Vance County Schools held its second annual “Honoring Academic Success” banquet on Wednesday, May 10, at McGregor Hall in downtown Henderson to honor 48 high school seniors who are the top academic achievers in their respective graduating classes for the 2016-2017 school year.
An audience of approximately 225 people attended the banquet which featured entertainment by local students and a nice meal, catered by Cook Shack of Louisburg.
Kaitlyn Tant, a junior at Southern Vance High School, and Jadyn Jones, a junior at Northern Vance High School, each sang lovely musical selections to honor the high school seniors. They wowed the audience with their impressive musical talents.
Uriah Ford, a 2016 graduate of the Vance County Early College High School, was the featured speaker for the evening. Ford spoke about his experience last year as a member of the honored group at the 2016 “Honoring Academic Success” banquet. He also talked about his first year as a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and urged all of the soon-to-be graduates to enjoy their last few weeks in high school and to look forward to the challenges still facing them.
But, the true stars of the evening were the 48 high school honorees. Each are part of the top 10 percent of academic achievers in their senior classes. They have all proven to be leaders academically and have proven during their four-year high school careers that they value their studies and can be counted on to set high goals and work to achieve them. They were recognized individually and were presented with medallions by Superintendent Anthony Jackson, Vance County Board of Education Chairperson Gloria J. White and Vance County Public School Foundation President Archie Taylor Jr.
Those honored seniors included from the Vance County Early College High School: Christopher Brame, Sierra Hawkins, Kristen Oakes, Janet Rodriguez-Morales and Jacob Weaver. They are joined by, from left, counselor Tannis Jenkins and Principal Debbie Hite.
Seniors honored as top academic achievers at the AdVANCE Academy at Western Vance High School were Danny Lee Hicks Jr., Cindy San Juan, Dawn-Sha’ Smith, Antavious Williams and Robert Wunderlich. They are joined by Principal Stephanie Ayscue, left, and counselor Marsha Harris, right.
Top achievers in the senior class at Southern Vance High School include: Luis Amaya-Villa, Yasmene Clark, Dalton Elliott, Gavin Eutsler, Daniel Faulkner, Kenia Gomez, Kendall Harris, Anna Hernandez, Brandon Lawrence, Antonia Loyd, Carrington Matias, Angelica Montano, Vianey Nonato, Tyler Patrick, Jaslin Renteria, Heidy Reyes, Yarelic Tamayo, Logan Waite and Autumn Wortham. They are joined, from left, by Principal Rey Horner and counselor Carol Simmons.
From Northern Vance High School those seniors honored were Megan Andrews, Jared Bennett, Charlie Chiem, Tamiya Davis, Brooks Falkner, Holly Hilliard, Sarah Howarth, Hannah Mason, Shadi Nagi, Connor Pendergrass, Michelle Pham, Penny Phan, Turner Roberson, Jo’el Royster, Deriana Scott, Bailey Shelton, Imani Simmons, Nathaniel Stevenson and Jeffery Zheng. They are joined by, from left, counselor Jameka Floyd and Principal Andrew Markoch.
Nowell Brooks and Alice Hinson, both assistant principals with Vance County Schools, have successfully completed a year-long participation in the Future-Ready Leadership (FRL) development program for practicing assistant principals.
Both have been administrators in Vance County Schools for several years. Brooks also has been an assistant principal at Henderson Middle School and E.M. Rollins Elementary School. Hinson was a long-time teacher at Eaton-Johnson Middle School. She also has been an assistant principal at Eaton-Johnson and Northern Vance High School.
The FRL is provided by the N.C. Principals and Assistant Principals’ Association and is aligned to the performance evaluation standards adopted by the State Board of Education for North Carolina’s school leaders. Through this cohort driven model, assistant principals participate in six face-to-face sessions held in Raleigh and engage in assignments, projects and readings designed to build the capacity of their schools and their own capacity as “Future-Ready” school leaders.
Travis Taylor, who has extensive experience as a high school and middle school principal, has been named the new principal at Eaton-Johnson Middle School.
