In a year, Middle Fork Elementary School will have a new name and several new staff members as part of an effort to improve student literacy and overall test scores. The school was chosen as one of nine laboratory schools in North Carolina. All schools selected are low-performing K-8 schools and are partnering with a state university for five years — in Middle Fork Elementary’s situation, it will work with Appalachian State University.

Braving cold and rainy conditions, the Rho Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity hosted 20 high school bands on Saturday for the 38th annual Appalachian Marching Band Festival. Bands arrived from across the region to compete, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Abingdon, Virginia.

Damage assessments continue in Boone after major flash flooding hit the Winkler’s Creek section of town between the Boone Mall and WalMart. County inspectors have condemned the places that were flooded until such time as repairs can be made. It means people in at least 60 units are looking for a place to live.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community, awarded Dr. Harry Lee Williams '86 '88 '95 its Educational Leadership Award and announced him as the new TMCF President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Williams will end his distinguished tenure as president of Delaware State University.

Koontz first picked up a paintbrush when he was about 8, under the guidance of his grandmother, who was a primitive painter. He went on to feed his creative spirit at Appalachian State University, where he earned a degree in commercial design.

A marker commemorating the unmarked graves of African-American residents of Boone was unveiled Sunday to a crowd of around 100 people in Boone Cemetery in an effort to preserve the long history of Boone’s traditionally black Junaluska community.

On Saturday, September 30th, the Boone Shag Club and Appalachian State University Department of Theater and Dance hosted the 2nd Annual Community-Wide Fall Shag Dance. The event took place on Appalachian State University’s campus at the Reich College of Education Building.

The swearing-in of new Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson was an affair of tears and pride Friday, as the new chief talked about growing up in Detroit and about the people and family members who helped her make it to where she is today.

Jordan Boles entered ASU as a fully-supported ACCESS Scholar, became an employee at ASU’s Office of International Education and Development, and is now president of the Alpha Phi sorority chapter, to name just a few of her successes. Boles has made the most of her college experience—and the same can be said of her SECU Public Fellows Internship.