TownTalk: H-V Chamber Kicks Off 2026 Programs, Events

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When it comes to supporting local business and industry, folks would be hard-pressed to find an organization around here that does a better job of promoting all the positives right here in Henderson and Vance County than the Chamber of Commerce.

And the way Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce President Sandra Wilkerson sees it, a major role of the Chamber is to accentuate the positive while creating lasting connections that strengthen the community.

“We’re motivators,” Wilkerson said on Wednesday’s TownTalk. Chamber members are encouraged to get involved in the community and form those partnerships with others that serve to make everyone better.

“The networking, the people that you meet are going to help you,” she said. “It’s about partnership.”

Leading by example, Wilkerson said the Chamber has teamed up with Vance County Tourism to bring Miss North Carolina 2025 Sophia Kellstrom as the featured speaker at the Jan. 28 Women in Business luncheon.

Registration for the event is $20 for Chamber members and $30 for non-members; call the Chamber office (252.438.8414) and register with Vanessa Jones no later than Jan. 23. The luncheon begins at 12 noon at the Henderson Country Club.

And men, don’t let the “Women in Business” title scare you away – Wilkerson invites you, too!

“We are kicking the New Year off right,” she said of Kellstrom’s visit to Henderson.

“I am thrilled that this young lady has granted us this opportunity to sit down with us and engage,” she continued.

In addition to being crowned Miss North Carolina 2025, Kellstrom founded “Pennies from Heaven” when she was just 8 years old to fight food insecurity among children and is the author of “Sophie the Superhero” a children’s book that encourages kindness and helping others.

Whether it’s presenting events like Women in Business or any number of other events from ribbon-cuttings to Shop With A Cop And Friends, Wilkerson said she and the Chamber staff are grateful and appreciative of the Chamber Board of Directors for the support they provide throughout the year.

Outgoing Board Chair Scott Burwell passes the torch to Dr. Abidan Shah of Clearview Church and Wilkerson said she looks forward to his leadership role.

The new board chair picks out a theme to weave into his or her term, and she’s eager to hear what this year’s theme will be. Whatever the focus, rest assured that it will include a lot of red, white and blue as a nod to the nation’s 250th birthday celebration.

Another popular program in the community is Leadership Vance, now in its 35th year. This program isn’t just for newcomers to the area, Wilkerson said. Lifelong residents who have completed the class have commented about how much they learned during the seven-month long class. Applications must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on Jan. 27. Find the application and an information brochure on the Chamber website https://www.hendersonvance.org/

“This is one of my favorite things,” Wilkerson said, noting that the selection process has become a bit more competitive. With a cap of 18 participants, the selection committee has an increasingly difficult time each year. And it is a pretty big time commitment for participants – a couple of sessions each month that have the class touring businesses, schools and learning about the county’s history, government and more.

“It’s so much that we introduce you to and make connections,” she said. Two recent Leadership Vance graduates – Sam Seifert and Kenia Gómez-Jimenez – serve on the Henderson City Council.

Leadership Vance can claim at least a small part in their decisions to run for political office, but Wilkerson said the program helps participants see and understand the community and how they can contribute – whether it’s running for a seat in local government or simply knowing where available resources are.

“We have so much positive in this community,” Wilkerson said. “We tend to talk about the negative,” but the goal, she said, is “to go out and spread positivity. That’s the whole thing that we try to do…and it’s working.”

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TownTalk: Commissioners Discuss Detention Center Updates, Fiscal Policy Adoption, ABC Expansion

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners approved a budget amendment Monday that will continue covering expenses for detainees held in jails outside the county and other costs stemming from challenges associated with the current state of the detention facility.

Sheriff Curtis Brame and detention center co-administrator Capt. Shannon Hawley appeared before commissioners at the regular monthly meeting to request that funding continue as the county makes decisions about repairs to the existing jail while making plans to construct a new facility.

In the spring of 2025, the state declared that the jail be depopulated – between the physical condition of the jail itself and a staffing shortage, the maximum number of detainees was slashed from more than 100 to 20.

