School & District News
Lenoir County Public Schools educators have once again proven that innovation thrives in their classrooms, and this year their bright ideas are shining brighter than ever.
For the 2025-2026 school year, 65 LCPS teachers have been selected to receive Bright Ideas Grants from Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation, earning a combined $51,602.16 to bring creative, hands-on learning projects to life. This marks a new high for LCPS, surpassing last year’s record of 62 winners and $47,685.41 in grant funding.
Tri-County EMC, which serves parts of Duplin, Wayne, and Lenoir counties, received 338 applications for this year’s competition. From those applications, 130 educators were selected to receive funding totaling $102,146.33. LCPS teachers make up exactly half of all winners, continuing the district’s long-running tradition of excellence in the Bright Ideas program.
Superintendent Brent Williams said this success reflects both the ingenuity of LCPS teachers and the supportive culture that encourages them to think creatively for their students.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to the innovative spirit of our teachers,” Williams said. “They continually find new ways to make learning engaging and meaningful, and the Bright Ideas program helps turn those ideas into real classroom experiences. We’re deeply grateful to Tri-County EMC for its continued partnership in recognizing and supporting our educators.”
Bright Ideas Grants fund original classroom projects that go beyond standard curriculum, including STEM experiments, literacy initiatives, art, history, and environmental studies. The grants empower teachers to explore creative approaches that make lessons more interactive and impactful.
LCPS’s success in the program is particularly notable given that only nine district schools are eligible to participate because they fall within Tri-County’s service area, compared to 18 schools each in Duplin and Wayne counties. Despite the smaller number of eligible schools, LCPS teachers consistently secure a majority of the awards, underscoring the district’s leadership in instructional innovation.
Over the past decade, LCPS educators have consistently earned significant Bright Ideas funding, supporting hundreds of creative classroom projects across the district. Tri-County EMC recognized all 2025-2026 Bright Ideas recipients and their principals during a floating awards ceremony on Monday, November 3, from 5–7 p.m. at the cooperative’s headquarters.
“Every Bright Ideas project represents a teacher’s belief that students learn best when they can explore, question, and create,” Williams said. “We are incredibly proud of our 65 winners and the impact their ideas will have in classrooms across Lenoir County.”
With another record-breaking year, LCPS teachers continue to light the way for inspired learning and demonstrate that when creativity meets opportunity, great things happen for students.
When the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education added to the roster of STEM Schools of Distinction with a high-profile announcement last month, no school district in the state added more names to that list than Lenoir County Public Schools.
The recognition of Northwest Elementary School, EB Frink Middle School and Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School made LCPS one of only two districts with multiple honorees this year and, on the list of 63 STEM Schools of Distinction accumulating since 2014, one of only four districts with three or more recognized schools.
The honor, according to the schools’ principals, recognizes an ongoing effort to create an inquiry-based system of instruction that takes STEM values into all classrooms, rather than those focused on science, technology, engineering and math.
“I think this award lets the community know what we already know about our students and our school,” CSS principal Dr. Heather Walston said. “We are delivering a top-notch education to our students and they have a lot of opportunities here. We want the community to know that we’re working hard inside the walls of our building to provide the best for their children and that we’re thankful every day for the opportunity to do that.”
CSS, among the first in the state to earn STEM School of Distinction status 11 years ago, now holds that distinction along with national STEM certification from Cognia, the global nonprofit working in school accreditation and assessment. It is also the only traditional K-8 school on the state’s STEM School of Distinction list. The credit for achieving those honors goes to CSS teachers and staff for “giving our students what they need, which are strategies that engage the mind,” she said.
“STEM is not a ‘program’ at schools with recognition. It’s a mindset and approach to teaching and learning,” Dr. Stephanie Harrell, LCPS’s STEM coordinator, said. “STEM learning prepares students with the critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills they will need in a rapidly changing world. By emphasizing STEM, LCPS is ensuring that students are not only mastering core academic content but also developing the creativity and adaptability that employers and colleges are looking for.”
The five key attributes of a STEM School of Distinction are student outcomes, leadership, professional capacity, school culture and community connections. A year-long review of a school’s accomplishments in these areas by its teachers and staff form the basis for the application to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI). After the application is reviewed
at DPI, schools that advance in the process earn a site visit from the review team, which makes a final evaluation and a recommendation to the State Board of Education.
