District 7 Elementary School (Cumberland County Schools) and Henderson Collegiate Charter School (Vance County) are North Carolina’s 2015 National Title I Distinguished Schools. Since 1996, North Carolina’s National Title I Distinguished Schools program has recognized two outstanding schools each year. Educators working in these schools hold students to high academic standards and demonstrate exemplary practices in delivering the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. State Superintendent June Atkinson commended the honorees for helping students reach their academic goals. “When you …
Month: November 2015
Legal Aid to broadcast free DIY divorce clinic to 14 cities across state
Legal Aid of North Carolina, a civil legal aid organization that provides free legal help to low-income people, will broadcast a free, interactive, do-it-yourself divorce clinic at 2:30 p.m. on November 19 2015 to locations in 14 cities across the state. The clinics are designed to empower participants to file for a simple divorce without full-service legal representation. A simple divorce does not involve contested child custody, equitable distribution of assets or other complex legal issues. Legal Aid attorneys provide …
VGCC Trustees celebrate staff-faculty Endowment drive, OK new budget
The Vance-Granville Community College Board of Trustees recently celebrated a 22 percent increase in employee contributions to its annual Endowment Fund drive and adopted a budget of $39 million for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The trustees also welcomed to the board Aleria Perry as the new Student Trustee as members met for their bimonthly meeting on Nov. 16 on the college’s Main Campus between Henderson and Oxford. Her fellow students recently elected Perry as the president of the Student Government …
Vance County Board of Education Upcoming Committee Meeting Dates
Vance County Board of Education Committee Meeting Dates: * Building & Grounds, Friday, November 20th, 8:30 am * Curriculum Committee, Friday, November 20th, 9:30 am * Personnel Committee, Monday, December 7th, 8:30 am Note: All meetings are held in the Superintendent’s Conference Room.
VGCC Phi Beta Lambda chapter installs new leaders
Vance-Granville Community College’s Chi Beta Chi chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, the business student organization, recently elected officers for the 2015-2016 year. New officers were installed and members were inducted at a ceremony on Nov. 5 on VGCC’s Main Campus. The officers include president Angelica Bridges of Oxford, vice president Ambrianna Winston of Oxford, secretary Ashley Allen of Henderson, treasurer Tiffany Barnes of Henderson, and historian Shekinah Yancey of Oxford. Bridges and Yancey are students in the Business Administration program, …
VGCC History Club partners with area historian on oral history project
Students in the History Club at Vance-Granville Community College are working on a unique project that will bring local history to life and preserve it for future generations. Billy Yeargin, a historian who has taught for VGCC in the past and is now a professor of Southern culture at Duke University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, is writing a book on the history of tobacco in the Oxford area and the culture that surrounded the crop. He has enlisted the help …
VGCC adds more online courses to VOLT; scholarships available
The new “Vanguard Online Learning through Technology” (VOLT) initiative at Vance-Granville Community College continues to grow, with additional courses set to begin in January. VOLT courses are for adult learners who need an online-only educational experience. The college launched VOLT in August and offered 12 course sections in a variety of subjects. When the spring semester begins on Jan. 11, 2016, the number of course sections will be at least 15. Registration for spring is currently ongoing, and ends on …
Vance County Regional Farmers Market Handcrafted Holiday Market, This Saturday!
Come out this Saturday to the Vance County Regional Farmers Market November 21st, 2015 for our second annual Handcrafted Holiday Market! We will have a wide variety of craft vendors showcasing unique handmade products. Take care of your holiday shopping and support local businesses. Produce vendors will also be on hand so you can purchase some fresh and local products for your Thanksgiving feast.
Vance County Board of Commissionsers Properties Committee December 2nd, 2015
Please note that the County’s Properties Committee (Brown, Brummitt, Hester) is scheduled to meet Wednesday, December 2 at 8:30 a.m. in the administrative conference room. The purpose is to discuss the Scott Parker Building and two offers to purchase foreclosed properties. All commissioners are invited to attend.
