Latest news with #NCA&TStateUniversity
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission sees record numbers
(WGHP) — More qualified educators are on their way to schools in North Carolina. The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission hit a record number of teaching fellows for the upcoming school year. North Carolina has struggled with high turnover rates for teachers in the past. From 2023 to 2024, almost one in 10 teachers left their job, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. To combat this issue, programs like North Carolina Teaching Fellows have stepped up, and this year, they had the highest number of 530 teaching fellows. Dr. Tosha Rooks has been an educator in Guilford County Schools for more than 20 years. From a test facilitator to an assistant principal, she has educated students from various perspectives and understands how important the job of a teacher is. 'We want the school year to start off and sustain with teachers who are supported and that are really there for the children that can help them expand both academically and socially. It is really important for the state of North Carolina.' Rooks said. That is why she now serves as the director for programs like the North Carolina Teaching Fellow for NC A&T State University. The NC Teaching Fellows Program is a forgivable merit-based program providing tuition assistance of up to $10,000 a year. Among the 10 schools participating, Rooks says NC A&T State University brings in a unique angle. 'One thing is that I really tried to bring in global thinking … We started off as STEM. When they brought the program back, it was basically STEM. Now, they have included elementary education,' Rooks said. Rooks says that with many teaching fellows coming from small towns without a lot of experience in long-distance traveling, she tries to broaden her students' horizons by taking them to international conferences and retreats. Bennett Jones, the director of the NC Teaching Fellows Program, says it is important to retain the public instructors as much as recruiting them. 'Get them into our educator prep programs, ensure a robust and a meaningful experience while they are in school and how do we help support them and coach and mentor them that when they go back to the classrooms they stay,' Jones said. Through the NC Teaching Fellows Program, the repayment is through teaching one year for every year you receive funding. NC A&T State University will be hosting a beginning teacher conference on Saturday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Longtime Gibsonville mayor looks back on 31 years of service
GIBSONVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — Leonard Williams, better known as Lenny, had a rough start. He lost his mom at just six years old, and with 13 siblings, he didn't make it to class. When he was 9, two teachers near rural Enfield said he was too smart not to go to school. They walked three miles to teach him, and he went on to be his high school's valedictorian. He's never forgotten how much they believed in him. At 91, he's officially retired as mayor from the city of Gibsonville after 30 years of service. Williams stepped down as mayor in late January just a day after his 91st birthday. FOX8 visited him at his old stomping grounds at a building now named for him. Inside, it was only fitting to head to the dais to the seat he occupied as mayor of Gibsonville for 23 years. He was an alderman for eight years before that. 'I resigned on the 26th … but I feel a little bit different because … you come in here for a purpose,' he said. His purpose is what drove him from the rural area near Enfield where he was raised to NC A&T State University and then Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey. His first career was with the IRS, which transferred him back to Greensboro. He recalled during his studies at NC A&T that staff at the historically Black university warned students that some of the rural areas like Gibsonville still held racist beliefs. He found that to be true. 'Jack's Barbecue discriminated. They didn't let people of color come,' he said. It didn't deter him. He became friends with the eatery's namesake, Jack Rook, who died in 2003 at 75. 'As far as I'm concerned, there wasn't a better person in Gibsonville than Jack,' he said. Williams, who grew up in the country, made a home in Gibsonville. It wasn't long before he was recruited for the planning board and rose in the ranks to alderman and then mayor. He watched the town grow from 4,000 to 10,00, brought the town the transit system, lobbied for a $2.1 million multipurpose center and much more. Before he officially stepped down, he was asked to stay. 'I am going to stay right in the same house I'm in now unless the traffic gets too bad,' he said. Even at 91, he still drives much to the chagrin of his daughter, Evelyn. 'I told my daughter, 'I know you don't want me to drive, but I got to go see my friend,'' he said. His best friend died last year, and he promised to make sure to check on his wife. That sums up who Williams is and what he hopes people will remember him as. 'I want them to think about me as somebody who's willing to help just about anybody,' he said. Williams received the highest civilian honor, the Order of the Longleaf Pine, in 2017 for his decades of service. He also says he isn't done. He's going to talk to as many young people as he can to inspire them to make a difference even if things are rough. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Viral NC A&T State University professor starts TikTok trend
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — An NC A&T State University assistant professor became a viral sensation by posting a class syllabus and starting a TikTok trend. NC A&T Assistant Professor Dr. Leah Barlow posted a short TikTok outlining her course on Jan. 20. 'I have traditional and non-traditional students, so I wanted a way to reach out to all 35 of them,' Barlow said. Without any hashtags on the video, it reached more than 4 million people. 'I was shocked. I was ready to delete the page. I was a little bit horrified. I decided to delete the page. I privated the page and then decided to get back on,' Barlow said. The demand she speaks of is from the people in her comment section from around the world. So Barlow kept on posting videos for her now 500,000 followers to keep them informed along with her actual students. Her content eventually inspired other Black and brown educators, especially those who work at HBCUs to do the same, giving birth to the Hillmantok trend. 'Hillman is of course a fictional institution from the show 'A Different World'.' Part of the trend is … showing their expertise from gardening to knitting to chemistry and to what I do, which is teaching African American Studies,' Barlow said. It's a trend she's glad to have started and hopes other educators help her continue. 'It's a wonderful opportunity for people to provide free education … which we love,' Barlow said. After starting the Hillmantok trend, Barlow says it caught the attention of those who run the social media app. She was invited to HBCUNight at a Washington Wizards game. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