Taylor was approved as the school’s new principal by the Vance County Board of Education at its meeting on May 8.
He joins Vance County Schools after serving as the principal of Carver High School in Winston-Salem, since 2014.
“We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Taylor join our team,” said Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools. “We look forward to him providing excellent leadership to the Eaton-Johnson Middle School staff, students and community.”
Taylor’s previous positions as principal have been at Lexington Senior High School in Lexington, the Southern School of Engineering in Durham and East Lee Middle School in Lee County. Taylor also has experience as an assistant principal and science and math teacher with Durham Public Schools.
He was named the Lexington City Schools Principal of the Year in 2013. He also was named the 2012 Principal of the Year by the N.C. Association of Scholastic Activities for increasing student participation in scholastic activities and competitions.
Taylor earned his bachelor’s degree in middle school education from N.C. Central University and his master’s degree in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He will assume his duties as principal at Eaton-Johnson on July 1.
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Students who are members of the junior class at the Vance County Early College High School have been selected as graduation marshals to assist in events for the Class of 2017.
The 10 junior marshals were honored at a luncheon on April 28 at the school. They were selected as marshals for their outstanding academics.
The students are shown in the accompanying photo and include from left: Ke’Moni Champion, Victoria Inscoe, Seth Moody, Suzanne Williams, Luke Frazier, Nancy Bonilla, Lehman Ford, Zenee Davis and Lillian Kanouff. Nealee Fisher also will serve as a marshal, but was not available for the photo.
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Anthony Pope, a dedicated volunteer at the Vance County Early College High School, was named the Vance County Schools’ Volunteer of the Year for 2016-2017 at the school system’s annual Volunteer/Business Partner Recognition Reception on April 27.
The event was attended by about 160 volunteers and business partners with our schools, as well as school administrators and staff members. The reception was held in the multipurpose room at Clarke Elementary School.
Pope was chosen as the district’s Volunteer of the Year from an outstanding group who volunteer at our 17 local schools. The others honored as each school’s Volunteer of the Year included: Amanda Gill of Aycock Elementary; Marion Perry of Carver Elementary; George Davis of Clarke Elementary; Jack Richardson of Dabney Elementary; Emma Finch of New Hope Elementary; Deborah Sykes of Pinkston Street Elementary; William Brodie of E.M. Rollins Elementary; Cedric Hinton of L.B. Yancey Elementary; Optimist Club of Henderson for E.O. Young Jr. Elementary; Kim Pulley of Zeb Vance Elementary; Valerie Hill of Eaton-Johnson Middle; James Black of Henderson Middle; Joanna Whittacre of both STEM Early High and Northern Vance High; Sylvia Rae of Southern Vance High; and Melissa Elliott of AdVance Academy at Western Vance High.
School officials also recognized an additional 74 individuals, groups and businesses as outstanding business partners for the school year. They were honored in the categories of Shining Moment Partners, Champions of Education and Friends of Education. The Henderson Family YMCA and Henderson-Vance Recreation & Parks Department again were recognized for being named co-recipients of the school system’s Shining Moment Award as the top business partners for this school year. They were presented with the award in late January.
All of the award recipients were presented their honors by Superintendent Anthony Jackson, Assistant Superintendent Trixie Brooks and Crystal Richardson, Clarke Elementary principal and the district’s Principal of the Year.
The Clarke Elementary Chorus also provided musical entertainment at the event.
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Clara Bobbitt, a junior at Northern Vance High School, attended the Rotary Youth Leadership Award Conference for the Rotary Clubs of District 7710 from April 21 through April 23 at Camp Oak Hill in Granville County.
Bobbitt represented the Rotary Club of Henderson at the leadership conference.
The Rotary Youth Leadership Award Conference is designed for high school juniors who have demonstrated leadership potential in scholastic, athletic and civic activities. Those students who attend the conference are expected to be future leaders for their communities.
