Blog

During the recent trip that the Governor and I took to Asia, I visited with students at two middle schools in Tokyo. 

Akasaka Middle School is a public school with just 150 students in a downtown neighborhood. Hiroo Gakuen is a large combined private junior and senior high with a long history of hosting international students and visitors.

It’s easy to note the differences between Japanese and North Carolina schools. The classes were quite large with up to 40 students in some classrooms. At both the public and private schools, the students were neatly dressed in uniforms, including jackets and ties for many of the boys. There are no school buses in Tokyo so it’s common to see schoolchildren of all ages walking the streets of the city or riding on public transportation to and from school.

While the Japanese students seemed very serious and engaged, their curiosity and friendliness are just like what I experience whenever I visit a classroom here at home. At Hiroo Gakuen, I was asked to tell them about the typical day for a middle schooler in the United States. Fortunately, I knew in advance and was able to consult an expert source – my 12 year-old grandson – for the details. 

Very few of the students knew anything about North Carolina or even just where it was so I was able to include a brief geography lesson in my visit. Of course I let them know that if they learned anything that day I wanted it to be that North Carolina is the best state!

Trips like this are a way for us to work to link North Carolina with the rest of the world. While the primary goal was to further develop business opportunities with expanding economies abroad, it’s always important to remember that the human connections, such as making friends in a classroom 7,000 miles from home, have value also.

Over the past 18 years, North Carolina Bankers have provided a unique experience for more than 8,000 students.

Each summer they sponsor Camp Challenge, a financial literacy camp for high-achieving, at-risk middle school students. 

The camp is free to campers and provides a traditional camp experience – swimming, horseback riding, archery – along with basic etiquette guidance and practical financial education. This week I had the opportunity to visit with 100 campers.

While I was there to share my experiences and offer encouragement, most of our time was spent in questions and answers. The students were interested in all sorts of things about the Governor (Is it hard to be Governor?) and about what it means to be First Gentleman (What’s your day like?). I also had lots of questions for them about what they were learning.

Several of the campers talked about how they now understood what it is like for their parents to face a stack of bills and that is important to make good financial decisions. They also commented on the need to pay for credit card purchases rather than just piling up debt. Of course they also were excited about how “chill” the counselors were and all the new friends they were making.

The curriculum used, Life with Bills, is an interactive, computer-based simulation that allows the students to experience money management first-hand. These are important and valuable skills that every student should get the chance to develop.

The North Carolina Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) has had great success in recruiting businesses all across the state to get involved with Students@Work Week.  NCBCE helped create my initiative and issued a challenge to their members with a goal of reaching students in all 100 counties.

Over 25 businesses and government offices, from the State Employees Credit Union to Progress Energy to Charlotte Motor Speedway, the U.S. military to Golden Corral have committed to opening their doors to North Carolina middle school students to show them the wealth of possibilities for future employment after they graduate high school. 

Scott McLean of the Biltmore Estate, which will host more than 25 students from Asheville City Schools and Buncombe County Schools, said the initiative shows the broad range of opportunities available at Biltmore Estate while teaching the importance of technical and interpersonal skills to future employment.

“Our site visit shows area students the wealth of opportunities in their own backyard,” he said.

Fidelity Investments hosted over 20 students from Lowe’s Grove Middle School for a day of presentations, one-on-one mentoring, and an interactive career panel. Laura Hamre said that the initiative aligns with Fidelity’s goal of investing in our future.

“Our program highlighted the importance of dedication to finishing school and seizing any opportunities that come before you while giving a broad range of perspectives on how to succeed in life. To be honest, our employees enjoyed it just as much as the students,” she said.

On Monday, I joined students at State Employee Credit Union branches in both Raleigh and Greensboro as they learned about working at the credit union and heard personal stories about the importance of education. It was obvious our business community can serve as both teachers and powerful role models.

