Chancellor outlines opportunities for Charlotte students

October 1, 2008, The Daily Tar Heel, Chapel Hill, NC - By Nicole Franceschini

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp stopped in Charlotte and Greensboro on Wednesday as part of his tour of high schools and colleges across the state.

Thorp visited West Charlotte High School, one of five high schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Achievement Zone Learning Community, which was created in 2007 to boost the achievement of schools designated as underperforming.

"The goal of the visit was to expose students to opportunities they might not have known existed for them," said Tahira Stalberte, a spokeswoman for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

"Chancellors don't visit high schools every day. I measure the success of these visits by the number and type of questions the students ask, and the students asked great questions," she said.

Pharen Bowman is a counselor at West Charlotte High School through the Carolina College Advising Corps, which places UNC graduates into schools to advise low-income and under-represented students.

Bowman said Thorp's visit was consistent with the goals of the advising corps - to help students at underperforming high schools apply and pay for college - which increases their chances of attending higher education institutions.

"We wanted to make sure they know college is in reach for them, that UNC-Chapel Hill is in reach for them," Thorp said.

Bowman said that the students need reassurance that they are capable of going to college.

"These students can certainly do very well on these campuses, they just need to be given the chance to try," said Bowman.

Thorp met with UNC-Greensboro Chancellor Linda Brady, as well as with UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois and N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University Chancellor Stanley Battle.

Thorp will travel to UNC-Wilmington and Morehead City today as part of his tour.