The excitement started a few months back when I went to pick out my Belle dress. I was torn between two but finally decided on a soft baby pink dress that was patterned with little roses. My motivation behind choosing it was the classic southern belle look. I anxiously awaited my first opportunity to show off my dress at the Belle Tea Party.  It was held at Mary Lou McEachern’s house, who is a beloved member of the Cape Fear Garden Club and who has made an everlasting impact on the Azalea Festival with her countless contributions.  I enjoyed spending the day taking pictures in my dress …a lot of smiling, but it gave me the chance to get adjusted to the outfit.

The next event was the Queen’s Welcome and Coronation. It was held Wednesday, April 10^th downtown in front of the Federal Courthouse. All of the belles crowded together on the steps in order to have the perfect view of the crowning of our 66^th Azalea Festival Queen.  I was really excited to see our Queen, Jennifer Wayne, be crowned at this beautiful riverfront site.

That Friday was the Ribbon Cutting, and I woke up nice and early only to find a terrible thunderstorm outside. When I arrived at the belle meeting destination, they informed us the ceremony was moved to the Independence Mall. I was disappointed, but knew this was the best solution since it was the only place in Wilmington that could hold so many people indoors. Despite the sudden change of plans, the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony was still exciting and lively. I even got a chance to chat with a couple of Citadel cadets who drove from Charleston to Wilmington just for that one event. Luckily, a few hours later, the weather cleared up and I was off to my first garden. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was hard to stand still because I just wanted to explore the yard. My favorite part of the day is two little girls referring to me as “the princess” before taking a few photos.  After a long day as a Southern belle, I went home and straight to bed.

Saturday was another early morning because I had to be downtown for the parade by 8 a.m.  I was placed on a float where I waited for 3 hours before it finally started to move and join the other floats down 3^rd Street. Although it required a long waiting period, the parade will forever be one of my best memories. It was so cool to be on a float waving to the fellow citizens of Wilmington and having them so excited to see you!  I felt like a very important celebrity!

Immediately after the parade, I headed to the Wilmington City Club to sit in the garden. Luckily, I got a perfect spot sitting on the front porch in the shade.  I enjoyed chatting with visitors and answering their questions, such as, where I go to school, if the belle hair is my natural hair, and how I got to become a belle. Sunday was bittersweet; I had really enjoyed my weekend as a belle but I was also ready to hang up my heavy dress and parasol for good. I am so thankful for these good memories and to have been able to participate in such an important local event.

There are many opportunities accessible for students to utilize. All of the students in the Upper School are given a Naviance account. This is a web-based planning and advising system to help make the college application process more manageable and less stressful for students and families. It includes personality and career quizzes, surveys, assistance on resume writing, and more. The college counselors also plan a college trip for sophomores so the students are able to visit multiple colleges with their peers and the counselors. The college trip was an incredible experience and it provided a starting point for me to narrow down what interests me about particular colleges. Every other week, the counselors send out a newsletter which has college information and deadlines, scholarship information, and college open house dates. These are a just a few of the many opportunities given to us to utilize for the future. I know I am fortunate to have this kind of support as I make important decisions.
Merritt – grade 11

The Morehead-Cain Scholarship is given to 56 students annually; it pays for their UNC tuition and summer enrichment programs for all four years along with all their incidental education costs.  Fields Pierce was one of two students nominated for the scholarship from CFA; 4,500 applicants from around the world were considered  for this prestigious award.

Fields certainly proved to the board that he was worthy.  Throughout his Upper School years here, he has been passionate in the goals he had set forth to achieve.  His achievements have embodied leadership and hard work, as well as have demonstrated that he is capable of anything that he tries to achieve.

As a freshmen, Fields was chosen as Class President and has participated in many different clubs.  He continued to be a student leader for the next two years and was elected Student Government Association President at Cape Fear Academy as a rising senior.  Fields is in National Honor Society and BETA Club and participates on  the Debate Team.  He is president of one of the school’s political clubs and the Youth and Government Club.  He is in on the Varsity basketball team and soccer team and, in the summer, is on swim team.

As an active participant of Youth and Government for four years, Fields has held the positions of Delegation President, Speaker of the House, and, most impressively, Governor of the North Carolina Youth Legislature.  He has been nominated to and has attended many summer programs which have broadened his horizons and his participation in the things that interest him.  He has attended the Conference on National Affairs (CONA), has been a page for the North Carolina General Assembly, and has participated in many mission trips.  He has also interned with a local political party and campaigned for national and regional political candidates. In addition to all of this, he has been on either the Headmasters List or Honor Roll every semester while challenging himself by taking many AP and Honors classes.

Fields Pierce has demonstrated a moral force of character, scholarship, physical vigor, leadership and much more during his four years at Cape Fear Academy, and we are all so proud of him for being chosen for this very special recognition!