“It’s not possible to put on a dog-and-pony show for this distinction,” Dr. Michael Moon, EB Frink principal, said. “It is absolutely not possible to put together an empty application that looks good on paper and send it to Raleigh and get a ribbon. That’s not what this is.” The school’s site visit this past spring “was our opportunity to show people that what’s on paper is happening in reality every single day in the classroom,” Moon said. “As a school we talk all the time about ‘every child, every opportunity, every time’ and that’s what this STEM site visit really showcased. It’s not just something that’s happening in isolation in certain classrooms. You could have walked into any classroom and seen STEM strategies in action.”
Generating curiosity, empowering student creativity, encouraging resilience – LCPS extends those classroom goals into extracurricular activities that run the gamut from Science Olympiad and Science Fair competitions to technology clubs to Quiz Bowl, Battle of the Books and the statewide Quill Writing competition.
“The engineering design process is obvious when you’re in a STEM-centered classroom, but you find students using that model, the continuous cycle of improvement, in reading, math, social studies, pretty much everywhere,” Moon said.
Students today learn in a much different way than they did when Northwest Elementary principal Christy Eubanks began her career as an educator. “I think it comes down to engagement,” said Eubanks, a classroom teacher for 15 years. “Now, we’re competing for their attention against a host of distractions and STEM brings out that engagement. STEM activities are where the kids get to collaborate, they get to design together, they get to problem-solve together and it helps keep them engaged.”
Focusing on the STEM School of Distinction process encouraged Northwest teachers to create more hands-on, interactive lessons and, Eubanks believes, helped the school exceed state standards for students’ academic growth in last spring’s accountability testing. “Students were engaged in learning and they wanted to come to school because they knew it was going to be a fun project,” Eubanks said. “It all ties together with our academic goals.”
“This achievement represents the incredible work happening every day in our classrooms,” Williams said. “Our teachers, administrators and students have embraced a vision of learning that prepares young people not only for academic success, but for success in life. We’re proud that LCPS led all districts in North Carolina this year with the most schools earning STEM School of Distinction honors. That speaks volumes about the consistency, dedication and excellence across our entire school community.”
Innovating to meet the needs of 21st century students is hardly a new role for LCPS, which brought digital learning and iPads to all K-12 classrooms a decade ago and now boasts 15 schools with Apple Distinguished School designations, the most of any school system in the nation. “The district has invested heavily in the schools for us to have some of these processes and programs in place,” Moon said. “This STEM distinction is bigger than any one school.”
With local employers hungry for qualified workers and more students anxious to go to work, Lenoir County Public Schools has stepped up with instructional programs and personalized assistance that high school graduates can literally take to the bank.
For the vast majority of LCPS seniors, a diploma is a steppingstone to college; but for about 10 percent of graduates – a figure typified by the recent Class of 2025 – a diploma is an admission ticket to the workforce. Students who feel they are ready to work and earn a paycheck are typically moved along that path by Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses that help them identify a potential career, prepare them for a workplace setting and provide the background they need to get started. Career development coordinators at each of LCPS’s three traditional high schools pinpoint employment opportunities and acquaint students with apprenticeship and internship programs that directly connect them to local employers.
Student and employer participation in LCPS’s work-based learning programs has tripled in recent years, according to Dr. Amy Jones, the district’s director of high school education and CTE.
“We understand that success looks different for every student. While college is one path, many of our graduates are eager to enter the workforce and start building their future right away,” Jones said. “It is our responsibility to honor those ambitions by preparing them with real-world skills, industry credentials and hands-on experiences through strong career and technical education programs and work-based learning.”
The Class of 2025 added auto mechanics, electric linemen, welders, truck drivers and restaurant cooks, among other occupations, to the payrolls of employers in the area. Each year, about 20 students become certified nurse assistants through their high school health science curriculum, which can lead to a job and, for some, a way to finance their studies toward a nursing degree.
Five spring graduates now have jobs at Kinston’s Crown Equipment after completing a year-long apprenticeship program, where success means the guarantee of a high-wage job and continued schooling.
Over six years, 18 students have completed the program and a half-dozen continue to work at Crown, a manufacturer of lift trucks sold worldwide. Seven students came aboard as apprentices as Crown’s partnership with LCPS enters its seventh year.
Eight 2025 graduates and current seniors from Kinston, North Lenoir and South Lenoir high schools earned practical experience in five different areas of work – from engineering to street maintenance – as paid summer interns with the City of Kinston’s Public Services Department, a new partnership that offers the possibility of full-time employment and access to the department’s own career development programs.
