Session Two -Education

The second session for Leadership Wilmington Class of 2025 was focused on education; giving our class a mix of hands-on experiences, from touring Cape Fear Community College’s Boat Building class, to hearing from the Interim Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools in an informal classroom style format. It was a day full of pulling back the curtain and learning more about the “why’s” behind our county’s various programs and procedures in education.
 
We started off the morning in small groups touring schools across the county. The schools visited were Wrightsville Beach Elementary, Porters Neck Elementary, College Park Elementary, Bradley Creek Elementary School, International School at Gregory, Trask Middle School, Wilmington Early College High School, Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, and Spark Academy. Our designated representative at each school took us around to different classrooms and shared insight on what makes them unique. Upon return to the Chamber, our class recapped our visits, sharing the highlights along with things that stood out the most. Some of the topics discussed were the large percentage of ESL students in the classrooms, the application of technology and data into classroom initiatives and the leadership techniques of the principals.
 
On the heels of our share and tell from our school visits, we shifted into our professional development segment on fundraising. Katie Tate, the Director of Foundation at Lower Cape Fear Life Care and Leadership Wilmington alumna from the class of 2024, led us on the topic, bringing in her vast experience from her current role and various other opportunities she has been a part of over the years. The presentation emphasized the importance of “the ask,” and deciphering next steps when given a “no,” “maybe,” or a “yes.” We concluded with some class role playing that involved pitching our Work on Wilmington sponsorship levels to two classmates from the 2024 class.
 
After lunch and our committee reports, we were able to hear from the Executive Director of Smart Start, Jane Morrow. She was able to walk the class through the cliff notes version of development that happens within kids before the age of five, including executive function. She shared that there are approximately 12,000 children in New Hanover County below Kindergarten with average infant costs ranging from $9,500 to $12,000 a year, representing 12% of the median family income. Another statistic that was highlighted in her presentation was that 45-50% of parents in the county are receiving some form of financial assistance.
 
We then heard from Dr. Christopher Barnes, Interim Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools. He started his presentation by introducing the Pygmalion Study of 1968, which showcased the importance of high expectations and belief in student learning, and a driving principle of his.  Additionally, he shared some statistics regarding how our district fares in relation to those surrounding us, with Math 1 and Graduation rates being the only areas not ranked either 1st or 2nd. Though, Dr. Barnes was very interested in using most of his time with our class listening to what we experienced on our site tours. Some of the Q&A time covered the possibility of expanding the Leader in Me initiative that is occurring at Porter’s Neck Elementary and the importance of keeping key personnel such as principals in place when there is a fit so forward momentum can take place within the school.
 
Following Dr. Stuart, we heard from Eddie Stuart, Vice Chancellor of University Advancement at University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). He shared with us that there were almost 21,000 applicants and 2,754 accepted first year students in the fall of 2024. Of those students, 86% were NC residents, 66% were female, 22% identify as a student of color, 13% were legacy, and 17% were first generation college. In addition to first year students, the University saw 1,433 total transfers with about 450 of them being from Cape Fear Community College. The presentation went on to share that there are now 18,500 total students at UNCW, 107,000 alumni, and over 2,500 faculty and staff. He concluded his presentation by talking about the 10-year strategic plan with some of the highlights being the addition of a Welcome Center and a proposed Hotel-Conference Center on the grounds. It was also shared that UNCW has a $3.2 Billion economic impact in North Carolina with $1.6 Billion of that being in Southeastern NC.
 
The rest of our afternoon as a class would be spent with Erin Easton, the Director of Workforce Development at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC). Erin began by quizzing the class on some basic facts about CFCC. She then shared that they are the 5^th largest community college in North Carolina out of 58, serving 15,281 students each year. There was also the mention of new programs coming to CFCC, including Career Pilot, Simulation and Game Development, Geomatics, and Aviation Maintenance Tech, all of which are seeing a demand from employers. Some of the support services she mentioned CFCC offers are drop-in childcare, a food pantry for students, scholarships through their foundation and their Nixon Leaders Center.  
 
While that concluded our classroom portion of the day, we still had some learning left to do, so Erin led us on a brief walk over to the CFCC grounds and into their newly established Dog grooming facility, where we learned how students can prepare for a career in dog grooming in 20 weeks all while offering services to the public at large for very affordable prices. We then headed over to hear from Spencer Nickel, Instructor for the Outboard & Small Engines program. Surrounded by tools and Yamaha boat engines, Mr. Nickel went into the intricacies of the trade and how the three levels of courses prepare students to be job ready from day 1 with a Yamaha certification in hand after each of the three courses. He even shared how 80% of students have a job before even completing the full course load because of the demand and quality of the training.
 
We then traveled over to hear from John Olsen, Program Director for the Boat Manufacture & Service program. John shared with us how the students work to craft composite boats with everything included, from plumbing to electrical. He also spoke about the opportunities the students have in landing a job after the course, with most of the jobs being in Maine, North Carolina and Florida. John then took us next door where the wooden boat building program takes place. The workshop was filled with a variety of wood and tools that the students use to craft wooden boat frames using traditional woodworking skills and advanced techniques that can set them up for jobs in various trades. We even learned that the completed boats are put up for auction on a government surplus site after the semester so they can recoup some of their supply costs.  
 
After our long day of learning, our classmates gathered on the rooftop of the Aloft hotel at aView Rooftop bar & Bistro for our version of recess. We shared stories from our time in the schools, recapped the day and bonded over our shared experiences of going through the great opportunity of Leadership Wilmington together. I think this Benjamin Franklin quote summed up my thoughts on the day best: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”