The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

Related Photos

  • T.J. ROYAL

    images_sizedimage_070103648
March 11, 2009

SPRING BREAK

Maryland students work at Franklinton

T. J. ROYAL

A group of Maryland college students are making their home at Franklinton Center at Bricks for Spring Break this week, to do something different with their holiday.

The 20 students from Hood College, a private college in Frederick, Md., are staying at Franklinton through this week. Their work includes doing exterior renovation to the center's administration building and pool, as well as going out to area schools and speaking with students.

Tuesday, many of the Hood students chipping away old paint and coating the administration building said they came to Franklinton for an opportunity to know their fellow students better.

As she swept up paint chips on the building's front steps, Hilary Lawch, 18, of Bethesda, Md., said she came to Franklinton Center for Spring Break because she thought it would be "a great opportunity to bond with classmates I haven't met before."

While painting on some finishing touches to an outside wall, Joe Hood, 22, from Frederick, Md., said this was his first Spring Break spent doing community service. Like Lawch, Hood said it was a good opportunity for him to meet his classmates.

Although he only has a five-minute commute to Hood's campus, he said the trip to Franklinton is "the best of both worlds" for him. It allows him to do community service, while getting to know his classmates better all in the same trip.

As she used a roller to apply white paint to one of the building's walls, Junghyun Lee, 23, an exchange student from South Korea, said the Franklinton trip has been "pretty fun" so far.

"I wanted to meet people, (and) I never hung out with (people of) different races" before, Lee added.

Jacob Ausherman, 18, of Laurel, Md., said he came to Franklinton because he "thought it'd be fun, to know I'm doing a good job instead of staying home and not doing anything" over Spring Break.

While he was edging a sidewalk, Dr. Ted Chase, Hood's associate dean of students, said that having the students and faculty work together, and talking while they're doing it, helps bring them together and learn more about being part of a community. And, to him, it acts as a sort of "getaway" for students and Hood staff.

"It is a getaway in many respects. (It) recharges some of those human batteries, by doing things together you wouldn't typically do," like renovating a building's exterior, Chase said.

For Hood's track team coach Brent Ayer, it really is a form of getaway. He said that coming to Franklinton gives him a week off from his coaching responsibilities, as well as his second full-time job as a congressional staffer.

Though the Franklinton Center helped rebuild areas of Edgecombe County after Hurricane Floyd hit in September 1999, the Rev. Ervin Milton, the center's executive director, said the work the Hood students are doing "helps out" with the operation of the center.

"It helps out because as a non-profit organization, we're (often) working on a shoe-string budget and can't always afford" to have professionals paint and maintain the buildings of the more the nearly 160-year-old property.

By treating their work like they would while working on their own home, Chase added that students could leave with a sense of "somebody (knowing) I was here" at Franklinton.

Along with the maintenance work on the administration building and its pool, some of the Hood students spoke to Phillips Middle School students Tuesday. They'll also speak to Phillips students again today and to students in Halifax County Thursday.

The Rev. Beth O'Malley, dean of Hood College's chapel, said the Franklinton Center was a "natural place for us to bring students" because of its work in poverty and justice issues, as well as its "rich history" of educating teachers and other area residents.

She also noted that the center's history, as a slave trading post and plantation dating back to the 1850s, and the county's rural setting puts the students in an environment many of them haven't been in before.

Chase said that while the students had read about slavery in their history books, coming to the South and actually being on a former plantation "brings (that) history to life" and grants them a new perspective on their learning.

Another reason the school and the center agreed to work together for a service-minded Spring Break trip is because they are both affiliate institutions of the United Church of Christ, O'Malley said.

While they continue their community service this week, the Hood students didn't have to wait long before they were treated to a special concert.

Monday night, a student gospel choir from Michigan State University performed at the Franklinton Center for the students and the community.

Lawch said she thought the Michigan State choir's performance Monday night was "beautiful," and that it was "really interesting" getting to talk with some of the 80 choir members afterwards.

O'Malley noted that while most of the Hood and Michigan State students grew up in different metropolitan areas, they also seemed to "realize how much they have in common" despite geographical and cultural differences.