“For our department, probably 85 percent of our positions do not require any college education, so we are looking for students coming straight out of high school who are interested in joining the workforce,” said Steve Miller, the city’s public services director, said. “We weren’t getting applications from people coming out of school, so we wanted to make sure they became aware of the careers that we have.”
The internship program grew out of the complementary interests of Public Services and LCPS’s CTE program and owes much to Tristan Harrison, a senior at South Lenoir High School who, as the lone intern last fall, leveraged his interest and training in auto mechanics to land a spot in Public Service’s Fleet Maintenance operation. Tristan’s praise-worthy work paved the way for the expanded summer internships and, as importantly, earned Tristan a part-time job last school year, a full-time job this summer and the promise of permanent employment with Fleet Maintenance after he graduates, possibly as soon as December.
“I love it,” Tristan, 17, said of auto mechanics, a skill he’s developed by tinkering at home and working on his truck. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do when I got older.”
South Lenoir -- particularly Melanie Smith, the school’s career development coordinator – helped make that wish a reality by encouraging Tristan’s natural aptitude through auto mechanics classes, ushering him into the internship program and tweaking his high school schedule to accommodate his work schedule.
“The internship is really designed for students who don’t think they’ll immediately go to college, but they’re still looking for good employment locally,” said Smith, who is LCPS’s point person for the partnership with the city. In Tristan’s case, the next step could be certification in his field, instruction the city would pay for, according to Smith.
For students with a ready-to-work mindset, schooling can follow the parallel lines of hands-on experience and formal instruction. Tristan, for one, values the practical training he’s found with Fleet Maintenance – “Before I came in here I thought I knew about everything, but it turned out there’s a lot I didn’t know,” he said – and yet he can see the value of something more.
“I can probably get certified in mechanics,” he said. “Going to college shows how much care I put into my work.”
Like Tristan, North Lenoir High graduates Fisher Hartsell and Cooper Tilghman turned a long-held interest into a vocation. Finishing high school early last December, they enrolled in a 16-week program at Nash Community College and earned certification in electric line construction. Fisher landed a job with C-Phase Services, a Kinston-based utilities contractor, and Cooper, with Pitt-Greene EMC.
For Fisher, 18, the job feels like the beginning of a career. “I really enjoy it,” he said. “All through high school, that’s what I was looking at doing. I know a lot of linemen and talked a lot with those people and it just sounded like something I’d be interested in. I like working with my hands and building stuff.”
Down the road, he expects to acquire an associate degree, building on the college credits he earned at Lenoir Community College while in high school; but he’s intent on charting his own course on his own schedule. “My brother is starting a master’s program at East Carolina, but that’s not for me,” Fisher said. “I’m a hands-on guy.”
If students are becoming more aware of such options, so is LCPS. “Our community has tremendous career opportunities right here in Lenoir County and we want to ensure that our graduates are prepared and are ready to tap into them,” Dr. Jones said. “There is a growing awareness across our high schools that we must create opportunities for all students, especially those who want to go straight to work.”
When it came time to name a new director of facilities maintenance, Lenoir County Public Schools had to look no farther than a middle school principal prized for his experience with LCPS, appreciated for his nuts-and-bolts knowledge of school operations and renowned for his get-it-done attitude.
Patrick Phillippe, principal of Woodington Middle School for the past 10 years and a teacher, coach and administrator with LCPS for the past 30, officially moved into the director position July 1. His appointment by the Lenoir County Board of Education in May fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Cecil Outlaw, who joined the facilities maintenance department in 1989 and became its director in 2011.
“I believe that Mr. Phillippe’s skills and talents represent a natural fit for the Director of Facilities Management role,” LCPS Superintendent Brent Williams said in announcing the job change. “I am certain that his leadership will help to strengthen our strategic planning efforts in the area of facilities management and operational effectiveness.”
The department employs about 30 skilled tradesmen – roofers, plumbers, painters, locksmiths, HVAC specialists, electricians, carpenters and groundskeepers – and is responsible for maintenance and improvements at the district’s schools and ancillary work sites. Phillippe is expected to play a significant role in the construction of the new EB Frink Middle School now underway in LaGrange.
“I am very excited to be stepping into this new role with LCPS,” Phillippe said. “This position has been something that I have thought about a lot over the past few years and I feel that I can make an impact in this department moving forward.”
