Havelock early college gets grant

School officials received a grant that will be used for the math, science, technology and engineering-focused high school called Craven Early College East in Havelock.

The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors awarded $200,000 that is proposed to be used for the renovation of a building on the Havelock Middle School campus to house the College Eastern Applied Science and Technology (East) High School.

The grant was part of $4.2 million given statewide for job training in the aerospace industry that included $535,000 for Craven Community College’s manufacturing and aeronautics programs.

Foundation leaders sought grant proposals from four regions in the state with aerospace industry growth potential, including a region encompassing Craven and Lenoir counties, said Dan Gerlach, the foundation’s president.

“(We’re trying) to show these major employers, not just military, but civilian employers, that we’re serious about being the eastern coast capital of aerospace,” Gerlach said.

The early college is designed to be an accelerated high school program, graduating its students in five years with a high school diploma, as well as an associate’s degree or transferable college credits.

There is already an early college program, Craven Early College High School, on the community college’s New Bern campus. The proposed Early College East program, however, would focus on math, science, technology and engineering.

Annette Brown, Craven County Schools’ assistant superintendent for curriculum and accountability, said the students would take classes in their later years in the community college’s Institute of Aeronautical Technology at the community college’s Havelock campus.

In addition, they would be working on projects generated by engineers at Fleet Readiness Center East at Cherry Point, Brown said.

“From the first year, our students will be working on actual problems handed to them by the engineers at (Fleet Readiness Center East),” she said.

The building at Havelock Middle is adjacent to the college’s Havelock campus, so students could walk to class at the college. The middle school building was used to house the vocational and technical classes when Havelock High School was located there, and the building is now used to house fitness equipment, some classrooms, and football weightlifting equipment and lockers.

Brown said there were still several issues that need to be resolved before the project can move forward. The Early College East project is still in line to get a $1.5 million state grant over five years needed to finance the project if several other pending items, including the Golden LEAF grant, are finalized.

In addition, the project needs the Craven County Board of Education’s approval.

“There are a couple of contingencies (that need to be worked out) before we have a big celebration,” she said.