AdVance, Vance Virtual Village Academy Ceremonies Add 60 New Graduates To VCS Total

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— courtesy of Vance County Schools

Vance County Schools completed the 2025 graduation season Friday with ceremonies for AdVance Academy and Vance Virtual Village Academy.

Sixty graduates received their diplomas in the two ceremonies, held at the Wayne Adcock Auditorium inside The Center for Innovation.

The day began with AdVance Academy’s commencement ceremony, where 36 students received their high school diploma. Principal Nowell Brooks, commended the graduates for their resilience and determination, and shared heartfelt well wishes as they begin the next chapter of their lives.

Vance Virtual Village Academy celebrated 24 graduates in a ceremony that reflected the unique path of virtual learners. In his keynote address, Dr. Tim Hall, K–12 Social Studies Instructional Coordinator for Vance County Schools, reminded students that: “This is not just graduation—it’s transformation.” Hall added, “You persisted through isolation, you built community through screens, and you discovered new parts of yourself in the process. You learned that leadership doesn’t always mean being the loudest—it means being the most consistent, the most compassionate, the most courageous.”

The Vance Virtual Village Class of 2025 included many outstanding accomplishments, including more than $292,195 in scholarships earned among 8 acceptances to 2- and 4-year college and universities. Additionally, one student completed an associate’s degree from Vance-Granville Community College. Other accomplishments include graduates with latin honors, as well as National Honor Society, National Beta Club, President’s Award for Educational Excellence and President’s Award for Educational Achievement.

Diplomas at both ceremonies were presented by school and district leaders, including Brooks, AdVance principal, and Dr. Jeffrey Batten, principal at V3A, along with VCS Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett and Vance County Board of Education Chair Dorothy W. Gooche .

Together, the graduates of AdVance Academy and Vance Virtual Village Academy represent the spirit of perseverance and potential. As they move forward, they do so with the support of their families, educators, and community—and with the confidence that they are ready to shape the future. Congratulations, Class of 2025!

Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Spotted Lanternfly

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On the Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Wayne Rowland:

Spotted lanternfly is an invasive pest that can be devastating to grape vines.

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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TownTalk: Elder Abuse Awareness Conference Coming June 13th

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The Kerr-Tar Council of Governments is hosting the 11th annual elder abuse awareness and prevention day on Friday, June 13 at the Warren County Armory Civic Center.

This event is free and open to the public, and Kim Hawkins, KTCOG’s regional ombudsman, said it’s the perfect time to come out and learn more about what elder abuse is, how to spot it and report it to keep vulnerable senior adults safe from being physically, emotionally and financially exploited.

In North Carolina, the time between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is usually when organizations and agencies focus on providing educational programs like the one that will happen Friday, Hawkins said.

“It’s going to be a fun day,” she said. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature dozens of vendors, t-shirts, entertainment from the Vance and Warren senior centers, a commemorative walk, lunch – and ice cream! The colors for the day are purple and silver, representing abuse awareness and elders, respectively.

“We hope everybody will come out and gain some information,” Hawkins said, adding that it’s events like this that help remind us how important senior adults are to their communities.

The vendors represent agencies and other organizations that provide information and resources; they’ll be on hand to help people become more aware of what’s in their community and how to report to the Department of Social Services if you suspect a senior is at risk.

One in 10 individuals over the age of 65 will experience some form of abuse, Hawkins said. The signs of abuse can be subtle, and sometimes people don’t report for fear of retaliation, isolation or just plain old embarrassment.

Anyone who suspects abuse is obligated to report to DSS, Hawkins noted. The reports are anonymous, but the elder person’s name and his/her location is necessary.

Signs could range from outward changes or changes in personality – think about the person who once could chat on and on who now won’t pick up the phone when it rings, she said.

It could be a change in a person’s tone of voice or facial expressions, or it could be something like self-neglect that could be a sign of cognitive decline.

Hawkins monitors long-term care facilities; call her at 252.436.2050 to learn more. Or call the main KTCOG number at 252.436.2040 if you’d like information about other topics.

Visit www.kerrtarcog.org for more details.

