Beaufort Early College High School receives science grant | Eastern NC Now

News Release:

    Beaufort County Early College High School recently received a $1,000 grant from N.C. Beautiful, to help fund an outdoor classroom and amphitheater that will be used by students in its science courses.

    The project will include a trail to be located behind Building 5 on the Beaufort County Community College campus, according to school Principal Emily Pake.

    "We are going to use the funds to build an outdoor classroom on the BCCC campus," said Pake. "It will be used to support the teaching of science. Right now, the grant is going to be used for the preliminary stages, like the creation of a trail to facilitate access to the outdoor classroom."

    While the grant will not pay the entire cost of the project, it will get it started, she said.

    A check for the project was delivered to the school by Steve Vacendak, executive director of N.C. Beautiful, and Ray McKeithan, public and governmental affairs manager at Potash Corp-Aurora.

    Also present at a ceremony on the BCCC to highlight the grant were BCCC President Barbara Tansey, Beaufort County Schools Superintendent Don Phipps and A.B. "Brownie" Futrell Jr., a member of the N.C. Beautiful Board of Directors.

    "BCCC is pleased to partner with the Beaufort County Schools and support the Outdoor Learning Project to provide an outdoor classroom for science instruction in a natural setting," said Dr. Tansey. "We are eager to work with the Beaufort County Schools to increase opportunities for the Early College High School, our curriculum students and students from other Beaufort County schools."

    Late last year, N.C. Beautiful and Potash-Corp Aurora formed a partnership to provide $5,000 each year for a three-year period to N.C. Beautiful for its Windows of Opportunity grant program.

    "Obviously, the teachers need help, as much help as they can get," McKeithan told the Washington Daily News. "These grants are going to enable teachers throughout the region to better educate, not only on the environment but on issues that are important to students right now. We see this as an investment that's going to pay dividends over decades."

    N.C. Beautiful has been part of the state's environmental preservation community for 40 years, supporting awareness, education and beautification efforts that affect North Carolina residents' quality of life.

    Today, it concentrates on hands-on and merit-based programs designed to empower state residents to preserve the natural beauty of North Carolina. The grant was one of 26 awarded by N.C. Beautiful this year, Vacendak said.
Beaufort County Early High School science students, teachers and administrators gathered on the BCCC campus recently to accept a check for $1,000 from N.C. Beautiful to help fund construction of an outdoor science classroom.