Since that time, with improvements, repairs and better staffing, the jail houses 45 detainees. But there are 100 or more who should be housed locally but are farmed out to other jails willing to take them. That comes at a cost to the county, however.

“The county has invested an inordinate amount of money…a ridiculous amount of money,” Hawley said, but it’s necessary.

“We ask that we continue to fund housing our inmates outside the facility until a new facility can be built,” he added.

Brame said his staff is “scrambling…hurting each and every day,” adding that he worries about the safety of his officers working at the jail, as well as the safety of the detainees.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said the county has spent roughly $1.2 million since April, including $732,000 in emergency pay and $324,000 in repairs to the jail.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt said he’d visited the jail recently and sees “substantial” improvements but added there’s a long way to go. The electronic doors do not work, for example, creating a risk to personnel and to detainees.

“These are things that have got to be done…(we) don’t have a choice,” Brummitt said.

The repairs are projected to be completed in November 2026, Perry said, but noted that the jail capacity would only be 90. The problem will persist, she said, until there is a new facility.

Commissioners also approved a spending cap of $2.93 million to complete the repairs to the existing jail facility as part of the design-build concept being used to bring the jail up to speed as it moves forward with plans for new construction.

The approval places a cap on spending for the renovation/repair portion of the project at $2,938,278.

Commissioners also approved a plan submitted by the local ABC Board to remodel and expand the ABC store on Beckford Drive.

ABC Board Chair Jerry Stainback said the expansion could take up to one year to complete, but he anticipates being able to pay off any financial obligation quickly.

In 2007, when the current store was approved, the ABC Board was able to pay off the note four years early.

The plan calls for a 4,500 square-foot expansion of the current store. “We can’t pay for it all in a year, but we can get it paid in significantly less than 10 years,” Stainback predicted. He said the store does $6 million in sales each year.

Commissioners also approved an updated fiscal operations policy, which had been brought before commissioners at an earlier meeting. Commissioner Tommy Hester made the motion to approve the policy. Commissioner Brummitt voted against.

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TownTalk: SPARK Program Ignites Passion and Creativity at VCS

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The first-ever SPARK NC student tech showcase at Vance County Schools’ Center for Innovation provided a glimpse into what’s been going on in the world of coding, AI training and high-tech learning over the past few years.

Community leaders, business owners and others gathered before the holiday break to see students demonstrate their projects, which included low-tech materials like Play-Doh and screwdrivers paired with computer code, joysticks and AI to produce creative sights and sounds.

As VCS Superintendent Dr. Cindy Bennett noted in her welcome to the showcase event, this type of hands-on creativity is what will fuel the next generation of careers. SPARK students will have an advantage in the “real world” because of the work they’re doing now. It’s work that looks an awful lot like fun.

It’s been three years since the SPARK lab was established in Vance County, one of the first 17 school districts to give this type of learning a whirl. Vance County is the first district, however, to offer this opportunity during the regular school day. Students come by bus to the lab for an elective class, but they can earn honor cords for graduation through their work with SPARK.

The students demonstrated their projects during a half hour or so of the afternoon’s activities. Davonte Yancey wrote code that he used to identify flowers based off a picture. “It’s trained off of images, and we tell it that these are all tulips, these are all orchids,” Yancey explained. “So when it sees something that it doesn’t know, it tells you the probability of what it could be.”

Kaylee Morgan made a piano that makes music “by conducting energy from you to the computer…the energy makes the device work,” Morgan explained. With the sounds of a computer-generated piano in the background, Morgan shared what she likes about the SPARK elective. “My favorite part was learning how all this works, and I find everything really interesting, especially training AI,” she said.

She trained the AI “to identify an object I hold up in front of the camera. I create 14 images without the object then I create the image with the object and then I train the AI,” she explained. “When I hold the object up, (in this case, a beverage container) it says 100 percent ‘drink’, but when I move it away, it says 100 percent ‘no drink.’”

Student Okito Sleugh used his curiosity about the use – and overuse – of Instagram to create a prototype app that could help reduce stress, anxiety, depression and cyberbullying through the app.

Following extensive research on Instagram, including examination of product reviews and observing peers as they interact with the wildly popular app, Sleugh created Instagram Safe Mode.

