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Like many small town high schools, athletics have played a vital role in bridging the community and student life at North Caroline High School since its opening in 1959. There’s nothing quite like the crowds under the lights at Friday night football games, the edge-of-your-seat mentality that students and alumni bring to contentious basketball, lacrosse, or volleyball games, or the hometown school spirit displayed at matches across the state when NCHS teams advance in regional tournaments, regardless of the sport.
For 65 years, North Caroline’s sports teams have made us proud. But what to do with 65 years' worth of trophies, medals, plaques, and more has posed a challenge, and one NCHS student hopes to conquer it.
Jacob Carpenter, now a junior at NCHS, is a part of the school’s wrestling team. He said that after the team won a tournament during his freshman year, the trophy sat in the school's front office for a while before disappearing. When it did not end up in a trophy case as he expected, Carpenter asked where it had gone. “They said they put it in a closet because there wasn’t any room in the trophy cases,” he said.
The school currently has two trophy cases by the gymnasium. But because of the limited space in these cases – they hold about 150 to 180 trophies total – more and more prizes are being put in “closets, sheds, and the athletic director’s office.”
Carpenter said that Greensboro Lions Club member Dorsey Wothers currently possesses what he knows to be North Caroline’s first-ever trophy: a track award from 1961. According to Carpenter, Wothers believes there is an even older one, but he “isn’t sure where, what for, or who has it.” The school has won a total of 12 Maryland State Championship trophies over the years in volleyball, track, basketball, softball, baseball, and golf. NCHS Athletic Director Arthur Jackson said he believes it’s equally important to showcase the older awards as well as the more recent ones.
Student athletes themselves are enthusiastic about the prospect of more space in the trophy case. Those involved with NCHS sports teams said they deserve to be recognized for their hard work, and that being able to see the trophies proudly displayed would probably motivate them to win more. “It’s always a good idea to display the student athlete’s achievements,” Jackson said.
Carpenter is a member of Boy Scout Troop 165 of Denton. When it came time for him to decide on a community project to obtain the title of Eagle Scout, he said he chose to build a new trophy case for NCHS because “I know it is something that is important to all of the athletes at NCHS. I know how disappointing it is to win a trophy and not have it displayed or recognized.” He estimates the project will cost about $5,000, “including everything from glass to screws.” “I’m fundraising by asking local businesses and clubs to donate. Any money that I raise that doesn’t get used will get donated to the athletic department.” His goal is to build a case for all of North Caroline’s trophies “with room for future trophies that NCHS Athletics will win.”
Lisa Busick, Carpenter’s mom, said he cannot start work on the new trophy case until he has raised all the necessary funds. They have set up a GoFundMe to help raise the money, which can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/gcnrq3-support-jacobs-eagle-scout-project?attribution_id=sl:58c2d721-d18a-4b10-a456-d414f84a710e&lang=en_US&ts=1746724871&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp14_c-amp15_c&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&v=amp14_c
