Recurring Nightmares

I have a recurring nightmare that I am sure is a common one among folks who moved a lot while growing up. My dad was in the Coast Guard and we, like most military families, moved every two or three years. I attended four elementary schools, two junior high schools and two high schools in seven different states. To complicate matters, just about every time we moved it happened in the middle of the school year.

If that sounds like your upbringing, I’m betting that you share my recurring nightmare. Here goes: I’m walking around in a new school and I don’t know anyone. I’m either about to take a big test I haven’t studied for or I’m struggling to find my locker. If by some miracle I manage to find my locker, I’m completely stupefied as to what the combination to the lock is. Sometimes I have returned to school because I apparently lack the one class credit that will enable me to graduate high school. Without it, everything accomplished later in college and life will be ruled null and void.

Seirena Miller creates a new bowl in Watauga High School’s ceramics class for the Empty Bowls Dinner this Saturday. Some people in our community feel that it is time this potter’s wheel found a new home in a new high school. Photo by Jeff Eason

Then, of course, I wake up. The panicky feeling eventually subsides and I lie in bed, grateful to be done with high school and its seemingly endless supply of anxious moments.

Actually high school wasn’t too bad for me. We moved to Boone in the mid-1970s when I was a junior and my brother, Greg, was a sophomore. Because of our habit of moving around quite a bit, making friends in new towns became second nature to us so we quickly acclimated to our new surroundings at Watauga High.

If I had to pin down one place where we made the most friends at Watauga High it would have to be in Shelton Wilder’s art class. A welcome break from algebra II and chemistry, an hour in art class meant a chance to be creative for a while. We got to play music on a stereo, talk with classmates and learn how to paint and make linoleum prints.

Fortunately for us, Mr. Wilder is still teaching local kids about the joy of art at WHS. I talked with him briefly last week while I was at the school taking photos and talking to students for this edition’s article about the Empty Bowls Project to benefit the Hunger Coalition. Shelton and the other art instructors—Whit Whitaker and Lori Fowler-Hill—have shepherded their students toward good deeds in addition to good art.

If some things, like art classes, remain a positive for kids at Watauga High, some things have gotten worse. The physical state of the building has really degenerated in the quarter century since I graduated and there’s no real reason to think that it can effectively be improved without starting from scratch. The windows rattle and the heating system—when working—is loud and obtrusive.

It is time, quite frankly, for us to pony up and build a new school.

Many people in our community feel that the expense of rebuilding Watauga High School is beyond our capabilities. I think it is a challenge for us to be as creative as the WHS art students now raising money for the Hunger Coalition.

Here’s my idea:

Last month it was announced that developer Ginn Clubs and Resorts plans to build about 1,500 upscale homes, 1,000 condominium or hotel rooms, an equestrian center and two 18-hole golf courses on a 6,000-acre resort in Watauga County (1,200 acres of which will lie in Wilkes County). The resort is called Laurelmor and sits in the Sampson area, overlooking Triplett in the eastern portion of the county.

According to news reports, county planners expect that lot prices in Laurelmor to start at $750,000. When complete, Laurelmor will be larger in area than Blowing Rock and Boone combined, although not as densely populated.

Several groups in the area oppose the planned development because of the environmental effect that its construction and accompanying 50 miles of paved roads will have on the watershed. But, considering Ginn’s successful track record of getting things done in Florida, it looks like Laurelmor will be built and the company has plans to start selling lots in October.

If Laurelmor is a go, I say we get creative with property taxation and let the potential buyers know that if they want a luxury house or condo in Watauga County, they will be required to pay a one-time county fee to help us build a new high school. Some say that this is not possible, but I’ve seen plenty of politicians get creative when it comes to paying for their pet projects, so I think it is not only possible but feasible. I see no reason why an estimated 2,500 upscale homeowners can’t afford a couple of thousand dollars apiece to help with funding for construction of a new high school.

I can hear the complaints now: “We’re retired! We don’t even have high school kids!” Sorry about that. Older people paid taxes to pay for schools when you went to school and again when your kids went to school. Now it’s your turn. It’s just the cycle of life, baby. It’s the price you’re gonna have to pay to live here.

It’s just an idea. I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks for reading.