Community and Technical College, Perry County Fiscal Court, Knott County Fiscal Court and the Wendell H. Ford Regional Airport on the USA Drone Port, a national unmanned robotic research and development facility. “This could be...

April, the fourth month of the year. Mostly known for humid rainy days, unless you’re in Kentucky you may see some snow. But this month is significant to me for other reasons. This month has always held a special...

APPALACHIAN RENAISSANCE INTIATIVE'S FINDING INNOVATION IN RURAL EDUCATION SUMMIT On April 12th, the East Kentucky Expo Center will again be booming with the regions most innovative leaders and learners. Not to mention robots, flight simulators, student art & performance, cutting-edge strategies and technologies, student built...

Lacy Hale is a visual artist and muralist from Knott County, KY. She attended Pratt Institute of Art and Morehead State University. She manages the Appalshop Gallery and is the coordinator of EpiCentre Arts, a regional arts group that...

The second It’s Good to be Young in the Mountains conference is coming to Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College Cumberland campus on April 21-23, 2017. The conference is a three-day event celebrating Appalachian heritage and giving space...

Students from Lee, Owsley and Wolfe county high schools come together daily at the Lee County Area Technology Center for vocational classes. However, the carpentry class this school year has not been what they expected! How many high school...

7th-grade teacher Michelle Scott spent the day crunching numbers with her classes at Pikeville Independent Junior High in celebration of National Pi Day. March 14 (3/14) is reserved each year for investigating the mathematical constant Pi (π) a little...

In September, the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) and The Holler teamed up with Open Box Apps for a K-8 game design challenge. Students from across the region submitted applications identifying the type of game they wished to create,...

...and I don’t know if it is good or not because I have yet to read it. I moved to Texas when I was 9 years old. My grandfather flew out to pick me up for a personal escort back...

Goal: To address critical teaching shortage areas and improve teacher effectiveness in the KVEC/ARI region. The ARI Teacher Tuition Assistance Program is a RTTT-D funded project that targets teachers who are completing, or plan to complete, course work to secure...

Through a series of assignments, Rebecca Potter's communications class (members of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative's FIREshare) has been working to develop their photography skills by telling stories about their communities through the lens. Below are highlights and links to...

  Building Shot This building was originally built as a general store, but was used during the 80s as an auction house.         Flower Shot This photo was taken at the Community College in Whitesburg. Flowers are some of my favorite things to photograph...

  Environmental Shot This photo was taken outside of Eolia Post Office in Kentucky.           Frame Shot This photo was taken through the lens of my glasses. This is a picture of me from when I was about 5 years old.           Flower Shot This shot was...

Schools are epicenters of the movement toward healthier bodies and minds, as students grow to value their own health and lead their families and communities to a better quality of life. This was the theme of the Kentucky Valley...

Still Life Shot Looking at books and finding new ones or reading old ones, I am able to keep myself calm. This dedication in the book “The Problem With Forever” helps me know that I can have a quiet...

Still Life Shot The still life in this shot is my grandpa’s grave. A lot of my family says I act a lot like my grandpa so I have his personality.         Frame Shot You can see that the live trees are making...

Flower Shot My grandmother and I planted these flowers years ago, and every year they bloom brighter and fuller         Still Life My cat has always loved sitting in the windowsill           Environmental Shot These are the remains of the wood my father gathered before every...

Pikeville Elementary teacher, Traci Tackett, tells us how her and her students use winter gardens to not only improve their diets, but to also improve their community.   For more information on gardening in schools check out the School Garden Holler. 

Rural communities miss great opportunities when their leaders and citizens do not dream big enough. One of our problems in not making “Appalachian Kentucky Great Again” has been thinking too small and scaling down our dreams and expectations. Congressman Hal...