May 10, 2010

NORTH CAROLINA
February-March 2010

In February and March 2010, the Churchill Society of North Carolina (CSNC) sponsored two Winston Churchill Seminars for North Carolina High School Students & Teachers. The first seminar was held in late February for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) at the Charlotte Museum of History. Over 100 students from nearly a dozen high schools, along with 20 teachers, participated in a day-long program that included presentations by Dr. Bob Whalen, Queens College, Dr. Bob Billinger, Wingate University, and Craig Horn, Chairman CSNC and featured Col. Quincy Collins, USAF Ret., and former POW. Especially noteworthy was an interactive session organized by high school teacher Shannon Winchester, Honors History Teacher at Weddington High School in Union County. This session challenged the students to apply Churchill’s lessons of leadership to current problems facing our country and the world – healthcare, nuclear proliferation, hunger, and small wars. The day began with remarks from Celia Sandys calling from London to welcome the students and briefly recount some of her personal memories of her grandfather and the relevance of his life in today’s world. And the day concluded with a Churchill Jeopardy game organized by Mr. Stacy Moore, Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator for Union County Public Schools.

In late March, CSNC sponsored a similar program for Union County Public Schools at the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, NC. This program featured the same format as for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and was attended by about 120 high school juniors and seniors and 25 teachers and administrators. Dr. Billinger again held an honors luncheon to discuss Paul Johnson’s new book about Winston Churchill and then presented a teacher seminar based on Steven Hayward’s book “Churchill on Leadership.” These programs ran concurrently with general sessions on Churchill’s Language of Leadership presented by Craig Horn and Shannon Winchester and Churchill on Statesmanship presented by Professor Bob Whalen. CSNC recruited the instructors, designed the curriculum and provided the materials and lunch for all attendees.

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The response by the school districts, the teachers and the students has been tremendous. Both school systems not only requested that this program be held annually but also want it expanded to more sessions for more students and has asked us to develop an adult education version. CSNC Chairman Craig Horn has subsequently met with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) to begin planning a similar program for undergraduates and their adult education seminars.

Please contact Craig Horn, Chairman, Churchill Society of North Carolina, for more information.