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Western North Carolina Schools and Education
From pre-kindergarten to a master’s degree or doctorate, nowhere in the country will you find a more diverse offering of educational opportunities than in Western North Carolina. The uniqueness of teaching methods and their exemplary results permeate both public and private schools.
Public Schools
As the Western N.C. population continues to increase, the public school systems seem to be facing the challenge with gusto. Schools of Excellence, Honor Schools of Excellence, and Schools of Distinction rankings have been awarded in nearly every county. The Department of Public Education has more detailed information on each individual school on its Web site at www.dpi.state.nc.us.
However, the NCDPI is quick to point out that it does not rank or recommend schools. It suggests you make your decision through careful research of student performance, atmosphere, activities, location, etc. The best source of information always is the local school system, itself.
Two Western North Carolina public high schools recently received national recognition. Both Asheville High School and T.C. Roberson High School were ranked among the top 1,300 high schools in the country by Newsweek magazine.
The magazine took into account the number of certain tests taken by all students last year and divided that number by the number of graduating seniors. The tests considered included Advanced Placement, Cambridge and International Baccalaureate tests all of which give aspiring students either college credit or preparation for college level work or placement.
Though well-deserved, Carol Ray, principal of Asheville High, was honored by the award. “We are very proud at being recognized by Newsweek magazine in their annual look at America’s High Schools,” said Ray. “This recognition validates what we already know; that Asheville High School offers one of the best and most diverse Advanced Placement course selection in the state! We appreciate this recognition and want everyone to know we will continue in our efforts to make Asheville High School an excellent environment for learning for each of our students.”
Asheville High School currently offers 17 Advanced Placement courses. Roberson High offers 12 AP classes.
Private Schools
As with public school education in the mountains, private schools seem to flourish here. Beautiful secluded campuses tucked back in the Blue Ridge Mountains lend themselves to the best combination of both worlds – high powered academia in a stress relieving natural environment.
Carolina Day School is one of Western North Carolina’s premier comprehensive independent schools. In fact, it is the only non-sectarian pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade school in Asheville and surrounding areas.
Carolina Day School draws on a rich educational history. Established in 1987 by the merger of two of Asheville’s best independent schools -- Asheville Country Day School and St. Genevieve/Gibbons Hall -- Carolina Day School embodies the highest standards of academic achievement and character development achieving dual accreditation by both the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. To earn dual accreditation, CDS met quality standards, was evaluated by an outside group of peer professionals, and implemented a school plan focused on strategic improvement and student performance.
Carolina Day has a total enrollment of more than 650 students with 109 faculty members. Graduating students have median SAT scores of 1250. The high school offers 15 Advanced Placement courses and a significant number of seniors receive AP Scholar status.
But though the academic accolades are impressive, it’s the overall balance of the curriculum and program the school is most proud of, according to Robin Goertz, director of admissions at CDS. “We are definitely looking globally, but we’re not forgetting that we live in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina,” said Goertz. “So this year we are looking for even more ways to make our campus more ‘green’ and to help keep our students aware of their responsibility to our environment.” This kind balance between the classroom and the environment is a big part of what makes Carolina Day special. More information on Carolina Day School may be found at www.cdschool.org.
Another private school to consider is Asheville School, one of the nation’s leading boarding schools. Asheville School offers a challenging academic program including more than 17 Advanced Placement courses. More information on Asheville School can be found at www.ashevilleschool.org.
You may also want to check out Christ School’s 500-acre wooded campus complete with streams, a lake, and trails for hiking or mountain biking. The campus for boys offers excellent scholastic opportunities both inside the classroom and out. Interested students and parents are encouraged to not only visit the Web site at www.christschool.org, but to tour the campus, sit in on classes and talk with both students and faculty.
The possibilities for private school education in the Western North Carolina certainly are nearly endless, so if that’s your choice, you’re in for a wonderful time of discovery.
Another Opportunity
Just when you think you’ve explored all of the marvelous educational opportunities available in Western North Carolina, a local university steps up to take the challenge. Teachers in the area who seek to make science an up close and personal experience for children in Western North Carolina now have an impressive new tool to use, thanks to an outreach education van offered by Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) at UNC Asheville.
The new van called ROVER (RENCI Outreach Vehicle for Education and Research) is outfitted with wireless Internet, laptops, a plasma TV, microscopes, and GPS locators. It is all powered by a biodiesel generator. RiverLink, a regional non-profit spearheading the revitalization of the French Broad River, the North Carolina Arboretum and the Colburn Earth Science Museum, will use ROVER to go out to schools and field trip locations to teach lessons about the geology, hydrology, weather, ecology and climate of Western North Carolina. Teachers throughout the area will be encouraged to put ROVER into their lesson plans for the coming year allowing science lessons specific to the surrounding mountains to be delivered in the classroom – or better yet – on a river’s edge, beautiful meadow or even within a mineral mine.
Higher Education
With so many adults looking to finish bachelor and master’s degrees and still work a 9 to 5 job, the schools for adult studies offered by many of the surrounding colleges and universities are designed with you in mind. Almost all of the schools in the region offer some sort of SPAS (School of Professional Adult Studies) program along with their regular four-year curriculum. So you are thinking of attending any North Carolina colleges, you’ll be doing so in a state that’s rich in higher education systems.
Asheville is home to both the University of North Carolina at Asheville and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Small classes, a low student-faculty ratio, and a diversity of exciting and meaningful learning experiences are what make UNC Asheville one of the nation’s premier public liberal arts universities.
The Asheville Graduate Center on the campus of the UNCA offers master’s degree programs from six distinctive universities. More than 600 residents of Western North Carolina who are seeking advanced degrees participate in the approximately 30 master’s degree programs currently offered through the Asheville Graduate Center. Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College is a public two-year community college with a curriculum enrollment of more than 9,000. Add that to an extension enrollment of more than 17,000 students and it makes the school one of the largest in the North Carolina system.
Other institutions of higher learning in area include Appalachian State University in Watauga County, Brevard College in Transylvania County, Mars Hill College in Madison County, Montreat College in Buncombe County, Warren Wilson College in Buncombe County, Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, and Western Carolina University in Jackson County.
Western North Carolina also has an abundance of community colleges to choose from with excellent courses of study as well as transfer programs. These include the Blue Ridge Community College in Henderson County, Haywood Community College in Haywood County, Mayland Technical Community College in Mitchell County and McDowell Technical Community College in McDowell County.
From 6 to 60, no matter what the age, the quality of education choices in Western North Carolina is beyond compare – and best of all – you get to do it cradled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. It just doesn’t get any better than this!
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