State Farmers Market hosting seasonal events
RALEIGH – The year may be winding down, but the State Farmers Market is ramping up with several special events planned between now and the end of the year. “We want to remind everyone that the State Farmers Market is open seven days a week, year-round. The only day it closes is Christmas,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. “There is no better place to find fresh ingredients for your holiday meals, or locally grown Christmas trees, poinsettias and wreaths for …
Wednesday Open Line
We still use the word “dial” to refer to the act of calling someone on the phone — even though a great many of us have never used a rotary phone or seen one, except in old movies and TV shows. Push-button, or touch-tone, phones made their debut on this date in 1963. At the time, the service was an extra cost option and was available only in two cities in Pennsylvania. It didn’t take long, however, for the speed …
Actor, playwright Walter Williamson ’68 to serve as Artist-In-Residence at Louisburg College
Accomplished actor, playwright and author Walter Williamson, a 1968 Louisburg College alumnus whose film credits include appearances in “Mr. Deeds” and “The Longest Yard,” will serve as Artist-In-Residence on campus during the spring 2016 semester. Williamson will serve as a guest lecturer in classes, collaborate with students and faculty, and stage the world premiere of his new play at the college. Williamson’s film, television and theatre credits are numerous. In addition to “Mr. Deeds” and “The Longest Yard,” Williamson has …
Eaton-Johnson Middle School, VGCC continue Partnership
Vance-Granville Community College and Eaton-Johnson Middle School in Henderson are continuing to build upon a tradition of collaboration to help prepare young students for higher education. The partnership between EJMS and VGCC is a special passion for the middle school’s lead counselor, Dr. Priscilla Chavis-Lockley. She earned two degrees at Vance-Granville — early childhood education and associate in arts (college transfer) — before moving on to North Carolina Central University for a bachelor’s degree and three master’s degrees, and to …
VGCC registers 350 potential lifesavers
A recent Vance-Granville Community College service project added some 350 people to the registry of potential bone marrow donors. In partnership with the Project Life Movement and the “Save the Fox” campaign, the college held events on each of its four campuses during the week of Oct. 26-29. Students, faculty, staff and community members signed up and swabbed their cheeks to provide DNA samples at these events. The painless registration process took only a few minutes, but could save a …
VGCC to hold Signing Ceremony with NCCU
Vance-Granville Community College will hold a signing ceremony to launch the new “Eagle Voyage” partnership with North Carolina Central University on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, at 2:30 p.m., in the Civic Center on VGCC’s Main Campus (200 Community College Road, Henderson, N.C.). You are invited to attend and cover this special event. At the ceremony, representatives of the two institutions will sign a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the university to offer the Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice …
Tuesday Open Line
The United States Congress met for the first time in the District of Columbia on this date in 1800. Up until then, it did its squabbling, vituperating and, most importantly, legislating in Philadelphia. Ever since President George Washington laid the cornerstone for the Capitol in 1793, the District had been planned as the permanent home for the U.S. government. By 1800, enough of the Capitol had been completed for the members of the Sixth Congress to move in. One senator …
Congresswoman Renee Ellmers:Honoring Our Veterans
Photo of the Week It was an honor and a privilege for my office to work with Veterans Legacy Foundation to help Oscar Davis, Jr. receive the Bronze Star he earned while serving with the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII. This photo is from the award ceremony honoring him this week at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation in Fayetteville. More photos from the ceremony can be found below. Weekly Update One of my greatest joys and …
Vance County Farm-City Week: Urban Agriculture: A Farm And City Mashup
Vance County has joined the ranks of many cities across the United States to begin reviewing local land use permit codes to include urban agriculture and allow locally grown, year round production of fresh foods within city limits. On November 3, 2015, the Henderson Zoning Board unanimously granted a Special Use Permit to two of our city homeowners that will be transitioning into Organic production of vegetables. Local governments throughout the US and NC in cities such as Seattle, Baltimore, …
White House Weekly Address: Giving Veterans their Chance
In this week’s address, President Obama honored our nation’s veterans, who have served and sacrificed in defense of our country. This past week, Americans came together on Veterans Day to pay tribute to those men and women in uniform who have risked their lives to protect our freedom. In recent years we’ve worked to reduce the veterans’ unemployment rate to 3.9 percent and slash the disability claims backlog at the VA by nearly 90 percent from its peak. But there is …
Monday Open Line
This month in 1883, the ancestor of today’s familiar U.S. time zones first appeared at the initiative of the American Railway Association. A schoolteacher named Charles Dowd is credited with first proposing the notion of time zones as early as 1863 in order to rationalize railroad timetables, there being 80 time standards then in use by localities. There was wide but incomplete acceptance of the railway association’s zones, and the adjusted zones were not made law until 1918. In 1884, …