Student achievements

forest

Beating Back the Beetles

By Emilia Wisniewski ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2025 – July 12, 2025

Things are looking up since an insect infestation ravaged Czech forests a few years ago, but the country isn’t out of the woods yet. A tiny insect called the bark beetle has infested and killed hundreds of thousands of trees…

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A Different Kind of Tour

By Catherine Cox ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2025 – July 12, 2025

Prague agency offers visits to the underbelly of the Czech capital – through the eyes of the city’s homeless. On any given day in Prague, one of the city’s many visitors might see a sprightly middle-aged man leading a group…

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Eclectic musical duo Cricket and Snail has performed from Knoxville to Prague

By Shelby Wright ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

On the outskirts of the historic city of Prague in the Czech Republic, the sounds of a violin playing alongside an accordion reverberate off the crystal waters of lake Podleský Ribník. Jutting out into the lake lies MoLo Bar, floating…

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From Czechoslovakia With Love

By Ian Garrahan ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

Kofola, developed as a response to “Western” colas during the Cold War, is thriving, besting even its international rivals. “How do I rank Kofola? Easy, a 15 out of 10. There’s no way I’m going lower. It’s even better if…

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Prague Botanical Garden Uses Microscopic Photography to Feature Close-Up Photos of Honeybees

By Jessica Foshee ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

The Prague Botanical Garden is currently hosting the Queens of Honey Up Close exhibition, allowing visitors to learn more about honeybees by viewing photos of them from an extraordinary perspective with the help of close-up photography technology. Scanning electron microscopy…

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‘America’s Sport’ By Way of Bohemia

By Amanda Brooks ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

by Amanda Brooks   Czech fans welcomed the country’s ball players with a huge banner when the national team played South Korea in a World Baseball Classic first round game at the Tokyo Dome on 12 March. Photo by Yohei…

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Art & architecture: David Cerny’s Musoleum

By Audrey Boyd ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

by Audrey Boyd A work by David Cerny at the newly opened Musoleum. Photo from the gallery’s website. The Czech Republic’s artistic bad boy opens his own morbid museum. David Cerny, the Czech Republic’s middle-aged enfant terrible and arguably the…

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Student Video Exercises Prague 2023

By Gracie Schutt, Ian Garrahan, Ella Macnicol (Grey), Shelby Wright, Audrey Boyd ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2024 – July 6, 2024

Students had just a couple hours to shoot and edit, showing off their video skills. They all did very well. Professor Mark D. Harmon share five here. These were done for our UT course Going on Assignment in Prague, July…

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Tourism in Prague is Almost Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

By Sarah Buser, Jessica Foshee, Ellie Millikan ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2023 – July 8, 2023

In Prague, the number of tourists rises every year. Local business owners and the tourist office predict this summer to be exceptional in terms of the number of visitors. Summer is in full swing, and more and more tourists are coming…

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Ukraine: A Mental Health Crisis in the Making

By Juliana Zappitell ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2023 – July 8, 2023

Czech organizations are providing psychological help to Ukrainian refugees, but the needs are great.  Like many refugees, 39-year-old Anna Savchenko still shivers at the thought that a Russian bomb could destroy her home at any moment, even months after she…

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Diana Dalton at Karlovy Vary - Change

Czechia: Old Ties, New Tensions

By Diana Dalton ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2023 – July 8, 2023

by Diana Dalton War has brought changes to a famed spa town, but Russian speakers still abound.  The sound of Russian fills the streets in Karlovy Vary, a western Czech spa town of about 50,000 residents. In Prague and beyond,…

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Tribute to Ukrainian Mothers Evokes Range of Opinions in Central Prague

By Diana Dalton and Caroline Mueller ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2023 – July 8, 2023

A Czech artist has created a ghastly sculpture hanging between two buildings over Dlouhá Street featuring a woman’s form adorned in a traditional Ukrainian headdress that became a symbol of resistance during Ukraine’s  2014 Maidan Revolution. Veronika Psotkova’s wrought wire…

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Wrecked Russian Tanks In Prague Spark Curiosity

By Juliana Zappitell and Taylor Coester ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2023 – July 8, 2023

Captured Russian military equipment showcased in Prague’s Letna park drew dozens of visitors on Tuesday during the first full day of an exhibit arranged by Ukraine’s government to keep the spotlight on their fight against Moscow. The exhibit, featuring damaged…

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Summer Break to Revitalize Czech Protests

By Chip Lauterbach ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2022 – July 9, 2022

Czech protests have wound down for the summer, but organizers say the break — far from being a chance for the movement to lose momentum — will re-energize the protestors, leaving them fresh to take advantage of new ammunition expected…

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Martin Demeter with some of his players. Courtesy photo.

A Sporting Chance

By Melanie Ritchot ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2022 – July 9, 2022

A soccer team for Roma kids in the Czech town of Neratovice has boosted school attendance and given the players a wider field of play. by Melanie Ritchot Making it onto Neratovice’s soccer team for Roma youth is simultaneously easy…

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Removing the Stigma

By Charlie Mitchell ~ Going on Assignment in Prague July 2022 – July 9, 2022

How can the Czech Republic have such low rates of depression and still so many suicides? by Charlie Mitchell Jan Chylik remembers well what it was like when the depression he suffered as a teenager began to worsen, yet he…

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Standing by Tibet

By Denis Burke ~ 

In a climate of improving official relations with China, some Czechs continue to vocally support the disputed region. by Denis Burke 5 December 2017 Few countries can boast visits from both the Chinese president and the Dalai Lama in the…

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EvaStejskalovaRomaactivist

Into the Mainstream

By Barbara Levin ~ 

As Czech students headed back to class this fall, their schools started implementing a long-awaited law that could finally end the de facto segregation of Roma students – though activists remain skeptical. by Barbara Levin 3 October 2016 At age…

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Czech Ingenuity Puts New Shine on Endangered Craft



By Sandra Dondenne ~ 

After barely making it through the ’90s and limping through the 2008 crash, Bohemia’s fabled decorative glass industry is on the rise again. 20 September 2016 As he strolled down the streets of Paris four years ago while on holiday…

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Czech Puppets: From Hand-Made to Mass-Produced

By Yijing Dai ~ Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) – July 10, 2015

PRAGUE — In a small marionette shop near the Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic, Františka Nekvasilová, a skillful designer and marionette creator is stitching a costume for the hand-made marionette. She works in the this 22-year-old shop called Truhlář Marionety. The…

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