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Vance County $1.5M Vehicle Lease Agreement Will Save Thousands Of Dollars

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Beginning July 1, Vance County will begin leasing vehicles, a move that County Manager C. Renee Perry said will be “a good cost savings” for the county.

The county commissioners approved moving forward with the plan at a March work session, Perry told WIZS News.

“We’ll no longer purchase vehicles,” she said. “At some point, all of our vehicles will be leased.”

Because the county is on the Local Government Commission’s Unit Assistance List , the five year, $1.5 million dollar plan had to be approved by the LGC, which it did at its meeting earlier this week.

The plan could mean substantial savings for the county as it moves toward replacement of its entire fleet of vehicles.

“Normally, we budget around $480,000 just for new sheriff vehicles,” Perry said.  The cost for the lease agreement works out to be about $300,000 each year of the five-year plan.

“That’s a good thing for Vance County, for sure,” she said.

City Launches “Love-Henderson-Period” Campaign

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The City of Henderson has launched a campaign “to inspire unconditional love” for the place that Henderson residents call home.

The outline of a heart, followed by the word “Henderson,” ending with a period. Put into words, it’s “Love-Henderson-Period.” And City Manager/City Attorney Hassan T. Kingsberry told WIZS News that it’s a campaign that’s being revived now “to instill love, unity and pride in our city because it’s vital to progress.”

The idea has been around awhile, and Kingsberry credits Police Chief Marcus Barrow with its creation.  It’s one that Kingsberry said he likes, and he’s getting behind its hopeful resurgence.

He said the city’s department heads support it, too. The City Council heard some details about the campaign at a recent meeting, during which Kingsberry said he recommended bringing back the idea to them at that time.

The text below is a press release, dated June 1, from the City of Henderson:

“A heart and a period. That’s the symbol and the statement at the center of Henderson’s newest community-wide movement: This bold and heartfelt campaign invites every resident, business, and organization to join in a renewed commitment to love Henderson unconditionally.

The campaign’s message is clear:

‘To love our city unconditionally, where peace prevails in our hearts, progress drives our collective efforts, and pride in our shared vision fuels unity. If we simply love our city without condition, prosperity is no longer just a goal but a promise to each other to uphold a set of values, ensuring a future where everyone thrives together in harmony’

What It Means:

At its core, the campaign celebrates:

  • Peace– creating a community where respect, kindness, and safety flourish.
  • Progress– working together toward innovation, inclusion, and opportunity.
  • Pride– recognizing that our differences are a strength, not a divide.
  • Prosperity– building a thriving future for all who call Henderson home.

Love-Henderson-Period is more than a slogan; it’s a call to action. It asks us to show up for our city, to love it without conditions or exceptions, and to take ownership of the future we all want to see.

We encourage everyone to use #lovehendersonperiod whenever they post positive and encouraging posts that embodies this message.”

 

UPDATED-JUNE 6 AT 12 NOON

The City of Henderson has launched a campaign to encourage the community to Love Henderson. Period.

In a press release dated June 1, 2025, the campaign is a simple message with a bold promise. One word, one symbol and one punctuation mark designed “to inspire unconditional love” for the city. Our city.

The press release reads as follows:

“A heart and a period. That’s the symbol and the statement at the center of Henderson’s newest community-wide movement: This bold and heartfelt campaign invites every resident, business, and organization to join in a renewed commitment to love Henderson unconditionally.

“The campaign’s message is clear:

“To love our city unconditionally, where peace prevails in our hearts, progress drives our collective efforts, and pride in our shared vision fuels unity. If we simply love our city without condition, prosperity is no longer just a goal but a promise to each other to uphold a set of values, ensuring a future where everyone thrives together in harmony.’

“What It Means:

“At its core, the campaign celebrates:

  • Peace – creating a community where respect, kindness, and safety flourish.
  • Progress – working together toward innovation, inclusion, and opportunity.
  • Pride – recognizing that our differences are a strength, not a divide.
  • Prosperity – building a thriving future for all who call Henderson home.

“Love-Henderson-Period is more than a slogan; it’s a call to action. It asks us to show up for our city, to love it without conditions or exceptions, and to take ownership of the future we all want to see.

“We encourage everyone to use #lovehendersonperiod whenever they post positive and encouraging posts that embodies this message.”

TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Natural Disasters

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If you’re a Baby Boomer, chances are you grew up hearing stories from parents or grandparents about Hazel. That’d be Hurricane Hazel, the October 1954 storm that tore through this part of North Carolina on a path that went all the way to Canada.

It’s just one example of a natural disaster that people use as a yardstick of sorts by which to measure other storms. Hazel made landfall in Calabash as a Category 4 storm as it headed straight up the middle of the state on its way north.

Millenials, Gen Xers and Gen Zers will be able to tell stories about Florence, Fran and Floyd, but hurricanes are just one category of natural disaster that has struck this area. WIZS’s Bill Harris chatted with local historian Mark Pace to remember a number of historic events that affected the four-county area in Thursday’s TownTalk segment Around Old Granville.

“What made Hazel so remarkable,” Pace said, was that it was very short-lived. After making landfall on the coast, it reached this area by about 2 p.m. “By 3:45, it was gone from Vance County,” he said. “It came through like a freight train.”

Forty-two years later, Hurricane Fran took more or less the same route as it rolled through North Carolina, killing 36 people and causing extensive damage in September 1996.

Hazel’s fierce winds snapped off a lot of the trees halfway up, Pace said, and it brought great destruction in a short period of time.

This area was also subjected to what is called “the Great Storm of 1893,”

“People didn’t have to worry about the electricity going out,” Pace said, because there weren’t many places that had it. “In a lot of ways, they were able to deal with the effects of the storm a lot better” than we do today.

Over the years, information from climatologists and weather forecasters help prepare for weather events like hurricanes, but people don’t always have a lot of advance warning about tornadoes.

And this area has had its share of tornadoes. Just last year, Epsom experienced a rash of tornadoes, spawned in the remnants of Tropical Storm Debbie. They were relatively weak – F-0 and F-1 – but that’s strong enough to cause damage.

In the Oak Hill community in northern Granville County, a tornado flattened Oak Hill School in November 1952, Pace said. Luckily, it was after school had let out, so there were no injuries. But the yearbook in subsequent years was renamed ‘The Tornado.’

Other tornadoes have demolished warehouses and killed more than a dozen people in Warrenton in 1936, homes in Huntsboro in 2016 and tore roofs off the Medical Arts building on Ruin Creek Road in 1988.

And while nobody welcomes hurricanes and tornadoes, there are plenty of people who wish for a good snowfall every winter – none more than schoolchildren. And probably a teacher or two.

But even the biggest snow fans may balk at the possibility of having 2 feet of snow on the ground. That’s what Warren County got during a massive storm in 1856.

Henderson got close to that – 22.5 inches – in 1922, which collapsed a couple of tobacco warehouse roofs and part of the Corbitt Factory, Pace said.

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Cooperative Extension with Jamon Glover: When the Money’s Tight

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Vance County Cooperative Extension Report from Jamon Glover

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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TownTalk: N.C. Strength Sports Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony June 21

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The Brick Power Team will host an induction ceremony for the N.C. State Strength Sports Hall of Fame on June 21 at 220 Seafood Restaurant in Henderson.

Harry Orr said Randy Perry and Will Lynch are this year’s honorees.

Orr, executive director of the statewide group, also is part of the Brick Power Team, said the honorees will receive plaques to recognize their accomplishments and contributions to the sport of powerlifting and weight lifting.

The Brick Power Team is an outreach ministry of Freedom Life Church of God and raises money for worthy causes with weightlifting competitions.

He said the group is accepting donations to help defray costs associated with the event.

All donations are tax-deductible.

“Any donations will be appreciated, whatever size,” Orr said.

The Brick Power Team will have a fish plate fundraiser on Monday, July 28 at 220 Seafood Restaurant, with most of the proceeds going to Freedom Life Church of God, which Orr said is instrumental in the work of the Brick Power Team.

“The Brick Power Team is putting it on,” he said. “Whatever we get out of that, we give most back to the church.”

Tickets are $10 and plates are take-out only.

Contact Orr to find out more about sponsoring the induction ceremony or to learn more about the hall of fame or the Brick Power Team at 252.432.4196 or email horr2553@yahoo.com

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