Kassidy Arena

Missouri has one of the oldest trditional arts apprecticeship programs in the United States. And every year, the Missouri Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program sponsors eight master artists and their apprentices - for teaching, sustaining and promoting a tranditional art form - here in Missouri. 

KBIA's Seth Bodine caught up with one of this year's master-apprentice duos to find out about a classical Indian dance being practiced here in the middle of Misouri: Bharatanatyam. 

American Sign Language is now the third most popular language college students choose to learn. According to the Modern Language Association most recent report, 107,060 students in higher education chose to learn ASL. This puts the language right behind Spanish and French, but before German.

ASL is the primary language for deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate, but not all deaf and hard of hearing people use it.

Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat have more in common than just social outreach—they harm young girls’ self-perceived body image.

Studies show the more adolescent females see unrealistic body types and filters, the more likely they will suffer from low self-esteem or poor self-confidence.

Toronto, Canada’s York University Professor of Psychology Jennifer Mills and Ph.D. student Jacqueline Hogue recently released their study which found “actively engaging with attractive peers’ social media causes worsened body image in young adult women.”

Nearly 29 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, citizens, organizations, companies and campuses are still working on providing access and accommodations for those who need it to engage with and experience the world - its streets, its buildings, its concerts, classrooms, and even its radio programs.

All-Star Performance Institute in Columbia, Missouri trains athletes from the age of three or four all the way up to their teen years.

The athletes there, commonly known as cheerleaders, don’t fulfill the traditional idea of pom-pom-wielding boosters on the sides of sports games, rather they compete in their own sport.

Competitive cheer is a sport that requires athletes to combine gymnastics and dance abilities. The major stunts in the routines require “bases” to throw “flyers” ten or 15 feet in the air and catch them before the hit the spring-loaded floor.

Stephanie Carlo followed her dream of being in the fashion world by assisting designer Gustavo Arango in Puerto Rico. While working under his wing, Carlo’s friend recommended her for a teaching position at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. Carlo spoke briefly to the recruiter and decided to follow a new passion of hers: teaching.

Carlo packed her bags and left her entire family on the island to teach fashion design and product development, among other courses, at the all-womens college. Her weekdays consist of teaching back-to-back classes and meetings, but her work isn’t limited to Monday through Friday. On weekends, Carlo helps her students with their collections on her own time.