Not only does it “automatically block any bullying on the app, but it also shows break reminders, and you can also limit the amount of scrolls so you just don’t go scrolling for ever and ever all day,” Sleugh said. “This would make it safer for younger users and also just make it a healthier experience overall.”

Talk about real-world applications.

And it’s all being done in a SPARK NC lab in the Vance County Schools’ Center for Innovation.

Students in the SPARK elective are participating in Level 1, but VCS Chief Officer of Instruction and Innovation Dr. Destiny Ross-Putney said the next level is in the works.

Ross-Putney has been involved from the beginning, and she said the school district definitely took a risk when deciding to put SPARK in place.

“We didn’t know what it was going to look like,” she said. “We didn’t know if the kids were going to earn their credit in that first semester.”

Turns out, more than 70 percent of the students did earn that elective credit, which involved them taking a bit of a risk, too.

Unlike traditional high school classes, the SPARK classes involve “stackable modules” that allow students to try out a particular topic and then switch after a couple of weeks if they’re not interested.

Once they have successfully completed eight of these modules, they earn the elective credit.

“We needed something that looks different from what traditional school looked like,” Ross-Putney said. “We needed them to be able to get in there, get their hands in it, learn it very quickly, to see if they like it and then have the ability to leave if they weren’t interested…because that’s how the real world is…that’s how it is when they’re exploring careers.”

Aarika Sandlin, VCS Chief Officer of Communication & Innovative Support, said the state-of-the-art lab at the Center for Innovation provides high-tech, accelerated experiences for students, allowing them “to be a step ahead when they hit the career world.”

“We’re just grateful for the opportunity for our students to be ready for tomorrow, today,” she said.

CLICK PLAY to hear more and several of the students!

TownTalk: Around Old Granville – National Registry of Historic Places in Old Granville, Franklin & Warren

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Anyone interested in historical architecture and preservation of homes, businesses or other structures that have been around a really long time surely would have a field day in the four-county area. Vance, Granville, Warren and Franklin counties are replete with buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which operates under the auspices of the National Parks Service.

If you’ve ever wondered how these homes, churches and other buildings get on “the list,” WIZS’s Bill Harris can provide a firsthand account: His family home is set to be included on the National Register in 2026.

Harris and local historian Mark Pace ran through a list of properties in Franklin and Warren counties on Wednesday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk.

One of the newest additions to the Warren County list is All Saints Episcopal Church, officially included in August 2025.

The church served the African American community in the Warrenton area beginning in the 1910’s. The famous Delany sisters – known for their longevity – have a connection to the stone veneer church; their father was pastor there in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Like so many of the historic structures you’ll find on “the list,” All Saints is still standing today. But, as Pace pointed out, “just because a house is on the national register doesn’t mean it will be preserved forever.”

The Little Manor is one such example of a home still listed but is now in ruins.

According to Pace, Warren County has 228 total structures listed on the National Register – 27 individual buildings and 202 included in the Warrenton historic district. Franklin County has 240 structures – 213 of which are situated in Louisburg’s historic district.

A structure must be nominated for inclusion on the National Register, so there needs to be an advocate of some sort to fill out and submit the paperwork that’s involved.

According to information on the National Parks Service website, a property must meet the National Register Criteria for Evaluation that includes the property’s age, significance and integrity.

For all you Baby Boomers out there, don’t be shocked: a structure can be considered historic if it’s at least 50 years old.

But, Pace said, the list includes more than just homes or other structures that have been around for centuries. For instance, the Wheless home in Louisburg was built in the mid 1950’s.

It meets the age criteria – barely – but it’s the style of architecture – reminiscent of the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright – that put this relatively young home among other homes that have graced the landscape for centuries.

Franklin County has many entries on “the list,” but there are many more located in northern Franklin County than in the southern part of the county, Harris said.

One of the newer additions is the Pearce-Massey-Stallings in southern Franklin County. It was nominated about five years ago and Harris described it as a “handsome” house built in a couple of different sections, the older back part dating back to about 1820.

The front was added about 1910, but the property is also significant because of the large number of outbuildings that are still standing. It’s also remains in the family, Pace said.

