EducationNC

One hundred and twenty years after the Wright Brothers historic first flight, juniors and seniors in Dare County are using the same aviation principals and building a modern plane within eyesight of the runway.

The First Flight students will be constructing the airplane over two years, and at the end of class, FAA certification pending, the plane will take to the same skies as the Wright Brothers, students in tow.

Learn about the program and the partnerships that made it happen, here.

Danny Miller told us, "If you wanted to rob a bank in Haywood County, that's the night to do it."

In Haywood County, there is a one football game that means more than all the others. It's gone by many monikers - The Paper Bowl, The County Clash, The Mill vs. the Hill, but everyone mostly refers to it as The Game. Two rival high schools meet once a year on the field and we went to see if the matchup was going to mean more in 2023 in light of challenging times. We went in assuming one thing, and as it usually happens, walked away with a different answer. 

In this episode, we hear from Danny Miller and Lori Fox — career educators who are also family. Fox, the principal at Haywood Early College, showed us around Haywood County where she pointed out the damage done by recent tropical storms. Miller told us about Canton during its heyday.

In this episode, we talk with Zeb Smathers, mayor of Canton, and David Francis, Haywood County economic development director. Francis says the closure of the mill will have a "tsunami" effect on the town, region, and state. Both say the town is resilient and will bounce back — as it always does.

The Power of Papertown is a series of audio stories highlighting the closure of the paper mill in Canton, North Carolina. In this episode, Haywood County Schools employees talk mill closure, community support, and resiliency. 

Welcome back to Season 2 of The Hummingbird Stories! This week, Donnell and Jenny are learning about the Leandro case in North Carolina and dreaming about what it means to go Beyond Leandro. They talk to EdNC.org's Rupen Fofaria and hear from education leaders Aylon Samouha of Transcend Education, Sonn Sam of Big Picture Learning, and Carol Bower of GALS Denver. Learn more about Aylon Samouha’s work at transcendeducation.org, Sonn Sam’s work at bigpicture.org, and Carol Bower's work at galsdenver.org.

We want to hear from you! Our weekly question is: Everyone in our state is talking about a sound, basic education. But what would an extraordinary education look like? Visit SayHi.chat backslash hummingbird to chime in.

Artwork by 11th grade student Jocelyn H. Check out her work at @celyns_arts on Instagram.

Sherry Thomas talks pandemic, IEPs, and funding for students with disabilities.

In April, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt laid out Operation Polaris -- her vision for operation of the public education system. At the center is the Office of Learning Recovery & Acceleration, where Michael Maher is executive director.

At their August second meeting, Craven County Commissioners voted in support of an anti-critical race theory resolution. At the meeting, members of the community gave their opinions on the resolution and discussed what the board’s decision will mean for Craven County Schools.

This is episode three of EdNC.org's Future Forward podcast series. In this episode you’ll hear from Steven Gupton, a teacher in Durham County. On top of all of the changes educators had to make during the pandemic, Gupton also had to manage switching schools — from his home county to where he teaches now in Durham. He’s learned a lot about connecting with students this year by using innovative methods like home visits to reach those that were less engaged. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.

Today you'll hear from Sara Lilley who is an elementary school teacher in Vance County, where she's worked for 11 years. Lilley shares why building strong relationships with students is one of her core values as an educator and how that was magnified this past year teaching during the pandemic. She also talks about the benefits personalized learning has had on her students. Lilley is a pancreatic cancer survivor, which inspired her to start doing ironman races. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.

This is the first episode of EdNC.org's Future Forward podcast series featuring Caesar Campana, a teacher at Hayesville High School. Campana has been teaching for 20 years and this has been, in his words, "the strangest year" yet. In this episode, Campana shares his experiences with student engagement this past year, how he's balancing a new hybrid learning model, and his thoughts on the pressure to have his students reading on grade level. Thank you for listening! Visit EdNC.org for more information about the Future Forward series.