Volume 1 Number 2
The North Carolina School of Science & Math
January 21,1982
Stentorian Interview
by Cathy Moses
Following a January 8th Board of Trustees meeting,
new trustee George Watts Hill, grandson of George
Washington Hill and Valinda Beall Watts, founders of Watts
Hospital, was interviewed by the Stentorian concerning his
position as a new trustee. One question you may wonder
about is "What exactly does a trustee do?" A trustee sets
the policy for the school, paying careful attention not
to interfere with the day-to-day administration of the
school and the students. The trustees are diversified
people as illustrated by this one interview, and many
curiosities can be satisfied by "talking with a trustee."
Stentorian: What interest did your grandparents have in
founding the hospital?
Mr. Hill: My grandmother was very frail, and people went
to, in those days, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Both
my grandfather and grandmother on my mother's side
came from Baltimore. She was at Johns Hopkins quite
a number of times, and that's the reason the Watts
Hospital was built on what they called the "Pavilion
Plan." We had the administration building, the 1908,
and the Ward Building. There was no airconditioning;
we put window units originally so that the patients
would have air and sunlight. That's why we built
porches at the ends of the pavilions. My grandfather
was in the tobacco business and came down here in 1876.
He was the only college graduate in the tobacco busi
ness in those days. He became interested in the
church and the general population. They had no hos
pital. He built a little hospital where McPhersons
Hospital is on mainstreet now. They had a men's
pavilion, a woman's pavilion and a central building
in 1896, and he moved out here and started building
this in 1909.
Stentorian: Do you think in establishing this school
that we have lost any historical significance of the
Old Watts Hospital?
Mr. Hill: No, I don't think so... The bildings are
very sound and it would be a shame to destroy them;
you'd lose so much. And the people of the community
are interested in the old buildings being properly
used instead of abandoned as they were for two or
three years.
Stentorian: How do you think the fact that this school
is residentail affects the school and the students?
Mr. Hill: I think it's very good. I went to Prep
school in Conneticut. And you have an atmosphere
that is of advantage to students. You're here to
learn. You have your own athletics; you have clubs
and school organizations. You're not distracted by
the town influence, parents' influence, and it's
oriented toward the academics, and all that goes with
it. Schooling is not just academics. Schooling is
growing up in all kinds of ways, a chance for develop
ment, thorough development.
Stentorian: You are active in many research organiza
tions. What interest do you have in research?
Mr. Hill: I'm a trustee and member of Board of Governors
at the University of Chapel Hill from 1972 on. I
was Chairman of the Health Committee of the Board of
Trustees of Chapel Hill for twelve years, and I was
one of the three men (who donated money). I raised
$75,000 back in 1947-48. With the other men, we
hired five or six people to put on a program known
as the "Good Health Movement" in North Carolina, and
we were able to persuade the legislature by 100% vote
to uphold and appropriate money for the third and fourth
years of medicine at Chapel Hill, for the School of
Public Health, for the school of Nursing, and for the
dental school. And I followed through with that, kept
a tremendous interest in it.
Continued on Page 5
Math Colloquium
The NCSSM Math Department has arranged a unique
lecture program on various topics in mathematics.
Scheduled for each Tuesday, the program features speakers
from Duke, East Carolina, N. C. State, and UNC-Chapel Hill,
in conjunction with the talks, students may select the
Mathematics Colloquium as a second semester course and
acquire course credit for their participation. The course
will be graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.
The guidelines set for a student to receive a satisfactory
grade and course credit are as follows:
1) attendance of ^t least b0%of the lectures
2) independent study of a topic selected by the
student and his/her math teacher
3) preparation of a paper on the approved topic
4) presentation of the paper to students of the
Mathematics Colloquium at the end of the semester
Richard Hodel, Duke University
Stentor revisited
Mrs. Oates, our registrar and Latin instructor here
at NCSSM, has informed the Stentorian that our story in
the first issue, entitled "The Stentorian Journey," had
quoted history incorrectly. Mrs. Oates states that
Stentor was actually a person amd not a job or function
someone performed. "Stentor only appeaurs once in Homer's
Iliad and that's when he calls the troops in a very loud
voice."
So as the Odyssey is named for Odysseus, the Sten
torian is named for Stentor, the person. "It's inappro-
priate to say 'the stentor.' He was a person like George
Washington," she says. "The title of the newspaper is
fine. It's just that reference to the stentor as a func
tion, instead of to a specific person."
So in the same manner that Stentor is remembered,
we would like to say the Stentorian is named for Stentor,
the person.