Another example of generations of ownership by the same family of a historic property is Cassine, near Louisburg. Descendents of the original members of the Perry family retain ownership of this historic property, which dates back to the 1760’s.

Want to check out some of these examples of historic architecture? Arm yourself with a list available at https://www.hpo.nc.gov/ or bring along the county’s architectural survey and chances are you’ll wend your way by a good number of homes, churches – and if you’re in the Inez area of Warren County – even a fire tower, all considered worthy of inclusion on that NPS’s National Register of Historic Places.

Just remember to drive by – don’t trespass, Pace reminds.

“Most of us are proud of our old houses,” Harris said. So if you happen to see someone out in the yard when you’re driving by, it could be worth a try to stop in and say hello. You might end up getting a tour.

 

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TownTalk: Year End Review of Cooperative Extension with Dr. Wykia Macon

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From where Dr. Wykia Macon sits, being the director of the Vance County Cooperative Extension is a lot like being a coach – and, reflecting on a busy 2025, she and her team are looking forward to another successful year as 2026 approaches.

But Macon isn’t just calling the shots from the sidelines – she considers herself a part of the team, too.

“We all offer expertise and skills in our own area,” Macon said on Tuesday’s TownTalk.

In her role as county extension director, Macon is in a unique position that has her reporting to both county leadership and to the universities – N.C. State and N.C. A&T State.

Part of the role of cooperative extension is “to bring information from the universities and bring it back here,” she said.

Back in the day it was known as Agriculture Extension, but Cooperative Extension opens it up for a variety of programs to benefit and serve a wide swath within the community.

And each year, Macon said she finds time to meet with each of the agents on Vance County’s team for reflection and planning, as well as to learn how she can better support their efforts.

She said she will continue to work to strengthen connections among the extension agent team members as well as those external partnerships in the larger community to expand extension’s reach.

The extension service has a presence across the county, whether it’s through the community garden at the farmers market, having a beekeepers’ class or helping new farmers find their niche.

“I think that’s the fun part about extension – we can do a little bit of everything,” she said.

She said the agents work “to encourage people to grow where they are,” which could mean growing plants in containers or in a hydroponic system when a plot of land isn’t available.

Food and Nutrition programming isn’t merely safe preparation of food, but it’s real home “economics,” Macon explained – how to cook the food you grow and how to stretch your dollar further.

Youth development activities have 4H Clubs that offer STEM activities alongside healthy living and leadership-building programs.

And then there’s the popular food competition that kids have really gotten into. The Dinah Gore competition is sort of like the reality TV show “Chopped,” turning mystery ingredients into a winning dish. Vance County High School will have a group participating in this project next year, Macon said.

“If they win the state competition, they’ll go to nationals,” she said.

Macon and her small team of agents rely on volunteers from the community to keep engagement high. She calls it putting ownership into the community’s hands.

“We’re at a place right now, because we’re out there, we’re gaining interest,” she said. People are asking more questions about how to become involved, asking more questions. “It’s just another way to extend (our) reach in the community,” Macon added.

There’s a Small Farm Boot Camp series beginning in January to help new producers learn about the different aspects of farming, a bee school to learn about all beekeeping, farmers market demos to share information about healthy food choices and preparation, and a possible “grill-off” for participants to show off their best grill skills.

There’s a lot in store for 2026. Follow the cooperative extension on Facebook, check the website at https://vance.ces.ncsu.edu/ or drop in the office at 305 Young St. The phone number is 252.438.8188.

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Clerk Of Superior Court Henry L. Gupton Retirement Ceremony

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With the familiar “All rise! Oyez, Oyez, Oyez,” Lt. Ray Shearin opened the Vance County Courtroom on Thursday afternoon, but it wasn’t for a legal proceeding – it was for the retirement ceremony of Clerk of Superior Court Henry L. Gupton.

Looking out over the gathering of well-wishers, Gupton called it “a humbling experience” to see people from across the county and from across the state to be a part of his retirement sendoff.”

