Wahl-Coates Awarded $96.9K Grant for School's Media Center

The Wahl-Coates Elementary School of the Arts Media Center, under the leadership of coordinator Ms. Allison Edwards, was recently awarded a $96,920.47 grant from the James J. and Mamie Richardson Perkins Trust.

In addition to providing resources to update the facility's furniture needs, the funds will also be used to create a Makerspace area for students with shared interests so they can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment and knowledge.

"We want our media center to transform from a place where students not only know the media center as a place to check out books, but as a place where they can learn, discover, grow and create," Edwards said. "A key part of that process involves the opportunity to work collaboratively and we're excited to be in a position to feature a space that students and staff can utilize to exchange thoughts, produce innovative conversations and learn from each other."

Another initiative for the center is to improve its functionality to be a comprehensive extension of classroom learning, accommodating both younger and older students with the tools and resources to succeed in an ever-changing global society.

Wahl-Coates' administrative team includes principal Ms. Tracy Davenport and assistant principal Ms. Anitra Cook.

The grant is the third awarded by the James J. and Mamie Richardson Perkins Trust to a PCS elementary school within the last 12 months, following Falkland's (May 2022) and Ayden's (October 2022) distinction, respectively.

The James J. and Mamie Richardson Perkins Trust was established for the benefit of Pitt County for tax-exempt and charitable non-profit purposes “to assist educational, charitable or benevolent institutions in Pitt County, North Carolina, whether supported wholly or in part by private donations or by public taxation; to provide for the care of the sick, aged, and helpless in Pitt County, North Carolina; to provide for the care of needy men, women, and children in Pitt County, North Carolina; to provide facilities for public recreation in Pitt County, North Carolina; to aid and assist churches, religious institutions, and spiritual causes in Pitt County, North Carolina; to aid and assist worthy and needy Pitt County, North Carolina, students through the means of granting scholarship(s), tuition grants,  etc., and for such other worthy purposes as the DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE deems to be in keeping with the best the interest of Pitt County, North Carolina, and its citizens.”