Tag: community

RCPS submits a proposal for a historical marker celebrating educator Lucy Addison

Will Frank, arts and culture reporter

Roanoke City Public Schools is currently in the process of applying for a state historic marker to highlight the pioneering education work of Lucy Addison.

The Big Picture: Lucy Addison was born to enslaved parents in 1861 in Fauquier County, Virginia. She ventured to Philadelphia to earn her education degree and returned to Virginia to teach in Loudoun County. After some time there, Addison was offered the position of interim principal at Roanoke’s First Ward Colored School in 1887. 

In 1918, she became the principal of Roanoke’s Harrison High School. At this time, the high school only offered classes as high as the eighth grade. Addison tenaciously campaigned and advocated for a secondary school curriculum and was able to steadily add advanced classes. The State Board of Education accredited Harrison as a high school in 1924, establishing it as the first black high school in Roanoke and providing Black students their first opportunity to receive an education.   

In 1928 the city renamed the school after Addison, attaining the title of Roanoke’s first public building named after one of its citizens.

 (Lucy Addison, photo curtsey of RCPS)

Zoom Out: The process of getting a marker proposal approved is complex and challenging. The Roanoke County Public School (RCPS) is opening the Booker T. Washington Community Empowerment and Education Center where the proposed marker would be located. RCPS is working with Nelson Harris, a Roanoke historian and former mayor, to help review and submit the proposal. He has had 10 proposals approved by the VDR

  • “The Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) only approves about 25 per year for the entire state. Your marker application will compete with marker applications from Richmond, Lynchburg, Northern Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, Charlottesville, and anywhere else that people are submitting historic marker applications”, stated Harris.

For the marker, the team submitting has to provide research that backs up their claim on why the proposed individual, institution, or organization is historically significant. Once the research is completed the proposal is submitted to the DHR for review. They go over the research to make sure everything is accurate or add additional information. After the vetting process, if they accept your proposal, they then will work with the group who submitted it on editing and drafting the final text on the marker.

  • “Everything will take anywhere from four to six months. If the marker is approved, then the order is placed and it goes to the foundry. Right now, there’s about a six to eight-month lag time from the time the orders are placed until the marker arrives. So by the time I mail in my marker application, and everything goes well, the marker arrives in the city after a year and a half”, explained Harris.    

Zoom In: RCPS plans to open the new Booker T. Washington Community Empowerment and Education Center in the old RCPS Central Office, which is set to be the new hub for the Roanoke community, as well as the location of the proposed marker. Claire Mitzel, the school’s division spokesperson who also works very closely with Harris, has high hopes for the new community center’s impact.

  • “It’s going to serve, I hope, to support our students and families from all around the city. It’ll act as a welcome center, so families can come here to enroll their students, get immunizations, receive needed resources, and have a sort of parent and guardian empowerment workshop series”, Mitzel remarked hopefully. 

The idea of the new education center came from the inspiration of Lucy Addison, and her pioneering work in black education.

  • “Honoring Miss Lucy Addison, who the school is named after, is just a small way that we can shine a light on history, and make sure that generations of students and families know who she is. The building was built almost 200 years ago, and going into the future, we want to honor those who came before us”, stated Mitzel.

(Roanoke County Public School when it was first constructed circa 1920, photo courtesy of RCPS)

The opening of this center brings Addison’s achievements full circle. A new community center, by the community and for the community, supports students and families throughout Roanoke and provides them with the tools to help them thrive.

ReNewTheNew Hosts its Annual River Cleanup

by Sean Weinstock

On Saturday, September 14th, over 800 volunteers in over 60 boats across four counties gathered at the New River to participate in the annual RenewTheNew cleanup event designed to improve conditions in the New River.

Why it matters: “The river is a special resource for this whole valley and cleaning it up, keeping it fresh for tourism, for fish and recreational use is really important.” said Brad Buchanan, RenewTheNew Montgomery County Organizer.

  • Organized by Giles County the annual effort includes four locations in Giles, Montgomery and Pulaski Counties, and the City of Radford. Additionally, this year the event included cleanup efforts in West Virginia and parts of North Carolina.
  • Locally, over 100 volunteers, many Virginia Tech students, gathered at Whitethorne Boat Ramp in Blacksburg. “We found out about this through one of their flyers and thought it would be a great opportunity to serve the broader community in Blacksburg”, said Justin Ward, Virginia Tech student.
  • The event provided volunteers with a ‘Fall Into the New’ t-shirt, work gloves, trash bags and water craft to pick up trash and debris scattered across the designated cleanup area.
  • With a focus on the river itself rather than just the shoreline, the bulk of the effort involved students in boats hand collecting trash and filling trash bags. Removing tires was also an important part of the effort.
  • Volunteers wore shorts, cargo pants, boots, and aquatic shoes. The cleanup fleet included kayaks, canoes, and a few small bass boats. The event in Montgomery County lasted from 9a.m to 12p.m and lunch was provided to volunteers at the end of the session.
  • “This was my first time going to a New River cleanup and I thought it would be a good way to get in some volunteer hours since I want to join Americore or the Peace Corp when I graduate”, said Thomas Oudekerk, Virginia Tech student.

Flashback: RenewTheNew started on July 21st, 2001, in Giles County with more than 600 volunteers and over 20,000 pounds of trash collected during the inaugural event. This event officially started Giles Counties annual after summer cleanup.

  • The first group was made up of river guides, river luggers and Giles County community members.
  • After a few years the river cleanup expanded to Montgomery, Floyd, and Pulaski counties and the City of Radford.
  • Participation was also expanded and opened to all members of the New River Valley community.

Context: The New River has been an important part of the New River Valley community for generations and has become a major tourist attraction for the region contributing nearly $36 million to Giles County in visitor spending in 2023.

  • A key attraction is the New River Water trail, a 37-mile protected stretch of river that includes the towering Palisades Cliffs. Below the cliffs, the New River reaches a depth of over 100 feet.

Rare Treasure: Considered to be the oldest river in North America, the New River is part of the Ohio River watershed running 320 miles across North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

  • The river is home to a variety of wildlife including large and smallmouth bass, walleye, muskellunge, crappie, bluegill, carp, and channel catfish.
  • In addition to its remarkable age, the New River is one of the few rivers in the Northern Hemisphere that flows from South to North.

What’s Next:  The ReNewTheNew initiative continues its efforts to keep the New River clean all year around.

  • Other initiatives include increasing enforcement of littering violations, erecting boat ramp kiosks for use by park officials to provide better information and resources to visitors, installation of trash pickup bag dispensers.
  • Improved coordination and cooperation with the Giles County Sheriff’s department has reduced vandalism along the river and in park areas.

ReNewTheNew is all about protecting the New River as a valuable asset and ensuring that it remains a vibrant part of the community.