The Stentorian Newspaper

Tag: storm

  • Service Learning Coordinator, Mailroom, Faculty, Students Stuff Supply Truck to WNC Within 10 Days

    Service Learning Coordinator, Mailroom, Faculty, Students Stuff Supply Truck to WNC Within 10 Days

    Students volunteer with staff at the NCSSM Mailroom. (Denise Burgette)

    By Teresa Fang, Stentorian Editor-in-Chief

    Service Learning coordinator Sue Anne Lewis and Mailroom staff organize a successful Western NC Supply Drive, thanks to students who have donated and volunteered to pack supplies and teachers including Ms. Gabriela Stefan who took shifts supervising the truck. 

    The truck, a 40-foot long container on wheels, was driven to Western North Carolina by Director of Residential Education and Housing Michael Newbauer on Friday morning. This supply drive was born out of a way for NCSSM to “support our community and neighbors in need” and “send as many supplies as possible to Western NC,” Lewis wrote in a October 2 email. 

    From October 2-12, items were donated to the drive via dropping them off directly at the truck in the Bryan parking lot or shipped as packages directly to the Mailroom. More than 120 students signed up to help pack those items in cardboard boxes, labeled, then carried to the truck, contributing more than 400 total hours.

    “We repacked them to make sure baby bottles, baby formula, and the like, all went in a box and we labeled it. Batteries, first-aid kids, medicine, feminine products, stuff like that.” said Mailroom Manager Denise Burgette. “We had a lot of those. So we just took them all. The students that came over were just totally amazing.”

    During our chat, she gave me a tour of the Mailroom storage, where she showed me a box of white shipping labels ripped off from packages. She says that Lewis plans to have some students write thank you notes to the senders.

    “Within two hours, we had 372 Amazon packages.” Burgette said, describing the scene in the Mailroom on October 14. “They couldn’t fit on the shelf so we had them lined up on the dock, and there were extra tables for the students to work, breaking down packages and everything.”

    In addition to just holding the supply drive, NCSSM partnered with local Durham business Lee’s 24-Hour Towing to bring a “Stuff the Truck” semitrailer at the parking lot at Club Boulevard and Broad Street. Students were also encouraged to sign a large “NCSSM <3 Western NC” poster in the Bryan lobby and share images on social media promoting the supply drives. 

  • Perspective: NCSSM Apocalypse: Scenes from Around Campus in the Wake of a Storm

    Perspective: NCSSM Apocalypse: Scenes from Around Campus in the Wake of a Storm

    By Avery Prince / September 1, 2023
    A fallen tree lies uprooted at the entrance to Watts Circle on August 15. (Avery Prince/Stentorian)

    Intense storms and winds surrounded the Triangle on August 15th, leaving fallen trees, broken power lines, and power outages across the area. Duke Energy reported over 56,000 power outages, most of which occurred in Durham County. Winds were up to 70 miles per hour, causing trees to fall and creating dangerous driving conditions that lead to multiple crashes and roadway incidents.Across NCSSM’s Durham campus there were several signs of the damage from the storm, fallen trees and broken power lines were amongst the various damage left in the wake of such an intense storm. 

    Before the chaos of this storm, students and faculty gathered in the PEC for NCSSM’s 44th convocation. For the first time in NCSSM history, convocation was centered on NCSSM’s second campus in Morganton, being broadcast over Zoom and projected in Durham. Just as the keynote speaker was about to speak, the power went out and the lights in the PEC shut. A wave of panic ran through the PEC, and faculty calmed students down, encouraging them to remain quiet and stay seated. To pass time, students shined their phone flashlights and sang together, making the most of a difficult situation. Eventually faculty helped students exit the PEC and return to their dorms, where the backup power lit the halls and the heat was intense.

    The storm on August 15 left power lines and trees nearly on top of nearby houses on Broad Street. (Avery Prince/Stentorian)

    NCSSM was faced with over 25 hours with no power. Emergency generators fired up and certain parts of campus had emergency power, covering only necessities.

    Classes were canceled, and students found ways to pass the time and cool off across campus. Bryan Lobby was popular with many students, as it allowed students to charge their various devices and cool off with fans. Many students appreciated this time as an opportunity to bond, and distracted themselves from the unpleasant conditions by spending time bonding with friends by playing card games, socializing, and cooling off together. Late in the afternoon, power returned and the usual rhythm of NCSSM resumed, but the storm had left its mark. 

    While it was not an ideal start to the year for many students, NCSSM students were able to accept this great challenge and make the most of the storm and power outage.