“It’s been an honor to serve the citizens for 38 ½ years,” Gupton said. First appointed to the clerk’s position in 2017, Gupton was elected in 2018. He worked in the Vance County Sheriff’s Office and was a magistrate before taking the job as clerk of court.

Retired Superior Court Judge the Hon. Henry W. Hight, Jr., recalled a much different clerk’s office when his father, Henry W. Hight, Sr. was clerk.

There were manual typewriters, inkwells and pens and a cranky mimeograph machine that was used to print the court calendars.

“Henry Gupton was not yet born,” Hight said.

In his roles as a deputy sheriff and magistrate, Hight cited Gupton’s empathy toward people who “wanted to be heard and needed to be respected” as strengths that also would later serve him in his role as clerk of court.

He answered a plea from Franklin County to provide a clerk well-versed in juvenile proceedings when that county’s staff was sidelined by COVID-19. Hight was filling in then, and when Gupton responded, it was “problem solved, thanks to Henry,” he said.

Resident Superior Court Judge John M. Dunlow echoed Hight’s sentiments. When Vance County – indeed, the world – was trying to put in place precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dunlow said Gupton’s concern “shone through. He was genuinely concerned – (for) not just his staff, but every employee that was coming in and out of the courthouse…to conduct business.”

Then, in April 2024, when electronic court filing system went live, the Vance County staff rose to the top as a team that really had a good handle on the intricacies of eCourts.

“Clerks from all over North Carolina were coming here to Vance County to see how they were doing it,” Dunlow said, adding that it was a testament to Gupton’s leadership and to his staff that the local office had become a shining star in program implementation.

The Hon. John W. Davis said he was a young judge when he first met a fellow he said looked an awful lot like Kenny Rogers, who appeared in the doorway of the office where Davis was, “smiling and laughing, just being Henry,” Davis recalled.

“Not long after, you were made clerk of Superior Court,” he said, adding that Gupton has always been a great help to the district court judges. “Anything we ask for, he provide it. He is loving, but he is always the consummate professional…that all of us should try to emulate.”

Sheriff Curtis Brame shared memories of the Brames and the Guptons growing up on Spring Valley Road.

“Henry and I go back a long way,” Brame said. He recalls times when he’d share a meal at the Gupton home and other times that Gupton would come to Brame’s mother’s house to eat.

Working together over the years, whether at the sheriff’s office, as magistrate or clerk of court, Brame said, “We have always had a working relationship together. We didn’t always agree, but we learned to disagree and move forward in unity for the greater common good, not for him, not for me, but the citizens of Vance County.”

“Henry, I appreciate all the years of working with you,” Brame said.

“Congratulations, my friend.”

Click Play for Audio of the Ceremony

TownTalk: Vance County Fire Chief Recaps First 7 Months, Looks Ahead To Future Plans

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Vance County Fire Chief Marvin Harrison has accomplished a good bit since coming on board in April.

From equipment purchases and rebranding efforts to training exercises and team-building opportunities, Harrison can check off quite a few boxes on the “to-do” list.

Like most good leaders, Harrison took some time to think about the future of the department and evaluate what it would take to make sure the department remains ready to serve the community in the long-term.

From that process comes this realization for Harrison: “The future of Vance County is bright.”

Harrison discussed his first months on the job on Thursday’s TownTalk, reflecting on where the department had been and how he hopes to lead it into the future.

Over his career, Harrison said he’s learned from mentors about goal-setting and being prepared. He said he’s got a five-year plan and a 10-year plan for the fire department. It’s just how he operates, he said. And although he’s happy with the state of things as they are now, he’ll probably never be satisfied – things can always be better, he said.

There are just a couple of openings right now, if you don’t include a few more positions that weren’t funded, he said. Coming from a larger department to Vance County, Harrison recognized that there simply aren’t the same number of firefighter positions available to a department this size.

“You can never have enough personnel,” he added. Sending a couple of dozen firefighters to a fire call simply doesn’t happen here – it’s more like between 5 and 10.

And because departments have to be ready to cover each other and respond to calls, Harrison said strengthening collaboration is critical.

“In Vance County, we have been asked to do a lot more with less,” he said, adding that he is impressed with the commitment he sees from firefighters in the area to be willing to step in to provide mutual aid.

