The heartbeat of Kernersville

for 76 years

Rachael Dean, a seventh grad-er at Southeast Middle School (SEMS), started dancing when she was only four years old.

Dean’s dancing career first started at Dance Unlimited in Kernersville. She transferred to the High Point Ballet in 2005, where she participates in bal-let, contemporary dance, point, partnering and jazz.

“My favorite style of dance is point,” she said, noting this is when the dancers support all of their body weight on fully ex-tended feet.

Recently, Dean has moved up a level with the high school stu-dents at the High Point Ballet, a huge honor for a middle school dancer.

Farrah Hilton had always dreamed of being a teacher; however, it wasn’t until her sophomore year in high school

that she was determined to fol-low that dream.

Hilton, a 1994 graduate of East Forsyth High School (EFHS), said that it was after receiving negative feedback on a paper she had slaved over that

she knew she wanted to teach English.

“I wanted to prove that teacher wrong,” Hilton recalled.

To begin her journey into education, Hilton earned her Bachelor of Science from Ap-

palachian State University in English Education and a Master of Arts in English and N.C. His-tory at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Hilton started at EFHS in 1998, teaching English. She now

teaches advanced placement (A.P.) literature, N.C. literature and senior English, with one of those being an elective she brought to the school.

“We didn’t have many elec-tives in English, so I proposed

an English elective to (Win-ston-Salem/Forsyth County School’s) Curriculum Develop-ment and we have had the elec-tive in the school for two years

Julia Phippstalks about her proud

Native American heritage.

See story, below

Vol. 35 No. 16 January 14, 2014 Published Tues., Thurs., Sat.-Sun.

Fulfilling journey

Last week, the Guilford Coun-ty Board of Commissioners unanimously approved donat-ing $250,000 toward the Caroli-na Field of Honor at Triad Park, nearly completing the fundraising goal for the veterans memorial.

Bill Moss, a U.S. Marine veter-an and founding member of the War Memorial Foundation, the

driving force behind the creation of the $5 million memorial, said he didn’t learn that the commis-sioners were considering the do-nation until the night before their Thursday meeting.

“Someone called me Wednes-day night and told me it was on the agenda, that the commission-ers were going to vote on $250,000 for the memorial,” said Moss.

Moss said that over the last several years, members of the

foundation have knocked on just about every door and visited ev-ery organization they could in seeking donations and that it had become increasingly more diffi-cult to solicit funds. The donation from Guilford County will allow the group to complete construc-tion of the memorial in time to clean up the site and get the grass growing ahead of its May dedica-

A major contributionCarolina Field of Honor receives $250,000

donation from Guilford CountyBy Wendy Freeman davisFeatures & News Editor

By JenniFer OWensBy emingerLifestyles Editor

By Linda PayneGovenmental Affairs Reporter

The residents of Manorwood Drive are not giving up.

Don Morton and many of his neighbors met Saturday to dis-cuss their next move in seeking more privacy from Deere-Hita-chi Machinery Corporation on

West Mountain Street.“We aren’t trying to be diffi-

cult, we just want a good night’s sleep and to be able to enjoy our backyards,” said Morton, who lives approximately 150 feet from Deere-Hitachi’s new east cam-pus. “We feel like Deere-Hitachi has let us down. All we are ask-ing is for them to raise the berm

in the areas they can to create a unified look and to build a noise wall. It’s the right thing to do.”

Morton and approximately 39 of his neighbors attended the Kernersville Board of Aldermen meeting on January 7 to ask the aldermen for assistance in deal-

Neighbors on the edge

Voicing concerns about Deere-Hitachi

Manorwood Drive residents concernedabout light, noise coming from the new facility

See “Manorwood residents” Page 3

See “Carolina Field of Honor” Page 2

Don Morton lives approximately 150 feet from the new Deere-Hitachi east campus and is upset that excessive noise and light are keeping his family awake at night. He would like to see Deere-Hitachi build the berm to increase the buffer between the two properties and build a noise wall so they don’t have to hear the banging of the trucks as they unload equipment overnight. For more, see story above. (Photo by Linda Payne)

Kernersville resident Julia Phipps is sharing what it was like to grow up in a Native American commu-nity and how she and her relatives work to keep the tribe’s legacy alive.