The aim of the conference was to: demonstrate Rotary’s respect and concern for youth; provide an effective training experience for selected youth leaders and potential leaders; encourage leadership of youth by youth; and recognize publicly young people who are rendering service for their communities.
The conference was led by adult moderators for discussions, professional facilitators and alumni counselors who come from many different disciplines. Discussions and experiential sessions focused on what leadership is, qualities of leadership, teambuilding activities, trust activities and time and stress management. There also was a high and low ropes challenge course and the opportunity to complete a personal profile.
Bobbitt was selected to attend the conference based on her top academic achievements in her junior class at Northern Vance High School, as well as her leadership skills already exhibited in her school, community and church.
She is the daughter of Ruxton and Karen Bobbitt of Henderson.
The Vance County Board of Education at its regular monthly meeting on April 17, approved a funding request of $10,219,321 for appropriations from Vance County for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The request will go on to the Vance County Board of Commissioners for its review, along with other county funding requests, beginning at its May 1 meeting.
The school system’s local funding request includes an increase of $1,021,881 from the current fiscal year. The increased funding request would help the school district continue its positive trend through sustaining operations with continuation funds of $121,523, fully funding the school system’s teacher supplement with an additional $400,359 to help retain and support quality staff and increase the capital outlay funding by $500,000 to support the district’s school safety plan.
If approved, the requested county appropriations funding would maintain existing programs and services based on current per-pupil funding and inflationary factors.
The request for increased teacher supplement funding would boost available revenues which currently fund supplements for only 64 percent of eligible teachers. The school district has been using available fund balance monies to offset the difference each year for the last several years.
The requested increase in capital outlay funds will be used for school safety initiatives that include installing new cameras on all school buses and in school buildings.
The Vance County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve all county funding for the upcoming fiscal year by July 1.
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A total of 53 students who attend Southern Vance High School have been inducted into the school’s chapter of the National Beta Club.
The students were recognized during an assembly held in the school’s gymnasium on April 6.
They join 74 current members in the chapter’s Beta Club.
Andrea Coleman of Duke Energy Progress, was the featured speaker during the induction ceremony. She praised the students for their high academic achievements that led them to be inducted into the prestigious educational association.
The new inductees are shown in the accompanying photo. They include, seated from left on the front row, Diamond Alston, Corey Baldwin, Justus Baldwin, Kailee Ball, Reyna Orzco, Madonna Baselios, Magan Bass, Karmin Caceres, Sherrod Carter and Miracle Chin. On the second row, from left, are Areli Clemente, Victoria Cruz, Zamari Ellis, Litzi Gonzalez, She’Nyia Hargrove, Deana Hawkins, Shayquan Henderson, Emily Isidro, Jillion Johnson and Joshua Joyner. Seated from left on the third row are Maleny Lopez, Perla Lopez, Crystal Marrow, Diamonds Marrow, Jacob May, Mya McKnight, Desmond Mills, Ashley Mosley, April Pendergrass and Shaniya Pernell. Students on the fourth row, from left, include Imani Perry, Wendy Portillo, Hailey Reavis, Litzy Renteria, OnJahlaya Robinson, Camri Ross, Bryanna Simril, William Strickland, Robert Susewell and Kaitlyn Tant. Seated from left on the back row are Dayon Thornton, Tar’Naja Thorpe, Gabriela Ventura, Dyamond Williams, Zachary Williamson and Xavier Wilson.
Additional students who were inducted as new Beta Club members, but were not available for the photo include Hakeem Agbele, Sarah Burns, Itzy Chavarin, Cynthia Hernandez, Natalee Stephens, Conner Thompson and Jodi Waite.
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N.C. End-of-Course and N.C. Final Exams will be administered to students at the Vance County Early College High School May 16-19 and May 22-25. At the Early College, May 16 and May 17 testing will include Math II, Math III and district testing. May 18 will include testing for seniors and will involve exams that have constructive responses. On May 19, students will take their first-period exams for the N.C. End-of-Course, N.C. Final Exams, Career and Technical Education assessments and any teacher made exams. The same exams will be administered on May 22 for second-period classes; May 23 for third-period classes; and May 24 for fourth-period classes. Make-up exams will be given to students who need them May 22-25. Each school day, testing will begin by 8:30 a.m. The last day of classes for students at Early College High this year is May 24.