As a senior going to college next year this is a sad reality.  While some colleges are changing the ways they teach, most of them are still using the archaic methods for teaching that they have been using for decades.  Therefore, college, the place that is supposed to prepare you for jobs, is not embracing how many jobs now use collaboration and technology.

At Cape Fear Academy I use technology on a daily basis in most of my classes.  I don’t sit through lectures and takes notes in the traditional manner that many other students do.  Instead I get to use technology and do collaborative projects with my peers.

My teachers have integrated technology into a lot of my assignments as well as their lessons.  I have used sites such as voice thread to explore The Odyssey and its many themes.  A voice thread is a website where you create a power point type presentation but you can narrate each slide and also have others comment directly onto the project.  I have also used wikis where my entire class had to work together to define and explain various terms about European history.  In my government class, our teacher frequently shows us videos from online that explain topics in a straightforward manner to give us a another explanation for something we are studying.  Even my weekly vocabulary words for my literature class use technology; we get to quiz ourselves on the words using games online.  This is much more interesting than simply staring at a piece of paper trying to memorize twenty words and their definitions.

Integrating technology with learning has been a great experience for me.  I feel as though I can learn information more quickly and more thoroughly through its use.  There are so many different sources online that I can also use in order to learn more about a topic.  And this is heavily encouraged by my teachers. They realize the massive amount of information out there and they motivate us to take advantage of it.

It seems that college will be completely different from what I have been taught at CFA though.  While I may not get to use as much technology in my classrooms in college, I will always have the skills that I have obtained from CFA so I can be ready for the work force.

Each year, I learn a little more about current issues in North Carolina, and YAG ends up being a great educational experience in different ways. Some memorable events from this YAG conference were seeing friends I’ve made from freshman year, being honored as a four-year senior, seeing my younger sister become engaged in parliamentary procedure, and watching my friend Fields be inaugurated as governor of the entire conference. Next year, I am definitely going to miss Youth and Government so much that I might just have to join their college staff!

As of this year I am a fourth year veteran Yagger and every year I have made the trek to Raleigh and debated bills with my fellow Yaggers. Although I’m a returning senior, every year there are different memories and new people to meet.

This year I decided to take on a leadership position at the conference, to give back to the conference that I have loved so dearly. I decided to be a Committee Chair and run a committee of junior and seniors to amend bills and to help people learn Parliamentary Procedure.
As mentioned before, I’m a Yagger; I know this conference inside and out. Teaching Parliamentary Procedure was probably the easiest part of the whole conference, for it was the one part that I knew really well. Instead of being that scared freshman I once was at this conference going to leaders and asking questions, I was the one answering questions. I was the expert on the issues, people looked up to me.
It was great to be able to give back to a conference that has been a major part in my life for four years. To be able to help out even a little bit with something that has given back to me was the best feeling. Also so see friends that I only get to see once a year was awesome and to meet new friends is even better!

Our four spirit days were: Group Day, Neon Day, $5 Prom Day, and Blue & Gold Day. The math department never ceased to impress . On group day they dressed up as Wizard of Oz characters (you normally wouldn’t expect your almost 7ft math teacher to come school in a lion costume, tail and all but it happens). On Neon day most teachers sported their FEAR shirts but again Mr. Adams went all out and won a Port City Java gift card for his school spirit and on the next day he won another gift card to Rita’s for his Canadian tuxedo.

But I have to say on Friday it would’ve been hard to judge who had on the most blue and gold since pretty much everyone was wearing jeans.

The last day of spirit week was so exciting. In the morning our performing arts center was finally opened (and would be showing the Book of Liz in) and we (the high schoolers) got to watch the ribbon cutting. Later in the morning we continued with out normal tradition of having a parade for the lower grades followed by our pep rally. The cheer leaders and pep band did a great job in pepping everyone up for the multiple dodgeball games. Though the seniors won (as always) it was clear that everyone was excited for homecoming.

Friday evening the JV boys’, Varsity girls’, and Varsity boys’ basketball teams played their hearts out. In between the V girls and V guys games, the crowd got to watch the homecoming court (part of the Sophomore court pictured above) and see Georgia (fellow blogger) get crowned queen. The JV boys’ game though, I have to say was he most intense basketball game I’ve seen, especially when I finally looked up from playing with an IPad to see that there were 40 seconds left and the score was 35 to 34. Somehow the other team managed 4 free throw points in this time (unbelievable with the amount of Cape Fear fans screaming). We only got one free throw in. Score: 36 to 38. By some stroke of luck in the last 7 seconds one of our freshman players made a half court shot and well… IT GOT IN. SCORE: 39 TO 38 CANES WON!!