Education Shoutouts
Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 2, 2016
West Rowan student serves on state panel
West Rowan High School Sophomore Ben Zino was one of a five-member panel, and the only student on the panel, for the NCBCE (NC Business Committee for Education) Annual Meeting held earlier today in Durham at the American Tobacco Campus.
Those attending the event were so impressed with Zino’s responses to the questions that they began tweeting out his quotes during the event. One tweet quoted Zino as saying, “We don’t need people who follow orders. We need critical thinkers, collaborators.” Zino received a round of applause and even a few job offers from an impressed business community.
The topic of the panel discussion was “Innovations in Education.”
Along with Zino, the five-member panel consisted of Rowan-Salisbury Superintendent Dr. Lynn Moody; Will Sutton, executive vice president with BB&T; Rob Leichner, a math teacher at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; and Dr. Amanda Marvelle, community lab coordinator with Biogen.
NCBCE members are comprised of corporate leaders from around NC. The role of the NCBCE is to address challenges and strengthen connections between teachers and the business community.
Home Builders Association awards scholarships
- Sam McNeely. Sam attends Salisbury High School and plans on going to N.C. State to study civil engineering.
- Ronnie Rollings. Ronnie attends Salisbury High School and plans on going to Western Carolina to study construction management.
- Paul McNeely. Paul currently attends N.C. State and is studying mechanical engineering.
Two students win art contest
Two Knollwood Elementary students had their art chosen for the North Carolina Farm to School 2016-2017 calendar. Adelisse Torres, a first-grader at Knollwood will be featured for the March 2017 page, and Tanisha Agrawal, a kindergartner at Knollwood Elementary will be featured the month of April. This marks the sixth year for the popular contest.
The contest was open to all public elementary students across the state. The winners received $50 gift cards sponsored by the N.C. Farm to School Cooperative, the group of farmers supplying produce to the program. The N.C. Grange sponsored the Farm to School calendar. Winners were announced at an awards ceremony at the Got to Be NC Festival in Raleigh. The winning artwork will be on display throughout the year in the Agriculture Building and at the N.C. State Fair in October.
Limited numbers of the calendars will be available through participating school systems before the start of the school year. Additional copies will be available at NCDA&CS on a first-come, first-served basis, and printer-friendly versions will be available online at www.ncfarmtoschool.com.

Adelisse Torres is pictured with Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, left, and Jimmy Gentry, executive director of the N.C. State Grange.
Millbridge Elementary