Our team is working at a feverish pace to prepare the NCSSM-Morganton campus and programs to serve students and educators across our state. We continue to onboard diverse and talented teammates as our workforce has grown to nearly 50 faculty and staff. And our new home is taking shape as we begin taking ownership of the buildings that make up the campus core!

I wanted to include the images above to reinforce these activities and reveal three major points of pride from the past month. On April 30, we hosted our first ever Welcome Day for the inaugural class of NCSSM-Morganton students and the response and excitement from students and their families was electrifying. On May 12, NCSSM-Morganton was honored to be recognized by Select 2000 with the Diversity Champion Award, accepted by our Assistant HR Director, Eric Hunsley. And today, we are kicking off 8 days of building inspections with our construction partners in hopes of taking ownership and operationalizing the Academic Commons, Residence Hall, and Goodwin Hall!

Alongside these exciting milestones, we recently completed the latest episode of The Road to Morganton short film series. Episode 14 gives a sneak peek inside the new NCSSM-Morganton campus as we share the "why" behind the design of spaces for this living-learning community and the "how" that went into translating that vision into reality with our design partners.

I encourage you to review the headlines and opportunities shared in this month's newsletter (especially the great highlight below on my colleague, Tonya Little '84). I'd also ask that you monitor your inbox as we intend to release a special newsletter in two weeks that will celebrate the Grand Opening of the NCSSM-Morganton campus. We will also use that outreach to share details for viewing the public Livestream of our ceremony on June 10th.

We are sprinting towards the finish line and our whole team remains inspired by the encouragement and support of our community of partners, investors, and champions, including you.

NASA Connections to Middle School Science workshops

still have a few more seats open and they are available to all 6th-8th grade teachers until sessions are full!

Description: 1/2 day sessions (9:00-1:00) held at the

NC Center of Engineering Technologies in Hickory.

Kevin Baxter, NCSSM-Morganton Vice Chancellor and Chief Campus Officer, told The News Herald that the school is working to have the all of school’s faculty and staff positions filled and ready for students when they move in on Aug. 10. Following move-in day, students will have a week of orientation before classes begin.