Featured Work - Mary Beth Foster, Writer

Celebrating 134 Years of History: Bain Academy

11Jan

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Featured Work, School News

Celebrating 134 Years of History: Bain Academy

Author's note: this article received an Award of Excellence in Journalism from The North Carolina Society of Historians. MINT HILL, NC - On Sunday, May 21, Mint Hill celebrated 134 years of history with the dedication of a monument to Historic Bain Academy. Established in 1889 by bachelor John Bain with the help of Philadelphia Presbyterian Church, the original Bain Academy was a five-classroom building. Atop the two-story building sat the iconic cast iron school bell that called students to class. The school was an immediate boon to the community’s many families, who relied on private tutors or the kindness of local churches in order to provide their children with reading, writing and arithmetic instruction prior to its establishment. Philadelphia Presbyterian mainta...

Mint Hill Arts 13th Annual Student Art Show

7Mar

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Featured Work, School News

Mint Hill Arts 13th Annual Student Art Show

MINT HILL, NC - On Friday, March 4, Mint Hill Arts was packed for the Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony for its thirteenth annual Student Art Show. The gallery’s biggest show of the year offers Mint Hill’s students the unique opportunity to show their original artwork in a real and vibrant gallery. The 2022 Student Show features close to 100 entries from 20 different area middle and high schools as well as entries from homeschooled students. About half of the entries came from Mecklenburg County; the remainder came from Union, Cabarrus and York Counties. 55% of the pieces came from students enrolled in public schools, including 2 charter schools. 25% came from private schools, and 20% of entrants were homeschooled. The student show was judg...

The Countdown Is On To Mint Hill Madness!

6Oct

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Featured Work, Mint Hill Madness

The Countdown Is On To Mint Hill Madness!

MINT HILL, NC - Mint Hill Madness is back and better than ever! Billed as a festival to celebrate the founding of the Town of Mint Hill, Mint Hill Madness started in 1984 as a one-day event. For nearly three decades, Mint Hill Madness was the Mint Hill Chamber’s major fundraiser, but after years of just breaking even, the Chamber made the decision to step away from managing the event in 2012. Knowing how important the annual event was to the town, Mayor Biggers and the Board of Commissioners decided to keep it going. Nonprofit organization Mint Hill Events, Inc, was formed to manage it, and more changes followed. As both the crowd and the fireworks show grew, Mint Hill Madness moved from the downtown area to Veteran’s Park. “I was hired in 2014 and came wi...

11Mar

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Featured Work, Interviews

COVID: One Year Later

CHARLOTTE - March 17, 2020: one year ago today, Governor Cooper banned sit-down service at bars and restaurants. It was one in a series of steps that would abruptly and completely change life as we knew it. Three days earlier, Cooper called for all K-12 schools in the state to suspend in-person instruction for at least two weeks and banned gatherings of more than 100 people. Just one week later, on March 24, Mecklenburg County would impose a stay-at-home order requiring the closure of all but essential businesses and prohibiting gatherings of over ten people. A full year later, the United States has seen 29.2 million cases of COVID-19 and over half a million deaths related to the virus. North Carolina alone has had 881 K cases and 11,577 deaths as of March 10, 2021. Here, we look b...

16Dec

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Featured Work, Interviews

The Year Behind the Mask

MINT HILL, NC - 2020 has been an unprecedented year for everyone, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the world of healthcare. As 2020 draws to a close, I had the unique opportunity to talk with leadership and first responders from Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center to learn more about the year behind the mask. Confronting COVID: Uncertainty and Constant Change In March of 2020, when COVID first began spreading in the United States, it’s not an exaggeration to say that everything changed overnight. During what we now see as the “first wave,” the only constant for the staff at Mint Hill Medical Center was change. “It was organized chaos,” says Dana Price, Nurse Manager, Specialty Care Unit, who compares the constant influx of new information to attempting to drink f...

Mint Hill Hosts Black Lives Matter Protest

12Jun

By Mary Beth FosterNo Comments

Diversity & Inclusion, Featured Work

Mint Hill Hosts Black Lives Matter Protest

MINT HILL, NC - On May 25, African-American man George Floyd was killed by police during an arrest in Minneapolis, MN. In the wake of his death, protests have erupted across the country calling for police reform and legislation to address perceived racial inequality. On Wednesday, June 10, hundreds of people gathered in front of Mint Hill’s Town Hall to raise awareness of racial inequality and how it affects everyone regardless of skin color. Organized by Mint Hill native and Independence Alumna Arden Boyle, the protest aimed to unite the community in support of a cause that Boyle believes has been silenced for far too long. “If I can summarize it in one word, I’ve been saying solidarity,” says Boyle. “I’m from Mint Hill, born and raised, and a community...