Number 10

Portrait of a Graduate Playbook - Personal Responsibility

This month’s Portrait of a Graduate Playbook’s focus, and final installment, is Personal Responsibility. The updated playbook includes new activities by grade span to reinforce this durable skill. Each month, the agency has revealed a durable skill – concluding with Personal Responsibility!  

For additional resources including a video, graphics and English/Spanish versions of the Portrait, please visit the NC Portrait of a Graduate webpage.

Number 9

NC Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) Participates in ABC 11 Silent Struggle Town Hall

More and more teens report struggling with depression, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts.

In an effort to shed light on the problem, ABC11 partnered with UnitedHealthcare to host The Silent Struggle: Youth Mental Health on Thursday evening which featured NCDPI’s very own Teri Putnam, the NC Project AWARE/ACTIVATE Co-Director.

Learn more and watch the segment here. 

Number 8

North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) Students Win First Place for Ready, Set, App!

Results are in and NCVPS teams brought home a win from the NC Ready, Set, App (RSA) Competition! RSA is a mobile app development competition for high school students sponsored by Lenovo and the North Carolina Business Committee for Education. Student groups were asked to develop a mobile app using a mobile app development platform (e.g., MIT App Inventor, App Lab, etc.) to solve a problem in their community or school. This year, the NC Virtual Coding Club had two teams enter the competition (Team 1 - TimeWise and Team 2 - EATS)! Over 60 teams entered the competition, 27 were selected, eight advanced to the final round, and four went home winners! Of those four were Team 1 and 2 of the NC Virtual Coding Club!

Team 1 won 1st place and received Lenovo Laptop Computers! Team 2 was the only team honored with the Research Innovation Award and received Lenovo Smart Clocks! Job well done to these students!!! If you see them in school, please give them two thumbs up! NCVPS Teacher and Instructional Leader Toni Hall serves as the club advisor. Find out about all NCVPS Student Life opportunities here.

Number 7

Two NC Educators Selected as 2023 Inspire The Future Educators

The FIRST community is fortunate to have many dedicated and inspirational teachers who give their time and support to FIRST year after year. In the classroom and after school, FIRST educators serve as mentors and coaches to students through robotics programs, help organize and volunteer for FIRST events in their schools and communities, and advocate for FIRST programs in their districts, helping students all over the world experience FIRST and build critical life and workforce skills.

Congratulations to the two North Carolina Educators who were selected as 2023 Inspire the Future: FIRST Educators Recognition Program Honorees:

• Kelli Crews, elementary school teacher
• Stanley Harrell, high school teacher

Learn more about the award and honorees here.

Number 6

NCCAT Summer Registration is now open.

Check out and apply for programs in July, August and September at http://nccat.org. Let us know about your experiences in our new registration system with an email to feedback@nccat.org. 

Number 5

District Highlight: Lexington City Schools 

"Southwest Elementary Global Academy was one of 300 schools from 36 states across the country to receive a $5,000 grant through the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. This year, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries awarded $1.5 million in library grants this year.  Many of the libraries will use the funds to update and diversify their collections."

Read more here.

Number 4

Credit Recovery Returns to NCVPS Summer School

16 credit recovery courses have been added to the NCVPS summer catalog. Special ESSER III funds for summer will cover these enrollments. The following courses will be added to the registration system:

• CR NC Math 1-4
• CR Pre-Calculus Honors
• CR American History
• CR Founding Principles of the United States of America and North Carolina: Civic Literacy
• CR World History
• CR English 1-4
• CR Biology
• CR Earth/Environmental Science
• CR Physical Science
• CR Health and Physical Education

If your school is registering students for summer, NCVPS needs your school's or district's summer contact information. This is an urgent need for summer school teachers. Please complete the Summer Contact Information form.

Number 3

Four NC Educators Recognized as Amplify 2023 Science of Reading Star Award Finalists

Four North Carolina educators were selected as Amplify 2023 Science of Reading Star Award Finalists from more than 1,000 nominations from across the county. Nominees shared inspirational stories from educators driving change with the Science of Reading in their classrooms, schools, and districts.

The North Carolina finalists are:

• Nicole Peterson — PreK-8 Director, Sampson County Schools (The Changemaker)
• Anne Elizabeth Carter — Kindergarten Teacher, Wake County Public School System (The Data Dynamo)
• Shennoy Barnett — Kindergarten Teacher, Johnston County Schools (The Data Dynamo)
• Angie Dutton — Instructional Coach, Onslow County Schools (The Knowledge Builder)

Read more about the award and watch the finalists videos here. 

Number 2

Registration for RISE 2023 is now open.

RISE 2023 – the Center for Safer Schools’ signature event – will be held July 31-Aug. 2 at the Gastonia Conference Center. Registration is free.

RISE training focuses on the resiliency, information, support and empowerment needed when supporting children and adolescents in schools and communities. 

Click here to register. Visit dpi.nc.gov for more information.

Number 1

Surry County School Leader Named 2023 NC Wells Fargo Principal of the Year

"Donna L. Bledsoe, principal of Cedar Ridge Elementary School in Surry County, was named the 2023 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year at an awards luncheon today in Cary.

Since becoming leader of the small, rural school in 2016, Bledsoe has cultivated a community with a clear focus on student success, strong faculty collaboration and overall school improvement. In her words, the culture of Cedar Ridge Elementary can be summed up in one word: 'joy.'”

Read the full press release here. Congratulations, Donna! Thank you for your strong leadership and creating such a supportive environment for your staff and students.