Shaw University Describes Bertie County Efforts

The Windsor Rotary Club continues to grow, and this day we hit a new milestone. The crowd was so large it overflowed our area and we had to bring in more chairs. In fact the crowd was so large a few people had to sit at the back after they had eaten so late arrivals had a place to eat too. We are shortly going to need to expand the room we use at Carolina Country Restaurant.




The pledge of allegiance (below) is part of the standard opening ceremony.




Diane Hoggard (below on left), a great singer, joined Holland Cayton (below center), leading us in the traditional song.




The program leader for the day was Dr. Chip Zullinger (shown below), Superintendent of Schools for Bertie County. He had arranged for some of the Shaw University personnel to talk about their plans for the Bertie County facility that they are setting up at the currently empty Southwestern School.





Dr. Grace Ndip, a native of Cameroon in Africa, was the primary presenter. She spoke about the plans for Shaw's Bertie Campus and its focus on getting degrees for Bertie County students who wish to pursue teaching as a career. There will be special programs to get our kids certification and experience right here in Bertie County.




She also spoke about the plans for the Ag-Science High School and Shaw's desire to help NC State, ECU and Elizabeth City State University to support this grand new school to provide a two year college for our kids while they are attending high school; and also seeking a career in the burgeoning industry of bio technology. Part of Shaw's help with this includes putting in a $5 million bio-fuels production and research facility, as a start towards a much larger effort in the future. It is a real coup for Bertie County to have this unique one of a kind facility.




Dr. Zullinger (shown above in middle) presented Jason Gilchrist (on left) and Dr. Grace Ndip (on right) with the traditional cobalt blue coffee mug embossed with gold lettering and Rotary emblem as a thank you for their presentation.