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Open Way Learning led a WNC focused education and community initiative four months after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the region. The project’s goal is to reimagine education — leveraging the strengths, cultural richness, and known resiliency of the area. In acknowledging the challenges and devastation brought in by Helene, the hope is to emerge with innovation in the aftermath.
Over 70 people from 18 different school districts attended the two-day workshop on Jan. 28 and 29. Educators, counselors, civic leaders, and nonprofits were all in the room. The event began with a grounding exercise — using the disaster as an opportunity to connect and grow.
Canton Middle School Assistant Principal Joshua Simmons initially centered the gathering by showing two pictures of his school three years apart.
The picture on the left is from the late September of Simmons’ first year at Canton Middle during Hurricane Fred in 2021, and the picture on the right is from Hurricane Helene in 2024. These storms happened a handful of years apart, rather than a century as records would suggest.
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He said schools matter, and for many of his students, Canton Middle staff were the first to touch base with those families. They have real impact on students, he reflected, especially in light of the continued challenges they face.
I just encourage you: open up, meet people, share your stories on how this impacted all of us so that we can continually better educate our students here in western North Carolina.
Joshua Simmons, Canton Middle School assistant principal
The room then divided in two — on one side those whose lives were directly impacted due to Hurricane Helene, and on the other those who were ready to listen. Folks paired up and shared experiences. The exercise established a foundation that would guide the rest of the event.
Open Way Learning was joined by SparkNC and Education Reimagined as facilitators, and the hosts used design-thinking templates to enable innovation. The above graphic was the overarching design template. Groups formed around six “interconnected strands”: resilience projects, credentialing pathways, leadership development, mental health supports, community connections, and future design.
Groups of people mixed and mingled throughout the experience, changing in order to bring new ideas and connections to each strand. They were asked to originally answer the questions ‘how might we?’ with each strand. The results are below.
Participants joined whatever strand called to them, then formed teams to solve new and old problems. The following are just a sampling of ideas that came from the design thinking templates. Open Way Learning is now going to take the ideas to funders.
Following up with Ben Owens, co-founder of Open Way Learning after the two-day event, he shared his reflections.
Margaret Mead’s famous words – ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has’ – perfectly capture the spirit of the past two days.
What I witnessed wasn’t just another workshop; it was Mead’s quote in action. Educators, nonprofits, community partners, and other stakeholders from across this region, hit so hard by Helene, came together with a shared commitment to positive and lasting change. What began as a simple but urgent realization that we had to do something different in the wake of this terrible storm has now come full circle.
And this is just the beginning. I am truly confident that the ideas and momentum started over the past two days will continue to grow as we build a more resilient and innovative education ecosystem across Western North Carolina.
Ben Owens, co-founder of Open Way Learning
