ASB Participants Hear About Helene’s Looming Crisis for Schoolkids

BANNER ELK, N.C. — Sometimes, hearing about the impact of a traumatic event such as September’s Hurricane Helene is as important as seeing the lingering damage, especially when it comes to the long-term mental health of young disaster survivors.

So for the NC State students and staff participating in an Alternative Service Break (ASB) in Avery County, dinner and an hour-long presentation from a local elementary school principal provided unanticipated insights for exactly what the students have experienced during their entire educational journeys.

“We thought COVID was the worst thing we would ever experience — but it turns out that Helene was much, much worse,” said Banner Elk Elementary School principal Justin Carver, a lifelong friend of trip organizer and NC State graduate John Vance ’07.

Carver’s school lacked power for only a week after the storm, but it went more than a month without water and sewer services, preventing it from serving as an oasis for the community as other schools in the area did. Of his 155 students, nearly half were displaced by Helene. Four did not return to school, having moved away from the storm-devastated area.

Emotions have flooded the developing young minds the same way waters flooded the valleys and hollers of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene’s waters are long gone, but their impact is still being felt, as is typical in the aftermath of such a destructive storm.

For example, a 2019 study conducted by UNC System schools UNC Pembroke and East Carolina of 261 rural hurricane survivors showed that more than two-thirds experienced mental health issues after hurricanes Matthew and Florence hit eastern North Carolina in 2016 and ’18.

It was a rough winter for schoolkids in the High Country. In addition to the 37 days of school missed because of the hurricane, Avery County schools missed more days due to snow, winter weather and bad roads. Missing more than 50 days of school in a single year might sound like a kid’s dream, but the negative impact that disruption has on developing young minds is almost incomprehensible.

“Kids like structure and routine,” Carver says. “They haven’t had that since Helene.

“Their learning loss is enormous.”

As is the potential for future mental health issues. Every dark cloud has a darker context because of Helene’s massive rainfall, flooding and high winds.

“Everyone in the community, even the kids, are on edge,” Carver said. “Rain isn’t rain anymore. Wind isn’t just wind.”

It’s an ongoing issue in all 25 storm-damaged counties in this part of the state.

“The biggest focus we have had since the storm has been addressing some of the traumas that kids have had,” said Jordan English, an NC State extension agent for 4-H and Youth Development in nearby Buncombe County. “The hurricane was a trauma, but they have been subjected to compounding traumas after going through COVID just a couple of years ago.

Everyone in the community, even the kids, are on edge. Rain isn’t rain anymore. Wind isn’t just wind.

“What they’re going through now is a totally different crisis, with a totally different impact on their mental health. I believe that will be a really big, important topic over the next couple of years. This is not a short-term thing. We will not be back to normal in just a year or two. There will have to be a new normal.”

There is a silver lining, however. Students at Carver’s school saw how both the local and outside communities reacted to the storm, and how people no one knew showed up to lend a hand.

“People just showed up to help,” Carver said. “And our community noticed.”

Teachers, many of whom were similarly affected by storm damage, have received additional training to help their students cope with the many difficulties of the last five months.

“Teachers have attended trauma and reentry training,” Carver said. “School counselors work with local health providers for referrals for students who need more.”

Summer break is on the horizon, which means students will soon be out of school again. Carver’s school partners with the Wee Kirk Foundation, a Linville-based seasonal church sponsored by the Western North Carolina Presbytery that offers full summer academic and STEM camp discovery for students who choose to attend, all free of charge.

“This will be huge for getting students all-summer programming and continued support,” Carver said. “We are also doing intense tutoring after school and at school this summer with students who want it.”

Local YMCAs and 4-H clubs also provide resources, such as day courses and week-long summer camps.

Principal Carver’s final message to the NC State students spending their spring break working in his community was of appreciation for their work and a reinforcement of what he and his staff told their students about the advice of late children’s television show host Fred Rogers: When you see scary things happening, “look for the helpers.”

“In the end,” Carver said, “we saw more blessings than anything.”