Did You Know?

Summer Slaton of Blythewood, S.C., left, a rising senior and the reigning Miss S.C. Watermelon queen, served the much-loved summer fruit in front of Byrnes Auditorium to the National Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers participants. Slaton spent much of the summer traveling with S.C. Department of Agriculture workers around the state serving watermelon.

• Two political science faculty members receive Fulbright scholarships. Scott Huffmon, associate professor, and Karen Kedrowski, professor and department chair, will head overseas this academic year. Huffmon, the recipient of an American Studies teaching fellowship, will spend the fall semester teaching at the University of Debrecen in Debrecen, Hungary, while Kedrowski will hold a visiting research chair position in the category of Public Policy: Health, Indigenous Populations, Media and Education at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the spring. Find out more.

• D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ restored and ready to play. The College of Visual and Performing Arts' Department of Music will present the Winthrop Organ Festival August 13-16 in celebration of the restoration of the D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ in Byrnes Auditorium. Check out the schedule.

• Students share thousands of children’s books. Winthrop encourages community service in many forms from the beginning of a student’s college career. Students attending Orientation this summer were asked to bring children’s books, and thousands poured in. In all, more than 3,500 books were donated and will be given to children in York County’s summer feeding program.

• Scholarship and awards pour in for Kingsmore. Former softball standout Lisa Kingsmore was named Big South Woman of the Year and has been awarded one of 29 $7,500 postgraduate scholarships given to NCAA women this spring. Kingsmore, who was a two-time Big South Conference Player of the Year as well as an All-America selection and Academic All-American selection, finished her undergraduate career with a degree in chemistry this past May. Learn more.

• Gamble tapped for Athletes in Action Tour and Molinari as top assistant coach. Basketball player Gideon Gamble, a red-shirt freshman from Atlanta, Ga., has been selected to play for Athletes in Action during its 2009 New Zealand summer tour. Gamble is among 11 players from 10 different colleges who will compete in six games against two teams during the tour. Learn more. Meanwhile, Assistant Basketball Coach Paul Molinari has been ranked by CollegeInsider.com as one of the top 25 mid-major assistant coaches in the nation. Molinari, the only assistant coach at a Big South Conference school who made the top 25 list, is set to begin his sixth season as an assistant coach at Winthrop. Learn more about Molinari.

• Former Winthrop soccer players impress with their play. Richmond Kickers’ Henry Kalungi has helped provide a stingy defense for the Richmond team this season. Read about his efforts. Meanwhile, former standout Daniel Revivo had an impressive performance for Canada at the 25th Summer Universiade held in Belgrade, Serbia. See the story.