As a member of the Kernersville Woman’s Club, Phipps was asked to speak during one of the social events for the club in last November, which is Native American Heritage Month. Phipps wanted to share her strong Native American family history of the Sappony tribe.

Phipps said there were 110,000 Native Americans living in N.C. as of the year 2000, making up a total of eight tribes. She said that of those eight tribes, only the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation and the Lumbee tribe of N.C. are federally recognized. She noted that although the Lumbee are recognized, they do not currently receive benefits.

“North Carolina has the largest number of Indi-ans east of the Mississippi,” she said.

Phipps said the Sappony tribe has applied for federal recognition, but they are still in review.

Keeping Sappony traditions alive

Local woman shares her story of being a Native

American

See “Sappony heritage” Page 8

See “Teacher of the Year” Page 8

See “Dancer” Page 7

By JenniFer OWensBy emingerLifestyles Editor

By JenniFer OWensBy emingerLifestyles Editor

A passionate

dancerLocal dancer is

living her dream

A proud teacher at one local high schoolFarrah Hilton named Teacher of the Year at East Forsyth High school

Farrah Hilton, Teacher of the Year at East Forsyth High School, standing in her classroom. Hilton has taught English at the school for 16 years. (Photo by Jennifer Owensby Eminger)

Page 8news features Tuesday News, January 14, 2014

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“We submitted our members and information in 2001 for fed-eral recognition and had to get the names of members in both North Carolina and Virginia,” she said, noting that the Sappony tribe was the first in N.C. to digitally submit the names of tribe members.

Phipps said all descendants from the Sappony tribe come from seven main families, or clans. She noted that since the ear-ly 1700s their home has been lo-cated in the Piedmont region, on the border of northeastern Person County in N.C. and southeastern Halifax County in Va.

She went on to explain that before they were settled, the Sap-pony tribe traveled back and forth from Va. to N.C., working as trap-pers and traders and middlemen for the settlers and other Indian tribes.

She said the Sappony tribe was formally referred to as the Chris-

tie Indians because the town of Christie was the center of the High Plains, where they lived and primarily grew tobacco.

According to Sappony history, the governor of Va. in 1714 con-structed Fort Christ Anna in what is known today as Brunswick County, Va. to monopolize trade.

“In 1714, the Sappony tribe was Christianized and educated. We were taught English so that when the colonists came across us, we could communicate with them,” Phipps explained.

The history states that the Sap-pony children attended the Indian school inside of the five-sided fort of Christ Anna, where the tribe had a major role in the function-ing economics and daily routine of the fort.

After serving with colonists in the Revolutionary War, the Sap-pony were able to purchase land in the High Plains settlement. The

Sappony heritageContinued from Page 1

Sappony have fought in every ma-jor war since the Revolutionary War.

“When we settled, one of the first things we wanted to do was build a school and a church,” Phipps said.

In 1962, the High Plains Indi-an School closed and the Sappo-ny children were integrated into white schools.

Phipps said they had their own bus and attended a school in N.C.

She explained that up until 1965 and the development of in-tegration, Sappony tribe members worked as sharecroppers or farm-ers since Native Americans could not apply for jobs.

Phipps, who is 100 percent Sappony, grew up in a large fami-ly. She said her generation was the first to marry outside of the tribe.

“There were eight boys and three girls in our family,” she said. “My father is still alive and contin-

ues to live in the High Plains com-munity. He is very active.”

Phipps said her mother was a very strong believer of education and made sure that all 11 children attended college. She even filled out forms to help them receive funding and scholarships.

“She was like a guidance coun-selor to the other kids in the com-munity. If they had questions or wanted to attend, she helped them in any way she could,” she remarked.

Phipps said her mother was also very active in the Sappony tribal council for many years.

Today, Phipps serves as a trib-al officer and as the secretary. She has also served on the N.C. Com-mission of Indian Affairs.

She noted that since her gener-ation married outside of the tribe, the community has dwindled, so they have worked on ideas to bring their children back into the community to help keep the Sap-pony tribe alive.

