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Former NC Attorney General, Secretary of State Rufus Edmisten Awards WHS Students and Donates To WHS

 

Rufus Edmisten with Taelor Critcher (at left) and Julianna Bond
Rufus Edmisten with Taelor Critcher (at left) and Julianna Bond

April 16, 2013. Rufus Edmisten has gone a long way in his life but chose to spend Friday morning helping others in a place very close to where he started.  In a meeting room at Watauga High School that is “20 yards from where I used to milk four Guernsey cows at 5:00 every morning” as a boy, the former North Carolina Attorney General and Secretary of State awarded Watauga High School students Taelor Critcher and Julianna Bond “Extra Special Super Kids Scholarships,” hoping they will receive the same boost from education in their lives that he has received in his own. 

Later the same day, Edmisten followed up with a donation of $5,000 to help families at Mabel Elementary pay fees for the school’s afterschool program.  The donation at Mabel is the largest single donation the Good Business Foundation has ever made and the largest single contribution ever received by any afterschool program in the Watauga County Schools.

The sign says it all for these appreciative Mabel students. From left in front: Jonathan Koonce, Joey Caraway, Rufus Edmisten, Debra McGlamery, and Courtney Saunders; In back: Austin McConnell and Cameron Martin
The sign says it all for these appreciative Mabel students. From left in front: Jonathan Koonce, Joey Caraway, Rufus Edmisten, Debra McGlamery, and Courtney Saunders; In back: Austin McConnell and Cameron Martin

The Foundation for Good Business has been funding “Extra Special Super Kids Scholarships” for 18 years, but the awards to Critcher and Bond marked the first time that two students at one school received these scholarships in the same year.  Edmisten celebrated this special event by kicking in an additional $500 donation to Watauga High School. 

Edmisten told Bond and Critcher that they were chosen for their awards “because you have qualities that make you a good person   It’s not required that you make straight A’s or be able to play basketball like Michael Jordan to win this award. We do like that you work hard and that you will give back, and we want to support that.”  Watauga High School Principal Marshall Gasperson told Edmisten the Foundation had chosen well in making the awards to Critcher and Bond, saying that they are “two very deserving and very dependable young ladies that will go far in life.” 

Rufus Edmisten with Patricia Sperry (far left),  Pam Shirley, and Mark Hagaman
Rufus Edmisten with Patricia Sperry (far left),
Pam Shirley, and Mark Hagaman

Each student received $250 for educational expenses on the spot and the promise of additional support throughout their college years if they make consistent progress in their studies and adhere to the other conditions of their awards.  The awards are not for specific dollar amounts, but typically provide thousands of dollars per year for tuition and other education related expenses as the students attend college.

Since its inception, the Foundation for Good Business has helped 38 students graduate from college, several of whom have also received assistance for graduate school.  

Mabel Principal Mark Hagaman said Edmisten’s continued generosity is extremely valuable to the school’s families.  “This man is a true friend of Mabel,” he noted.  “He has donated thousands of dollars a year to help pay for afterschool care and that is a huge factor in supporting the success of our students.”  

In addition to his service as the state’s attorney general and secretary of state, Edmisten won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1984 and served as chief legal counsel to U.S. Senator Sam Ervin on the Senate Watergate Committee.  In the latter role, he personally served the subpoena for the Watergate tapes to President Richard Nixon, a key development in the investigation that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation in August of 1973. Edmisten currently lives in Raleigh where he is an attorney in the firm of Edmisten, Webb, and Moore.

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