“Their call can become my call,” Harrison said. “We all have to do our best and always ensure we are communicating with each other to provide the best public service we can.”

As for equipment, Harrison emphasized that purchases his department makes is for equipment that can be used by any of the volunteer departments when it’s needed.

“If we purchase equipment, we want to make sure that all departments know they’re not just for us, they’re for everybody – for every one of the other departments in the county if they need it.”

There’s already a new boat and a couple of UTVs and hopefully some dive equipment will be selected soon. And certainly plans are still underway for a new station, he said.

“Day by day, week by week, we are getting better…We have a game plan (and) we are working to get more,” Harrison said. “We need a lot more, honestly.” Part of that equipment includes trucks. “We need a new fleet in here in our department as soon as possible,” Harrison said.

“We’re just trying to cover all areas and thoroughly planning for the future in Vance County because we want to be mentioned with the ‘best of the best’ when it comes to fire departments and public service.”

 

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TownTalk: County Fiscal Operations Policy Stalls In 3-3 Board Vote

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners did not approve a proposed fiscal operations policy presented Tuesday during a special called meeting.

The vote was 3-3, with Commissioners Leo Kelly, Carolyn Faines and Charisse Fain voting in favor and Commissioners Yolanda Feimster, Valencia Perry and Dan Brummitt voting against. Commissioner Tommy Hester was not in attendance.

In presenting the document for their consideration, County Finance Director Stephanie Williams explained to commissioners the need to have a comprehensive policy in place.

The 30-page document includes “clear, uniform standards” across all county departments to ensure compliance governing the county’s finances.

“You want to hold people to a standard, but you have to give them standards to put in place,” Williams said.

County Manager C. Renee Perry stated that the county has never had such a policy.

“This is really big for us, for sure,” Perry told commissioners.

Williams said she found an 8-page policy when Perry brought her on board.

“No way you can run a county with eight pages of policy,” she said, adding that although the League of Municipalities doesn’t mandate counties to have fiscal operations policies, she stressed “the absolute importance we have a policy to move forward.”

The existing document addresses topics including debt, cash management and budget policy, but doesn’t include policy about bidding, purchasing and cash handling – internal controls that have been found lacking in recent LGC audit findings.

Perry asked commissioners to send her via email any questions or concerns regarding the proposed policy by Dec. 29.

The commissioners will gather for their annual retreat on Friday, Dec. 19. Their next regular meeting will take place on Jan. 6, 2026.

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TownTalk: Dwaynna Ramsay Graduate Speaker at WGU

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Growing up in Jamaica, Dwaynna Ramsay wanted to be a pharmacist. She excelled in school, and set her sights on college to continue on the career path she dreamed of.

She was accepted into a couple of different schools, but money was tight, and Ramsay said she deferred her dream so she could work and earn money.

“I never stopped believing that learning was my key out,” Ramsay said on Tuesday’s TownTalk.

She certainly isn’t the only person to tell a similar story, and she won’t be the last. But, as a teacher today in Vance County Schools, she wants her students to hear her message: Your struggles do not define who you are.”

And that was the message she delivered in Atlanta last month in her commencement address during last month’s graduation exercises for Western Governor’s University, when she received her master’s degree in education technology and instructional technology.

Ramsay’s path is different than the one she had envisioned when she was a high school student in Jamaica, but it is a path that has her inspiring students to keep their sights on their goals and dreams and to believe in themselves.

In 2021, her husband, Kemar Morgan, took a job in Warren County Schools. He is a CTE teacher and has classes in brick masonry and construction math.

And that’s when her association with Vance County Schools began, with Ramsay becoming a permanent substitute at Vance County Middle School.

She acknowledged the “culture shock” and said the job taught her to be patient. It wasn’t easy, but she persevered. “Every day I kept going back,” she explained, and it wasn’t too long before she was invested in her students’ lives.

“Once you get to know that and understand their challenges, you realize they need a ‘constant,’” Ramsay said. “Yes, the grades do matter, but we have to be that ‘constant’ in their lives.”

