WINTON – During the 2013-2014 academic year, 21 students entered the ninth grade at a local high school that had been formerly known as Chowan Academy, Waters Normal Institute, C. S. Brown School, and C. S. Brown Student Development Center. That school is now known as C. S. Brown High School-STEM. 

At the start of their high school career, the freshmen class shared the school with 11th and 12th graders who were completing their secondary requirements. The students worked hard to obtain their spots in the junior class. By the start of their junior year, three of the 21 who started had either moved out of the county or changed high schools. But, they did not give up. The 18 remained and they developed a strong family relationship. They began to feel the importance of being first.

Currently these 18 students are preparing for their finals, and that is exactly what it is….the final time they will be together as a group; the final time they will walk these hall as seniors; and the final exams in high school science, technology, engineering and math.

But they are not the first, for we have come to know that there were many others that were before them. There are others like Annie Walden Jones, who was the first graduate of the original school that existed on the very grounds, where the current school sits and even where current Hertford County School Board Chairman J. Wendell Hall attended school. The influence and determination of Dr. Calvin Scott Brown, which caused him to create the first C. S. Brown School is what has driven others who have benefited from attending the school throughout its history.

The 18 current seniors have no doubt shared the same determination. School officials celebrate their hard work and determination, as they prepare for them to make their mark in history on June 9 and to be recorded as the inaugural class of Calvin Scott Brown High School-STEM.

The graduating class of 2017 held the first Senior Awards Night on May 19. After listening to encouraging words from Board Chairman Hall, each one stood and informed the crowd of their future plans. The class also held the first baccalaureate at First Baptist Church, located on the grounds of the school and served as chapel for the first students of C. S. Brown.

As they leave this school, there will be 18 Calvin Scott Brown High School-STEM students entering the doors of various higher institutions of learning. One will enter the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; six will enter the University of North Carolina at Pembroke; three will enter Chowan University; three will enter East Carolina University; one will enter Livingston College; one will enter Winston Salem State University; two will enter at North Carolina Wesleyan College; and one will enter Coastal Carolina University.

Looking at this small group, one can’t help but remember the words that tell us to not despise small beginnings. They are small in number, graduating from a small school, but this small group is coming from a force with awesome determination and a big heart for education and success.  Their senior t-shirts say it all in one simple word—GO!

Honored when asked about the accolades and history of C.S. Brown High School-STEM, Superintendent Dr. William T. Wright, Jr., EdD responded, “I am infinitely proud of the inaugural class of C.S. Brown High School-STEM. They are true examples of being “All In For Learning”. I look forward to the continued pursuit of excellence that they’re destined for.”

History at this school is still in the making!