I believe this initiative is a rewarding opportunity for businesses. Leaders from all over the state realize that keeping our children in school is vital to our future economic success. 21st Century jobs have to be met with 21st Century skills. Lowering the dropout rate is key to building a solid foundation for North Carolina’s future.

I invite all North Carolina business to join my Students@Work initiative. For more information, including a step-by-step guide to participation, visit http://www.ncbce.org/.

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the future at the Regional Future City® competition for middle school students from across North Carolina. According to these students, our future includes sustainable, green communities, innovative transportation options and high tech medical services including nanobots to diagnose and treat disease. The future is very exciting.

As a part of my Celebration North Carolina initiative (www.celebrate.nc.gov), I presented the First Gentleman’s Award for Best Employment Opportunities to Bailey Middle School from Cornelius for their including lots of good job potential in their city design. It was rewarding that so many of the teams grounded their imagination with the reality that economic vitality is a part of any successful community.

Davidson IB middle school, the 2010 national winners, again won overall and will now head to Washington, D.C. to compete at the national level. This spring, we’ll bring their model to display at the Executive Mansion to hopefully encourage more schools to include their students in this opportunity next year.

When we created Celebrate North Carolina last year, we knew there were so many places and wonderful people in our state to appreciate and enjoy. What we hadn’t realized is that much of it was literally the land right under our feet.

In 1916, North Carolina became the first state in the southeast and one of the first in the nation to establish a state park (at Mt. Mitchell). Since then we’ve secured more than 200,000 acres to protect and enjoy.

This weekend we celebrate our state parks! July 23-25, at parks and recreation areas from the peaks of Mt. Mitchell to the sands of Jockey’s Ridge, park rangers will be offering a wide variety of free and fun programs. Kayaking, hikes, and great environmental education like “Turtle Talk” or “Backyard Pharmacy” are among the hundreds of offerings.

We invite you and your family to visit a state park near you, “to take a closer look,” and to share in the wonder and beauty of North Carolina.

Visit www.celebrate.nc.gov for a complete list of activities.

It was a chilly morning in Fayetteville on Friday when I joined a host of volunteers to kick off the building of a home for a soldier who was severely injured in Iraq. This “Build Brigade” and the entire project was organized by Homes for Our Troops a national non-profit group that has now completed 48 homes – all through the generous support of sponsors, donors, and volunteers.

The house in Fayetteville will be home to SSG Maurice Craft and his two young daughters. In 2003, Craft lost both his legs when an IED exploded nearby. His new home was designed to be fully accessible and will provide a comfortable and safe home for this brave young man.

By the end of the day, plans were to get the walls up, doors and windows installed and even shingles on the roof! The team swarming the site included other vets, a professional crew from Greensboro, a contingent of soldiers from the 82nd Airborne, and the father of another injured North Carolina serviceman who had received a house through the program. While the air was indeed cold, it was the warm feelings we all had about working on such a worthy project that I’ll most remember.

This week, we had some special visitors visit the Capitol and Executive Mansion.  In June, I visited the Heritage Park Community Center to read to children there, as well as talk to them about volunteering.  This week, the kids came to visit me.

My trip to the community center was an opportunity to kick off President Obama’s United We Serve campaign – a national effort to encourage community service. I read “How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night,” and talked with the children about how they can volunteer and what they already do to volunteer in their neighborhood.

Just a week later, I received a great package filled with thank you cards made by the kids.  After reading each and every one, I wanted to show them how much I appreciated the opportunity to visit them.  I decided that these cards should be displayed at the Capitol, alongside a placard encouraging other people to serve their communities.  I then invited the children to come see their display at the Capitol.

When the kids arrived, they were treated to a tour of the Capitol.  Then, they came to the Executive Mansion and celebrated with cookies and lemonade. By the end of their time at the Mansion, the children were all asking questions and smiling broadly for pictures.

I have always been interested in the education and future of North Carolina’s children, and this was a great opportunity to spend time with some of our future leaders. To find out how you can help your community, please visit www.serve.gov.