International Students

Mission

  • One can see teachers, parents and students living our mission everyday in school.  Whether driving up to school at 7:20 AM and looking in a window where a student and teacher are at work on a special project or just the previous night’s homework; a parent taking care of another family’s child; a high school student helping a grammar school student with his or her reading homework; it’s easy to spot our mission in action and why we value each member of our community as a teacher, every space as a classroom, every interaction an opportunity to learn, and every student here ” niched,” cared for and appreciated.
  • Recently our school’s writing program has garnered a number of awards and recognition.  Our school’s literacy magazine, featuring both writing as well as student art, has won national prizes for its content and presentation.  Indeed, a Corean (sic) student currently attending Drexel University was the editor of the magazine and won a 50% scholarship to that university.
  • We were founded in 1968 and have had periods of peaks and troughs.  Our first five year plan (2005-2011) has met the ambitious goals that we set for ourselves:  financial stability including an endowment of $10,000 per student; an average SAT1 score well above national average with an eviable college placement record; integrated technology in the classroom, preparing students for the global awareness and challenges that are essential in this century; an educational community that embraces diversity and meritocracy and eschews elitism and privilege; a school that takes a hard line against alcohol and chemical glorification and emphasizes character development and community involvement; and an educational community that seeks to enfranchise each individual to push himself or herself to develop beyond self-perceived limits.  We have just begun a second five year plan whose centerpiece is a 5 million dollar capital campaign which will include the complete remodeling of the current plant, a new high school wing, and a second gym and cafeteria.

Academics

  • Our annual Spirit Week/Olympics ties the school together and allows the celebration of sportsmanship and participation in our school.  It is a time when many students who have not been celebrated have an opportunity to have a bit of limelight.
  • Being small, we do not have many special programs or unique courses of study.  We do offer an immersion Spanish language program in Valladolid, Mexico for five weeks in the summer.  We encourage participation in the Siemens-Westinghouse Science competition, and we have had students do independent study projects that pursue their vocational interests.
  • We are a charter member of the newly formed NCASA (North Carolina Scholastic Activities), www.ncscholastic.org.  This organization sponsors a number of activities in which we participate- and occasionally host.
  • 85% of students participate in interscholastic athletics, and we encourage all students to participate regardless of their experience with a particular sport.  Many international students take advantage of this opportunity, and we urge them to do so to “spread their wings socially” from the beginning of school.  Our school is especially strong in soccer, tennis, and basketball.  While we offer more sports than those listed, we have had top four finishes at the state level in those sports during the past three years.

Student Life

  • We are acutely aware of the needs of international students.  We make sure that they have opportunities to interact and become part of the school family.  We insist that they speak English, even amongst themselves, and through our counseling program, we make sure they are well enfranchised. During the past three years international students have served as student government officers, class presidents, sports team captains, the Mayor’s Youth Council to name some examples.  Our international students are urged to take part and to take leadership roles; we make sure they are not just “floating” or “going under the radar” through our educational system.
  • Weekends can be whatever the student desires to do.  Generally trips around town with me are the most common activities.  Pikeville is a small town, with a park next to my house.  It allows students to go out easily and ride bikes, kick a soccer ball, jog, or just walk to the local market or hamburger restaurant.  Mostly students want to study on the weekends more than anything.
  • All deferred maintenance completed in 2008.  Power School installed throughout the school in 2009 allowing for parents and students to access grades and feedback online.  Promethean boards installed in every classroom and teachers trained for their use in 2010.  New international sized soccer field built, and OSHA- approved bleachers installed on all four athletic playing fields.
  • Students feel strongly that their teachers care for them as a total person and that they want the students to achieve and succeed.  Students frequently mention that a relationship (or two) with a particular teacher or adult within the school was an essential part of their formation as a student and person.  International students frequently talk of the warm and welcoming environment of the school that they felt from the very beginning.  They speak of the “myraid” transitions that were eased because of adults who empathized with their situation.

After WCDS

  • We transform our gym to accommodate graduation.  I am enclosing a current graduation DVD.  Our Baccalaureate Service takes place in the little Methodist church behind my home and is a wonderfully intimate ecumenical service followed by a reception in my home.
  • Eunchang Cha ’08 attends Duke University.  While at WCDS he participated fully in sports, music, art and the life of the school in general.  When he came to us, he was shy and uncertain of himself.  By the time he left, he had been elected a class officer, performed regularly (including at graduation) with the cello, excelled in his AP exams, including Music Theory, and was a confident well spoken young man.  He was admitted early decision to Duke, where he matriculated and achieved a 3.4 grade point average his first year.  He credits much of his success to what he learned at WCDS.  He speaks even more positively abbout the social community in which he lived while attending WCDS and how it helped him to be the person he is today.  He knows many other Corean {sic} students who attended other American high schools and did not have the ability to be welcomed into full participation in the social life of the school.
  • We have a number of recent international alumni who, I am sure, would be willing to speak about their experiences at WCDS.  All are Corean {sic} however.