So when kids fail tests or don’t do homework or get off track in some other way, they can count on Ramsay saying, “I’m going to believe you can do it until you can believe you can do it.”

The young people she connects with in school demonstrate a variety of aptitudes that they simply haven’t recognized or tapped into, she said.

During her speech to her fellow graduates, she offered a tip of the mortarboard to Dr. Stephanie Ayscue, who Ramsay said decided to give her a chance.

“She was not only a leader, but my mentor,” she said later. “She was always so encouraging. I want to be someone like that, not just for students but for anyone who encounters me,” she said during TownTalk.

Her path may not have been a straight one, and it certainly was strewn with challenges and obstacles to overcome. But scholarships came through to pay for tuition – more than once – and Ramsay said her faith buoyed her when she lacked the energy to keep up with family, work, and school.

One low point came when she failed a test – she never failed tests, she said. After a couple of weeks of feeling sorry for herself, some words of encouragement from her husband and a dream that she said she could recall word for word the next day, something changed.

“I got up and studied a little harder and actually passed with almost 100 percent,” Ramsay said. “The second and third exams, they were pretty hard, but I aced them, too.”

“If you fail something right now, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be forever,” Ramsay said. It’s what she told herself then and it’s what she shares with her students now.

“You own your failure. It’s ok to fall down,” she said. Remember, your struggles don’t define your value.

Find Ramsay’s speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj4Cy82ZC1M

 

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TownTalk: The Blast Newspaper!

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There are so many ways to get news and information these days – the more traditional methods like radio, television and print media often take a back seat to the ubiquitous screen.

When the COVID pandemic shut down Faicia Elliott’s radio advertising job, she hatched a plan to get a real newspaper in the hands of young people.

And that’s how The Blast got its start. Today, the newspaper is published monthly and is distributed free for the community to enjoy.

“Kids are on electronics for everything,” Elliott said on Monday’s TownTalk. “My vision was to have them to be able to have something tangible in their hands and to promote literacy.”

Fourth graders in Vance County Schools get copies each month, and Granville County Public Schools and Person have been added to the list, too.

It’s a one-person effort, with Elliott choosing the content, selling the ads and even distributing the 3,700 copies each month.

Printing is done at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford print shop, a point of pride for Elliott because she likes to shop local.

The Blast began as a for-profit enterprise, and after a few years, Elliott said it became a nonprofit – which means she can apply for grants. She also has advertising clients, some of which have been clients since the paper’s inception.

“It’s working, or they would not keep paying for it,” Elliott said.

As for the newspaper’s content, Elliott said she likes to include word games and other activities that get the whole family involved.

“It is important to me to promote literacy and family togetherness,” she said. “It’s a really fun paper.”

King Features Syndicate provides all kinds of content for the “big” papers, but they also provide content for The Blast. “I called them and said this is what we do, could you give me some content,” Elliott recalled, “and they gave me some puzzles for minimal (amount) compared to what the big papers pay.”

The newspaper contains nothing political, Elliott said, and it’s not pushing any agendas.

Readers of the current issue will learn, however, that Today, Monday, Dec. 15 is National Cupcake Day. The monthly calendar noting those special, silly days is a staple of The Blast.

She also includes local activities on a town calendar. This month includes dates for Christmas parades, for example, but she also likes to include what’s going on at the libraries and with the different recreation departments.

Another staple – and a favorite of Elliott’s – is the fishing page. Everybody can fish, she said, and there are so many fishing tournaments that take place locally, she wanted to include a page devoted to the sport and to learn more about fish.

That’s where the fish facts come into play. “I like that page because it’s fun to find those facts,” she said. Add that to her list of responsibilities. Fish Fact Finder.

As a nonprofit, Elliott has a board to help manage and oversee the organization, but the day-to-day falls to her. “I am it,” she said, “and it is not easy, but it’s important to me.”

And it’s important to her that the young people have access to information that they enjoy and have fun with. That’s how the paper got its name, in fact. “We wanted the kids to have a blast.”

Find TheNCBlast on Facebook, use ncblastsales@gmail.com or pick up the phone and call 919.482.9335 to learn more.

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