Testing in elementary and middle schools begins on May 26.
On May 26, the N.C. Final Exams (NCFE) will be given to students in grades 4, 6 and 7 in science or social studies and students in grade 8 will take the NCFE in social studies.
N.C. End-of-Grade (EOG) exams will be given May 30-June 1 in elementary and middle schools. The testing calendar includes: Math EOGs on May 30; Reading EOGs on May 31; and Science EOGs for fifth and eighth graders on June 1. Students in grades 3-5 in the elementary schools and in grades 6-8 in the middle schools will participate in the math and reading state testing.
On June 2, NCFE will be administered to students in grades 6 and 7 in science or social studies. On June 5 and June 6, middle school students will take Career and Technical Education assessments. June 7 will involve testing for selected eighth graders for the N.C. Math I test and Career and Technical Education assessments for all eligible middle school students. Eighth graders in English I classes will take this N.C. End-of-Course test on June 8 and eligible middle school students will take additional Career and Technical Education assessments on June 8. Make-up exams for middle school students will be administered June 2 and June 5-9. Remediation instruction also will be given to affected students beginning June 2 and continuing each school day through June 8.
The third-grade N.C. Read to Achieve exam will be administered to students on June 8. At the elementary level, students will have make-up exams June 2 and June 5-9. Remediation instruction also will be given to affected elementary students June 2 and June 5-8.
In all local elementary schools, testing will begin each school day by 9 a.m. The elementary and middle schools will operate on a normal schedule during each of the testing days.
At Northern Vance and Southern Vance high schools, Extend 1 testing begins the testing period on May 26. The Extend 1 test is given to selected students. May 31 and June 1, Math II, Math III and district made tests will be given to students taking those courses in grades 9-12 at the high schools. High school seniors will take exams that have constructive responses on June 2. Students in grades 9-12 in the high schools will be given N.C. End-of-Course exams, N.C. Final Exams, Career and Technical Education assessments and teacher made exams for their courses on the following schedule: first-period exams on June 5; second-period exams on June 6; third-period exams on June 7; and fourth-period exams on June 8. Make-up exams will be administered in the high schools June 6-9. On each of the testing days in the high schools, exams will be administered from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 12:45 to 2:45 p.m.
Breakfast and lunch will be served to students at all schools on all of the testing days.
The last day of classes for this school year for elementary, middle and high school students (except at Early College) is June 9.
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High school students and parents involved in Vance County Schools took advantage of a free college information session offered on April 4 through the school system’s Family Resource Center.
The session was held from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Family Resource Center, located on Graham Avenue in Henderson in the school system’s Administrative Services Center.
The counselors included Jameka Floyd of Northern Vance, Carol Simmons of Southern Vance, Tannis Jenkins of Early College, and Marsha Harris of the AdVance Academy.
They provided written information on college applications and financial aid and assisted students with online services and applications for a variety of colleges and universities throughout North Carolina and beyond.
The information session was designed mostly to provide a wealth of information to high school seniors who have not yet made a decision about the college they will attend.
Cassandra Evans, director of Federal Programs for the school system and the coordinator for the Family Resource Center, planned the college information session with assistance from the counselors.
In the accompanying photo, counselors Marsha Harris, left, and Jameka Floyd, right, work with students in the Family Resource Center during the college information sessions.
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April Pendergrass and Shaniya Pernell. Students on the fourth row, from left, include Imani Perry, Wendy Portillo, Hailey Reavis, Litzy Renteria, OnJahlaya Robinson, Camri Ross, Bryanna Simril, William Strickland, Robert Susewell and Kaitlyn Tant. Seated from left on the back row are Dayon Thornton, Tar’Naja Thorpe, Gabriela Ventura, Dyamond Williams, Zachary Williamson and Xavier Wilson.