Phipps said her generation started a Sappony Heritage Camp for their children 13 years ago.

The weeklong adventure camp is held in the summer at Mayo Park in Person County. The camp, which is run by volunteers, fea-tures storytelling, projects, and other activities to help educate the descendants about their history and heritage, strengthen Sappony bonds, and instill pride.

At the end of the camp, there is a talent show the children per-form in as they incorporate Sap-pony history, Phipps added.

Phipps said the tribe works to find other ways to keep their her-itage alive.

“(Archaeologists) have found relics at dig sites at Staunter River near Lynchburg, Virginia,” Phipps said. “We take our kids up there and show them the camp where a lot of Sappony tribe members

lived at one time.”Phipps, a retired nurse, and her

husband, Bill, have one daughter, Christie, and two grandchildren, Katelyn, 8, and Alexis, 5. Phipps said Katelyn recently attended the camp.

The Sappony Tribe also have a museum exhibit at the Person County Museum of History in Roxboro; they hold annual tribal events; they are involved in Native American health issues; and they are developing a Heritage Pro-gram - the camp is a part of this program.

Phipps said they have held a

5K for the past three years to help raise money for the youth camp and noted that even when the youth are not able to attend the event, they show their support at home by running on their own or in other events nearby.

“We had approximately 66 runners for our 2013 Sappony Trail Run,” Phipps said.

For more information about the Sappony tribe or any of the other eight Native American tribes in N.C., visit http://www.doa.nc.gov/cia/ or www.sappony.org.

now,” she said. Hilton explained that the

course is based on N.C. writers. The students have met several of the writers, of fiction and non-fiction works.

“The kids enjoy it and it gives them an elective besides P.E. and chorus,” she said.

If you were to take a class with Hilton, you might describe her teaching style as “eclectic” and “evolving” as she works to be flexible for her students and meet them at their learning lev-el.

“I also try to build a rapport with them. If I don’t show them I care about them and get to know them, they won’t respond to me in the classroom,” she said.

Hilton enjoys teaching be-cause each day is different and each set of students brings both a new set of challenges and re-wards.

“With the schedule I have, I see some of the brightest stu-dents grow and become well prepared for college. I also get to see struggling students walk across the stage that some might not have thought would,” she said.

Although Hilton is proud of all of her students, she men-tioned two that have made her especially proud to be a teach-er.

“I had one student for both junior and senior year English. His family had pretty much given up on him and he’d given up on himself,” she said.

Hilton said the student stayed in constant trouble, was disruptive, and didn’t respond well to authority.

“I worked with him and his community mentor for him to successfully graduate on time, when he almost didn’t have a chance,” she said. “Seeing him successful now and doing the best for himself and his family makes me proud.”

Hilton mentioned another student that graduated four

years ago who is now taking his first job in journalism for a magazine in New York.

When Hilton learned that she had been named the Teach-er of the Year at EFHS, she was surprised and humbled.

“I was giving a practice

exam in my A.P. class; it was very quiet and the principal came in and interrupted the silence,” she said. “It was very humbling.”

Hilton and her husband, Richard, have two daughters: Emerie, 8, and Berklie, 2.

Teacher of the YearContinued from Page 1

‘A Toast to Bruce’ on Jan. 18

The Kiwanis Club is invit-ing the community to attend “A Toast to Bruce” Boyer, who re-cently retired as CEO and pres-ident of the Kernersville Cham-ber of Commerce.

The event will be held on Sat., Jan. 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the Kernersville YMCA. Tickets are $50 and all proceeds will go to support the Kernersville Educa-tion Grants in Boyer’s name.

The meal will be catered by Giada’s Trattoria.

Tickets can be purchased at the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce. For more informa-tion, call 336-993-4521.

Event will honor Bruce Boyer and Education Grant Program

Julia Phipps giving a presentation about her family, the Sappony tribe, and how they are working to keeping their heritage alive. (Photo by Helen Prince)

Youth canoeing across a river during the annual summer Sappony Heritage Camp, a camp intended to bring the tribe together and to keep the Sappony heritage alive. (Photo contributed)