This Spring Break session could begin a collaboration between the school and Franklinton. Chase noted that the school would look into hosting some classes at the center, as well as offer research opportunities for professors and graduate students at Hood.

Text Only
Local News
  • IMG_5889.JPG Pizza Bowl

    The biggest football game of the year brings the largest sale of the year for two area pizza restaurants.
    Tarboro branches of Pizza Inn and Dominos Pizza are gearing up for Super Bowl XLVI Sunday by increasing their regular employee lineup by as many as seven.
    Pizza Inn is running a special that they believe will keep them busy throughout the day. Last year they sold over 200 large pizzas on Super Bowl Sunday compared to 50 on an average Sunday.

    February 3, 2012 1 Photo

  • Edgecombe unemployment up in December

    TARBORO — Unemployment rates increased in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in December. Rates decreased in four counties and remained the same in three.
    Edgecombe, which saw a slight improvement in November, fell back to its October 2011 level (15.7%). Of the 100 counties in North Carolina, Edgecombe and Dare are tied at third highest in unemployment. 

    February 3, 2012

  • Three ECPS campuses ahead of First Lady's nutritional guidelines

    When First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced new guidelines for the nutritional overhaul of school meals last week, they could have chosen three of Edgecombe County's public schools as their models.

    February 2, 2012

  • Lynn_Cale.jpg ECC Executive Named to United Way Board

    J. Lynn Cale, associate vice president of instruction at Edgecombe
    Community College, has been named to the United Way Tar River Region
    Board of Directors.
        The Tar River Region serves Edgecombe and Nash counties. Cale
    will serve a one-year term, from January to December 2012.
        He and other board members oversee 41 local health and human
    service programs funded through United Way as well as 21 Community
    Partners and various community development partnerships.
    RIGHT: J. Lynn Cale

    February 2, 2012 1 Photo

  • Pattillo Alumni Association on the move

    The Board of Directors (BOD) of W.A. Pattillo High School National Alumni
    Association, Inc. held a meeting on Jan. 21, at Pattillo School under the leadership of its President, Dr. Fred S. Wood, Jr.  All of the officers except one were in attendance, accompanied by 9 of 16 Board Members and 9 of 10 Appointed Standing Committee Chairpersons.

    February 2, 2012

  • BandSEDriverHouse.jpg Local students selected for N.C. Eastern All-District Band

    Three Edgecombe County Public Schools students have been chosen to play in the All-District Band. Lillian House, an alto saxophone player and Kaitlin Driver, a French horn player both eighth graders from South Edgecombe Middle School and West Edgecombe Middle School eighth grade flute player, Taylor Joyner earned the honor this year and will grace the stage at East Carolina University’s Wright Auditorium Feb. 3.

    February 1, 2012 2 Photos

  • Robbery prevention

    Community education on robbery prevention shares equal importance with the search of robbery suspects. Robbery prevention may seem unachievable, but we can not continue to ignore the problem of robbery in our community. As local citizens, we should create ways in which everyone can benefit from the knowledge of robbery prevention.

    February 1, 2012

  • GHW 01-28-1221.JPG George Henry White: tribute to a great American

      Why isn’t George Henry White a household name?  If Vincent Spalding has anything to do with it, that will soon change.
         Long ignored in African American history books and recognitions, George Henry White of North Carolina was elected to Congress in 1896, and re-elected in 1898, becoming the last African American elected to Congress after Reconstruction, and the first to serve in the 20th century.

    January 31, 2012 1 Photo

  • Project SKILL Updates

    The National Science Foundation grant proposal for Project SKILL (Supporting Knowledge with Innovative Life-long Learning) is currently in progress.
    This full-scale developing project, if approved, will prepare Edgecombe County's underrepresented students (grade levels 8-12) for college and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers. An anticipated approval date is scheduled for August of this year.

    January 31, 2012

  • KevinWilson.jpg Local Demand Drives Weekend Courses in Historic Preservation

    Interested in turning an old tobacco barn into a "man cave"? You can learn how this spring at Edgecombe Community College.
    In response to local demand, the college has developed several new courses in the historic preservation trades program, including "Preservation of Farm Structures" on March 17-18 and March 24-25.

    January 27, 2012 1 Photo