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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

NC Governor's School to Operate this Summer

Even though the North Carolina Governor’s School program was cut from the state budget, alumni and other partners have banded together to raise more than $700,000.

The money will allow hundreds of high school students to study everything from science and math to art and dance.

WHQR’s Michelle Bliss reports on Monday’s announcement made by June Atkinson, the state superintendent of schools. Atkinson says the funding will keep the program afloat this summer, but more money will be needed in the long run.

“We know that in order for us to sustain Governor's School over time, we must get an appropriation from the General Assembly. The Governor’s School alumni will be working very diligently with the General Assembly to restore the funding to approximately $1 million to $1.4 million in the budget.”

Lawmakers cut all of the residential program’s state funding, but Atkinson says that the Governor’s School Foundation is launching a grassroots campaign next month to try to restore state funding.

“In North Carolina, we have approximately 32,000 people who have attended Governor’s School over the past 50 years and these people recognize what a life-changing experience it was for them.”

This summer, 550 high school students will attend a five-week session at either Salem or Meredith College. The program, which was founded in 1963, is the oldest of its kind across the nation.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Please email the WHQR News Team.

After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.