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WEST CRAVEN HIGHLIGHTS
Wilmar
Piney Neck
Cayton West Craven Heights Ernul
Volume 1, Number 3
Serving The
Vanceboro Community
Askin
Spruilltown
Epworth
Dudley’s Crossroads
Thursday, January 26, 1978
20‘ per copy
New Junior High School
Opens
“Instead of just a school, we like to call it a
’personalized environment,’ ’’ said Principal William B.
Rivenbark when asked to describe the new West Craven
Junior High School whose first day of classes is Monday,
January 30, 1978. The over two million dollar facility, is
located off Spring Garden Road about eight miles south of
Vanceboro.
“Before the first architectural drawings were made, a
committee pf^ a4biijU?J'£4r5rs^ and Jteachei:^ includjng
myselft .spent hours' planning how each inch of space was
to be used. What we have is a school built almost entirely
according to our specifications,” Rivenbark explained,
indicating that he feels the people got their money’s
worth. As we toured the new facility, he pointed out the
various sections and the purposes of each. One
outstanding inovation in the school is the use of carpeted
halls to reduce the noise level during the change of
classes. West Craven Junior High is probably unique in
that it has, in addition to a regular principal’s office in the
administration wing, an open principal’s office on the main
hall with comfortable chairs for conferences and an
adjacent conference room for private meetings with
parents or students. In this way either principal is always
available. Mr. Rivenbark explained that his office is
always open to any parent who wishes to talk to him. He
invitps parents to come out and talk to him if any problem
comes up so he can act to do something about it.
In regard to school transportation, Mr. Rivenbark
The school is equipped with an up to date Media Center
with sections for each major subject area, and some
individual study desks.
A New Bern native, Mr. Rivenbark has over ten years
Mr. William B. Rivenbark
Principai of West Craven
Jr. High School
in the Education field. After receiving his B.S. In Social
Services from East Carolina University in 1968, he taught
at Brinson Memorial Elementary for two years. His last
year at Brinson saw him as Assistant Principal while he
also taught seventh and eight grades. In 1970, he served
as principal at James City Junior High School finishing his
Masters in Education Administration in 1971. Since 1971,
Rivenbark has served as principal at Ft. Barnwell
Elementary School. He finished his Advanced Principals
and Superintendents Degree in 1975 also at E.C.U. Mr.
Alan Smith, also with about ten years in the schools will
serve as assistant principal and athletic director. Rounding
out the staff are Kathryn Adams - Secretary, Marguerite
Jones - Bookkeeper, Leslie Sadler - Media Specialists,
Janice Jordan - Library Aide, Lynette Dudley - Cafeteria
Manager, Fred Moore - Maintenance Supervisor, Floyd
Cox and Carie Gatlin - Custodians and Helen Midgette and
Bonnie Norman - Reading Aides. There will be about
thirty-one teachers. Mr. Rivenbark invites parents to come
out and visit the new school. An official Open House will
be held in April at the same time as the Dedication.
explained that five buses would run on each side of the
river. Students would meet their bus at the same place
they presently do. Students living in Vanceboro will be
picked up by the bus at any point along Main Street. This
may be changed if it does not work out.“Regrettably there
will be some very early routes,” Mr. Rivenbark sighed,
“but we will do everything we can to minimize these, even
if we have to redraw the bus routes.” At present, the
parking, lpj,s h^ye.ap.t^ljegp paypji, .Plaus^e.JWidiRt JKajL
pave them as soon as weather permits.
For the rest of this year only seventh and eighth grades
will go to the new school. No classroom time will be lost
since classes will merely be transplanted to a different
building. Starting this fall, the classes will be mixed with
the rising seventh graders being added to make a student
population of about five hundred students and about
thirty-five teachers. Rivenbark explained that landscaping
would begin in the spring. For outside activities the
facilities at the other schools will be used.Twelve foot high
fences are being erected to protect students from the
river on one end and an irrigation ditch at the other end
of the property. Beginning this fall, the junior high will
have its own football field, baseball diamond, and track
facilities. Plans are to add tennis courts later.
Citizen
of the
Week
Anita Whitford
On Friday night Anita Whitford was a member of the
Pickle Classic Court when it was presented at the annual
Mount Olive Pickle Classic. The Pickle Queen and her
court are chosen from the student body of Mount Olive
College. The Classic is an Invitational College Basketball
Tournament which is sponsored by the Jay Cees of Mount
Olive. The proceeds from the tournament are donated to
Mount Olive College.
A sophomore at the college, Anita was co-chief of the
Marshalls her freshman year and co-recipient of the
Perrett Award given to the highest academic average of
the freshman class. This year Anita is president of the
Henderson Science Club and Phi Theta Kappa as well as a
member of the Academic Honors Program, and has been
named to Who’s Who Among American Junior College
Students.She is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Harvey A.
Whitford.
WHAT’S INSIDE
Cards To
3
Church News
5
Classified Ads
7
Club News
4
Editorials
2
Horoscope
2
Letters to the Counselor
3
School News
7,8
Sports
6
2nd Class Permit Applied for.