Ron Clark Helps BCCC Celebrate its 50th Anniversary | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, NC     As part of a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary, Beaufort County Community College hosted acclaimed educator and former Beaufort County teacher Ron Clark to kickoff this year's events. Clark spoke about how to motivate teachers and support exceptional ones. His energetic talk was followed by a meet-and-greet and book-signing.

    Clark said that our school system is losing good teachers because parents are unhappy with teachers who press their children to excel instead of just "teaching to the test".

    "If you coddle children, they end up babies. They end up being soft," said Clark. He said at his academy, children will resist at first, because they are used to getting their way, but eventually they will succeed. His students have a 100% graduation rate vs. 40% in surrounding schools. They have also mostly gone on to college.

    "Kids will suck it up, if we tell them to suck it up," he said. If students see that their teachers are berated for not handing out good grades or they see their teacher sitting at a desk and handing out worksheets, they will end up forgoing teaching or becoming a teacher who sits a desk. Clark's style involves engaging students in things like song and dance to help them get excited and remember lessons.

    "We are not drawing the people into this profession who we want to teach," he said. Clark has an example around which his book is written. He imagines everyone on a bus that is moved by foot-power. In the front there are the runners, behind them, the joggers and in the back some walkers and riders. He discussed how he has stopped putting his energy into getting riders, those who do the least they can to get through and often spread negativity, to become walkers, those who go along with the crowd but might actually be slowing the group down. Instead Clark has focused on the runners, those with the energy and work ethic to come up with new ideas and to push forward.

    Ron Clark has been called "America's Educator." His success with students from Snowden Elementary School in Aurora and Public School 83 in East Harlem led him to be named Disney's American Teacher of the Year. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his classes have been honored at the White House on three separate occasions. Ron's teaching experiences in New York City are the subject of the uplifting film "The Ron Clark Story" starring Matthew Perry.

    Currently, Mr. Clark serves as a teacher and administrator at the Ron Clark Academy, an award winning and internationally acclaimed middle school in Atlanta, Georgia. Over 14,000 educators have come to the academy to his innovative and engaging teaching techniques.

    "We are delighted he will be part of our 50th anniversary celebration," said Serena Sullivan, BCCC Foundation executive director. "He is a great example for educators in Beaufort County of what can happen when you let passion drive your career."

    BCCC will be hosting a number of events in 2017 to highlight its 50th anniversary. The college has also created a display highlighting its history, decade by decade, in a hallway in Building 5. Life on the Pamlico, an interactive student publication will also focus on the 50th anniversary through interviews and oral history from the region. In March, the BCCC will unveil a statue built by welding students and their instructor, Ted Clayton.

    "This college had a humble beginning in just one building," said President Barbara Tansey. "Since then we've helped so many families, many of them who attended college for the first time. The programs we will develop over the next 50 years will be for careers that don't even exist today."

    Industrial and technical education were first offered in Beaufort County in 1962 through an Industrial Education Center. The center was first affiliated with Lenoir County Technical Institute and later with Pitt Technical Institute. Founded in 1967, Beaufort County Community College is one of 58 institutions comprising the North Carolina Community College System.

• Contact: Attila Nemecz
•     Attila.Nemecz@beaufortccc.edu