Tag Archive for: #hendersonnews
E.M. Rollins has a New Principal
Stephanie Alston, an educator for over 17 years and an elementary school principal most recently in Edgecombe County, has been named as the new principal at E.M. Rollins Elementary School.
She replaces Dean Thomas, who has been named as Vance County Schools’ new coordinator of the Transportation Department.
Alston will assume her new duties at E.M. Rollins as soon as possible.
During her career in education, she was a teacher for eight years and an administrator for the past nine years. While she was with Edgecombe County Schools, she was a two-time nominee for Principal of the Year. She participated in the Fulbright Principal Exchange Program in which she hosted four principals from Argentina in her home. They each visited for a three-week period to learn more about teaching and learning practices in the United States. Alston also visited Argentina as a Fulbright Principal for a 10-day learning experience this past fall.
Alston has served as a teacher and assistant principal with Pitt County Schools. She was a Teacher of the Year nominee and a three-time nominee for Assistant Principal of the Year in Pitt County.
She says she considers herself to be a continual learner and is grateful for the opportunity to be able to impact students, teachers, parents and community stakeholders using her platform as a school leader.
“I welcome the new partnerships that I will form to best benefit the stakeholders of E.M. Rollins Elementary,” Alston said.
A native of Martin County, Alston received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from East Carolina University.
(Information provided from VCS in a press release.)
Woods I Apartment Fire
Monday morning shortly before 6:00, Henderson firefighters responded to Woods I Apartments located at 203 South Cooper Drive, according to Fire Chief Steve Cordell.
Cordell said firefighters went to building 5, apartment F, and that no one was injured.
He said eight units were affected and 15 occupants were displaced.
The fire was under control by 6:20 A.M., about 30 minutes after the call was received, and the scene was cleared shortly after noon.
No damage estimates were immediately available and a cause was not provided.
AT&T sponsors new VGCC Summer Bridge program
AT&T North Carolina has made a $10,000 contribution to Vance-Granville Community College to support a new student success initiative. For the first time, the college will offer a “Summer Bridge” program this year for incoming first-year students. With AT&T’s sponsorship, the program will be available at no cost to participating students.
“Thanks to the strong support of AT&T North Carolina, in a few months, our faculty and staff will be able to offer some extra help to students to prepare them to succeed as scholars at the college level,” said Dr. Stelfanie Williams, the president of VGCC.
Robert Doreauk, AT&T’s regional director of external affairs, formally presented the donation in February at a luncheon honoring donors to the college, held at the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford.
“We understand that there is no better way to make a lasting difference in a community than by helping support the education of its young people,” Doreauk said. “Through our signature philanthropic initiative, AT&T Aspire, we support opportunities to foster skills that will meet the needs of the future workforce while helping all students make their biggest dreams a reality. We appreciate the opportunity to support the Summer Bridge program and are excited about the impact it will have on students’ lives and futures.”
VGCC Dean of Arts and Sciences Cynthia Young explained that Summer Bridge will be a comprehensive, two-week program with two overarching themes. “The first theme is providing targeted support, supplemental instruction and skill-building to help students accelerate their pathway from developmental education to regular curriculum courses,” Young said.
Most VGCC students take placement tests as part of the admissions process to evaluate their current skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Placement test scores are used for academic advising and correct course placement. Students may be placed in a developmental math course, for example, to build math skills before moving on to more challenging college courses that are required for diploma and degree programs.
“The second theme of the program is college readiness,” Young said. “Students will participate in orientation and meet with faculty from various curriculum programs so that they understand the opportunities that are available to them here at Vance-Granville. In addition, our coaches from the Student Success Center will help students in the program to create academic plans in line with their career goals.” Young said that the program will serve North Carolina residents who are high school or high school equivalency graduates, are entering VGCC for the first time, and have placed into developmental education.
“We are excited about introducing this program,” said Young. “It will give students more tools to be successful.”
The Summer Bridge initiative is being developed as Dr. Williams and other college leaders across the country are increasingly focused on bringing students up to speed quickly, so that they can start their college-level coursework earlier and graduate on schedule. According to a new report from the Center for Community College Student Engagement, 86 percent of students nationwide believe they are academically prepared to succeed in college, but 67 percent test into developmental coursework.
For more information on the Summer Bridge program, contact Cynthia Young at youngc@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3424.
VGCC students partner to register bone marrow donors
The SkillsUSA chapter at Vance-Granville Community College recently teamed up with national organizations and a local cancer survivor to find some potential heroes.
The survivor, Whitney Johnson Espinosa of Henderson, who calls her campaign against childhood cancer “Whitney’s Hope,” organized a bone marrow registration drive in the Civic Center on VGCC’s Main Campus. She connected with the SkillsUSA student organization through her mother, VGCC Dean of Business & Applied Technologies Angela Gardner-Ragland.
Espinosa was working in concert with three national organizations, “There Goes My Hero,” Delete Blood Cancer and the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, to register new bone marrow donors. “Your college drive is an amazing opportunity to impact the lives of patients around the world who need bone marrow transplants by improving their chances of finding a matching donor,” Kristina Gaddy of There Goes My Hero wrote to Espinosa.
There Goes My Hero was founded by transplant recipient Erik Sauer in 2008, and seeks to provide hope and nourishment to leukemia patients and their families. Since its founding, the organization has added over 10,000 new people to the bone marrow registry.
The event at VGCC registered 30 new donors. Students, faculty, staff and community members signed up and swabbed their cheeks to provide DNA samples. The painless registration process took only a few minutes, but could save a life if a participant turns out to be a match for someone in need of a bone marrow transplant. Such treatments are the only hope for many people diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other blood cancers and diseases. VGCC held a similar drive in 2015 in partnership with the Project Life Movement and the “Save the Fox” campaign.
The initiative is one of several community service projects that have been conducted under the auspices of the college’s SkillsUSA organization. VGCC recently joined the national partnership of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. Students in a variety of VGCC programs are eligible to join SkillsUSA. For more information on SkillsUSA at VGCC, contact Public Services department chair Steve Hargrove at hargroves@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3467.
For more information on becoming a bone marrow donor, visit www.ThereGoesMyHero.org or www.deletebloodcancer.org.
City of Henderson demolishes abandoned home
The Citizens Aligned To Take Back Henderson won a victory today as one of the 400 reported homes in the city was destroyed. The home was located at 910 West Andrews Avenue in Henderson. Heidi Owen, who is one of the instrumental leaders of Citizens Aligned To Take Back Henderson, told WIZS news, “What a huge difference taking down this one small structure makes. Imagine if the county and city can work together to remove all 400! We encourage supporters to contact our local leaders and and ask them to do the right thing for Henderson…for Vance County.”
To find out more about Citizens Aligned To Take Back Henderson be sure to like the group on Facebook, and listen to TownTalk on Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Granville Sheriff asks for your help
Granville County Sheriff’s Office needs your help in locating Kenneth “Buddy” McIlhenny last known address of Grassy Creek Rd. He has outstanding warrants for Felony Larceny, Obtaining Property by False Pretense and Larceny of a Firearm. If you have information regarding his whereabouts please contact 911 or Granville County Sheriff’s Office at 919-693-3213.