Howser House opening welcomed locals to historic home

By Loretta Cozart

Kings Mountain National Military Park opened the Howser House to visitors on June 10, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The 1803 stone house is located in a remote area of the park.

Visitors walked in from a parking area just off Rock House Road to visit the stone house that was built by the Revolutionary War veteran, stonemason, and distiller Henry Howser. The house’s thick, sturdy, stone walls evidence prosperity and affluence in a time when most settlers lived in log houses. The home remained in the family for several generations. The Howser family owned one of the more prosperous farms in the region.

Visitors were greeted by volunteers and national park reenactors who shared the story of Henry Howser and his family, along with the story of Jane Howser, the slave who is credited with building the house in the lintel above the doorway to the home.

Guests were guided through the house and grounds, where Henry Houser and his wife Christina once lived with their children.

After the house was acquired by the park, the non-period kitchen off the back of the house was removed. More recently, the stonework at the back of the house was restored, protecting the home for guests the

In the backyard, foot- for the original kitchen seen, along

Governor announces $3M to help North Carolinians become teachers

Governor Roy Cooper directed $3 million in new federal funding to provide support for aspiring teachers to become fully licensed teachers in North Carolina on Friday, March 9. These funds will be used to cover the cost of licensure exams and licensure exam preparation for beginning teachers. The Governor is partnering with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and TeachNC on the initiative.

"Every student deserves to have a qualified teacher and the opportunity to receive a high-quality education,” said Governor Cooper. “This funding will help ensure that exam fees don’t deter excellent, diverse talent from reaching – and staying in – the classroom. We need the legislature to make meaningful investments in teacher pay raises to help North Carolina fight our high teacher vacancy rate.”

North Carolina already faces more than 5,000 teacher vacancies, leaving tens of thousands of students without a qualified educator and putting their success at extreme risk. Governor Cooper’s DRIVE Task Force has identified licensure exams as a key barrier to people of color looking to enter the teaching profession. Recruiting and retaining diverse, quality teachers is harder than ever, and small barriers, like covering the cost of licensure exam fees, can keep aspiring teachers from entering or staying in the profession.

“TEACH is committed to both growing the teacher pipeline and making sure those teachers reflect the diversity of the students they serve,” said Veronica Wilson, Vice President of Programs at TEACH. “We’re thrilled to partner with Governor Cooper and NCDPI towards those shared goals.”

The cost of licensure exams for teacher candidates in North Carolina can average at or above $450. Some candidates need more than one attempt to pass their exams, meaning they must often pay for their exams multiple times.

“Our work with TeachNC has already supported more than 3,600 aspiring teachers in our state to apply to an educator preparation program,” said Dr. Jason Caldwell, Director of TeachNC and Educator Recruitment Partnerships at NCDPI.

“This is such an important and tangible way we can alleviate financial burdens experienced by those choosing to enter the teaching profession while helping to bolster the state’s teaching pipeline long-term.”

Aspiring North Carolina teachers – as well as nearly 1,000 current teachers who need to pass an exam to remain in the classroom – can now receive a reimbursement from TeachNC to cover their licensure exams and study expenses by simply creating a TeachNC account and submitting a request at https://ontch.org/ TeacherTestPrep. In addi- tion, everyone eligible to receive a reimbursement can access a variety of preparation materials through Study. com. This smart investment will help aspiring teachers to both take the exams required to earn their license and pass those exams.

Any North Carolina teacher who took a licensure exam on or after July 1, 2022 or a current or aspiring teacher who will be taking a licensure exam before June 30, 2024 is eligible to seek reimbursement for licensure exam fees This initiative is modeled on a recommendation from Governor Cooper’s DRIVE Task Force. In 2019, the Governor established the Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE) Task Force to identify barriers and recommendations to increase the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of North Carolina’s educator workforce. In 2021, the Task Force issued its Final Report and Recommendations, which included a recommendation to provide support to facilitate teacher candidate success on educator licensure exams.

This opportunity is also possible due to an expanding partnership between TEACH and Study.com, which provides test preparation courses and resources to aspiring teachers across the country through their Keys to the Classroom initiative.

Funding for this initiative is from federal Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools (EANS) funds that have reverted to the Gover- nor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund.

The Governor made the announcement today at Garner Magnet High School. He was joined by teachers including Terry Hennings, the 2023 Wake County Public School System Teacher of the Year. Terry Hennings served in the United States Air Force for 25 years and chose teaching as his second career.

Governor Cooper has traveled across the state to highlight the threats facing public schools and the need to invest in teacher pay raises to solve the teacher shortage crisis. The Governor proposed an 18% pay raise over two years for teachers to bring North Carolina to 1st in the Southeast in average teacher pay.

TeachNC is an initiative of NCDPI and TEACH, a national nonprofit founded in 2015 by the U.S. Department of Education that collaborates with states and metropolitan regions to build strong and diverse teacher talent pipelines to ensure K-12 students have the diverse, high-quality teachers they deserve. In doing so, TeachNC provides aspir- ing teachers a range of free tools and services designed to overcome the known barriers they encounter while pursuing a teaching career.

Kings

(Ed. Note: The recipes in today’s Cooking Corner are from Central United Methodist Church Cookbook.)

STRAWBERRY SALAD

Marie Brinkley

1 Large pkg. strawberry jello

2 cups hot water

1 large pkg. frozen strawberries

1 No. 2 can crush pineapple, drained

3 bananas, mashed slightly with fork ½ cup chopped nuts

1/ pint sour cream Dissolve jello in hot water. Add frozen strawberries and stir until blended. Let set in refrigerator until mixture begins to thicken. Add pineapple, bananas, and chopped nuts. Mix well and pour ½ of mixture into large oblong Pyrex. Let set in refrigerator until firm enough to spread with sour cream, leaving re- maining ½ outside refrigerator. After covering 1/2 with sour cream, pour remaining jello mixture over this and put in refrigerator to congeal.

CALICO SLAW

Linda Dixon

½ head cabbage (small)

2 med. carrots

½ green pepper

1 green onion

1 apple

DRESSING

½ cup evaporated milk

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp. salt

Dash of pepper

3 Tbsp. vinegar, added gradually

Mix dressing. Allow to stand while preparing slaw. Pour dressing over slaw. Mix well. Refrigerate several hours before serving.

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH

CHICKEN PIE

Dot Dixon

3 lb. fryer

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup buttermilk

½ tsp. black pepper

1 stick melted margarine

Cook chicken until tender. Remove meat from bone and skin. Reserve broth. Cut chicken onto small pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. In a saucepan, bring to boil the broth and cream of chicken soup.

In another bowl, combine the flour, pepper, buttermilk, and margarine. Mix thoroughly to form a batter. Pour broth mixture over chicken. Spoon batter over the top. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until brown on top.