In the News: ImPROMtu and back to school, chess coaches featured
August 30, 2021
Recent news media coverage featuring Webster University community members includes:
ImPROMtu, Move-In Coverage in TV and Print
Webster University was featured in news media outlets several times over the last
few weeks for its "back to school" activities including TV footage of move-in day,
as well as coverage from a variety of outlets for the "imPROMtu" dance event welcoming
students to campus.
Local TV news outlets KSDK (NBC affiliate) and KMOV (CBS affiliate) ran multiple segments on the imPROMtu event. The St. Louis American and Webster-Kirkwood Times newspapers also featured it.
The Webster-Kirkwood Times quoted students raving about the experience, which was originally aimed as a "make-up prom" for incoming students and sophomores who had missed out on high school proms due to the pandemic. It was eventually opened up to all students:
The dress code for imPROMtu was left up to the students. Fashion statements ranged from full-length gowns and suits to hairy vests and varied length dresses to shorts, themed purses, crowns, matching-colored masks and six-inch spike heels.
“This night was for them and we wanted them to have as much fun as they wanted with this,” Billy Ratz said.
The St. Louis American's article quoted Ratz, Associate Dean of Students Collette Cummings, and student Megan Sander:
Student leader Megan Sander spent the summer setting the event up, “getting all the decorations prepped, making sure we had a DJ and photo booth.”
“We know they missed out on the prom at their high schools due to COVID, so we really wanted to make Webster their home...and make it the best prom ever,” she said. The prom was part of the university’s first in-person orientation week since COVID hit.
[...]
“The idea behind this came up over a year ago, when we were having conversations with our parents of the new incoming students last year, and listening to the fact that their students didn’t get to have prom,” said Billy Ratz, first-year experience director at Webster.
Chess Coaches Liem Le, Susan Polgar Featured
CBC News in Canada ran a 30-minute documentary on the Polgar family to explore how all of the children became international chess champions. Susan Polgar’s time coaching Webster University's team to an unprecedented string of collegiate championships was mentioned in the story.
Polgar's successor as Webster head coach, Liem Le, was profiled by VN Express International, an English-language news site in Vietnam, for the new role he has assumed.
"Most students in the Webster University chess team have an Elo rating of over 2,600, which is higher than some of the players in Vietnam's national chess team. Practicing and exchanging ideas regularly helps everyone improve their level, including me," Liem said.
He also was mentioned in several news outlets after winning second place at the 2021 Chessable Masters Tournament. In the International Chess Federation (FIDE) world ranking in August, Liem stands at the 32nd place with an Elo rating of 2709.