On the verge of retirement, Phillippe changed directions when the facilities maintenance position opened up. He applied, went through the interview process and accepted the new job with the understanding he would finish out the 2024-2025 school year at Woodington. The department had been operating under the supervision of former LCPS transportation director Anthony Mitchell since Outlaw retired.
Phillippe has worked his entire career in education with LCPS. He taught for 17 years at Woodington and spent two years as assistant principal at South Lenoir High School before returning to Woodington as principal.
As principal, he has set the tone for teamwork with his willingness to do what needs to be done, whether it’s tending to a garbage can in the cafeteria, picking up trash on the school grounds, sweeping the floors or filling in as a bus driver.
He holds an associate degree from Lenoir Community College, a bachelor of science degree in exercise and sports science from East Carolina University and a masters of school administration degree from ECU. He is a member of
the North Carolina Association of School Administrators and the North Carolina Coaches Association. In 2021, he was honored as Administrator of the Year by the North Carolina School Library Media Association. The next year he was named the 2022-2023 LCPS Principal of the Year.
In acknowledging his past achievements, Superintendent Williams also praised Phillippe for being “willing to continue to lead and to serve the stakeholders of our school system in this new capacity as a member of our senior staff.”
Jeremy Barnett, who had been serving as the principal at Moss Hill Elementary, has been tapped to take over the principal position at Woodington.
As a child, Dr. Stephanie Harrell dreamed of becoming an astronaut. She vividly remembers watching
shuttle launches on television, and later, in person.
“I loved watching shuttles take off,” Harrell said. “It brings tears to my eyes when I see it, because it’s
just so remarkable when you sit there and think about how small you are in a huge universe, and all the
things that have to happen to put people or objects into space.”
Now, Harrell, the STEM Coordinator for Lenoir County Public Schools, is one of only 15 educators
statewide selected for the 2025–26 NC Space Education Ambassadors program, a NASA-affiliated
initiative housed at NC State University through the NC Space Grant.
“This partnership brings the information that NASA has regarding space science, as well as Earth science,
into the classroom and matches it up with our North Carolina state standards,” she explained.
The year-long ambassador program provides educators with access to NASA resources, training from
space science experts, and a toolkit of curriculum-aligned materials. Ambassadors are also expected to
complete two outreach efforts, one for fellow educators and one for their community, to help spread
excitement about STEM opportunities.
“We’re really trying to reach kids and get them excited about science, but also educate teachers and the
community about what’s out there.”
Harrell had to apply for the opportunity, submitting details about her teaching experience along with
short-answer responses outlining how she planned to implement what she learned. When she found out
she’d been accepted, she didn’t hold back her excitement.
“I was in a meeting, and I just kind of interrupted the meeting to announce it to everybody,” she said,
laughing.
Now entering her 27th year in education and nearly her third as STEM Coordinator for LCPS, Harrell
sees a natural connection between space science and the opportunities already rooted in Lenoir County.
“It’s particularly interesting because we have such a huge aviation program with Lenoir Community
College,, and we have the Global TransPark, and we have this huge runway that’s used for numerous
things,” she said. “That little part of our community ties into the bigger universe.”
Harrell hopes the program will help students see science as a path they can follow: one that starts close to
home but leads as far as their imagination will take them.
“This helps me make kids, number one, aware of all the things that are happening, all the things around
us,” she said. “It works with getting them interested and excited to maybe pursue a career in aviation, or
Earth science, or anything that stems from their curiosity.”
Harrell has spent 17 of her 26 years in education working in Lenoir County and remains passionate about
expanding opportunities for students in rural schools. With the launch of this new ambassador role, she’s
looking forward to what lies ahead.
“I’m very excited to learn even more.”
Other members of Crew 5 include:
April Brady (Cumberland County Schools), Mikaela Brown (Eastern NC School for the Deaf), Jessica
Cash (Cabarrus County Schools), Colleen Graham (Wayne County Public Schools), Candice Haynes
(Surry County Schools), Bryan Holley (Halifax County Schools), Stephanie Jeffries (Orange County
Schools), Rick Lage (Camden County Schools), Emily Lahr (Greene County Schools), Milton Lima, Jr.
(Vance County Schools), Dianne Ripollone (Cardinal Gibbons High School), Rustina Sharpe (Durham
Public Schools), Julia Smajdek (Cumberland County Schools), Robin Smith (Watauga County Schools)