Greene Central High School Opens Its Doors: Ribbon Cutting Marks New Chapter for the Rams
Buildings can change, but you can’t change heart, grit, resilience, and who we are.”
The heat pressed hard on Friday afternoon as Greene County gathered to open its new high school. White folding chairs stood in neat rows under the sun, but many people chose the thin shade along the building’s edges instead. Superintendent Dr. Rodney McNeill, school board members, county commissioners, state lawmakers, U.S. Congressman Don Davis, and former superintendents Dr. Frank Creech and Dr. Patrick Miller were among those on hand. School staff, coaches, players, students, and a steady turnout of residents filled the rest of the crowd for the formal dedication of the new Greene Central High School, a building that replaces a campus with 65 years of local history.
The original Greene Central High School opened its first classes in the fall of 1961 on the same ground and stood until it was demolished in June 2026. In the weeks after the demolition, the school system set out a pallet of bricks from the old building so residents could take a piece of it home. The new school was built with support from the state’s needs-based public school capital fund and the North Carolina Education Lottery. It was set to open to the public the next day, August 15, for a “Back to School Bash” ahead of the first day of classes.
Dr. Rodney McNeill Opens the Ceremony
Superintendent Dr. Rodney McNeill opened the program by inviting Bishop Antonio Blow to bless the new building. “In Greene County, we pray,” McNeill told the crowd, then asked Blow to come forward.
Bishop Antonio Blow’s Invocation
Blow’s prayer set a reflective tone. He thanked God for “allowing us to witness this special and historical moment, the opening of Greene Central High School,” and described the new campus as a symbol of “hope and growth, and commitment to the future of our children.” He gave thanks for “the vision, the leadership, and the commitment and the hard work that brought this beautiful facility from an idea to reality.” He asked for blessings on the students who would soon walk its halls, granting them “the desire to learn, the courage to dream, and the determination to succeed,” and on the teachers, administrators, support staff, coaches, parents, families, and community leaders who had partnered to make the school possible. Blow prayed that the campus would be “a place of safety, a place of respect, inclusion, achievement, and opportunity,” where every student would know they are “valued” and “capable.” He closed by saying the ribbon cutting marked “not simply an opening of a building” but the opening of “doors to new opportunities to a brighter future for generations of Greene County students,” and expressed hope that Greene Central would become “a beacon of excellence.”
Dr. McNeill Thanks the People Behind the Project
McNeill returned to the podium with humor about the long road to the day. “If you told me a few years ago that we’d be standing here, ribbon and giant scissors in hand, about to officially open the doors of a brand new Greene Central High School, I would have believed you, but I also would have asked you to double-check the budget about six more times,” he said, thanking the crowd for its patience.
He spent much of his remarks thanking those who made the project possible, joking that his list was long and that anyone left off should “please blame my mind and not my heart,” the same mind, he added, that once sent an email at 2 a.m. thinking it was 2 p.m. He confirmed the school’s funding from the state’s needs-based public school capital fund and the North Carolina Education Lottery, and thanked residents who buy lottery tickets: “You helped build a high school,” he said. He credited former superintendent Dr. Frank Creech with writing the initial grant application, calling him the one who believed the project was possible “before most of us did.”
McNeill thanked the design team at Mosley Architets: Ashley Dennis, Mike Karpinski, and Steve Nally, for turning “ideas and hallway sketches” into a finished school, and recognized the Barnhill Construction crew, especially those on site from day one: Scott Adams, Garrett Purnell, Joe Shock, and Kerry Walker, who worked through weather and last-minute changes to deliver “a building that we’re proud of.”
He singled out Greene Central staff members Dr. Patrick Greene, Dr. Rashida Brown, Laura Austin, Monica Paredes, Coach David Bryant, Meredith Wilkes, and David Ginn for their patience answering questions about when the building would finally be finished. He also thanked Glenn Dail, Mike Richter and Todd Whaley, county commissioners Ray Johnson, Bobby Taylor, Derek Burress, and Jerry Jones alongside Chairman Bennie Heath, Board of Education members Leisa Batts, Vice Chairman Mason Dyer, Joey Rackley, and Darius Shackelford along with Chairman Brandon Johnson, and County Manager Kyle DeHaven with staff members Jessica Gregory, Julie Sutton, and Sandy Shirtz for “keeping the bills paid,” which he noted “turns out is a fairly important part of constructing a high school.” He closed by welcoming everyone “to the new home of Greene Central High School Rams” and introduced Board of Education Chairman Brandon Johnson.
Chairman Brandon Johnson Recognizes the Partnerships
Greene County School Board Chairman Brandon Johnson opened by acknowledging the heat and promising brief remarks. He called the day “historical” for Greene County, “home of the Rams,” and said the project came together because of relationships among federal, state, and local partners. “Life is all about relationships,” he told the crowd. He recognized former superintendent Dr. Frank Creech for taking the initial step of writing the grant, and welcomed U.S. Congressman Don Davis and his staff, state Senator Buck Newton and state Representative Chris Humphrey, along with the Greene County Board of Commissioners. He thanked the teams from Barnhill and Mosley, the Greene County Board of Education, staff from Senator Newton’s office, County Manager Kyle DeHaven, former superintendent Patrick Miller, and Greene County Sheriff Matt Sasser. Johnson closed with a prayer of thanks for those who came before to build the school system and a request for protection and guidance for the principals and staff who would begin entering the new building the following Monday.
Chairman Bennie Heath Remembers Hunting the Land
Bennie Heath, chairman of the Greene County Board of Commissioners, followed with a more personal reflection. Much of what he had planned to say had already been covered, he noted, describing himself as “just an old country boy from right here in Greene County.” He recalled bird hunting for quail on the property with his father and brother long before the original high school was built, when the land was still open ground. He pointed out that the first classes at the 1961 building had opened exactly 65 years before this ceremony and said he was proud to be both a graduate and a former athlete at Greene Central. He still gets to visit the press box to help announce football games on the same field where he once played more than six decades ago.
Heath offered a short message built around three ideas: “honor the past,” “live for the present,” and look toward the future. Greene County should be proud of what the original school gave generations of students, proud of its administrative staff, coaches, and classmates, while embracing the new facility as the next chapter for “thousands of young people” who will pass through it in the decades ahead. He echoed earlier speakers on the value of collaboration, telling the audience that people accomplish far more working together than working against one another. He closed, as he said he often does, with the line: “May God bless Greene County, may God bless North Carolina and the United States of America.”
Representative Chris Humphrey on Facing Greene Central
State Representative Chris Humphrey, who represents Lenoir, Greene, and Jones counties, told the crowd it was good to be back. The day carried personal meaning: years earlier, as a student at South Lenoir, he had played basketball against Greene Central opponents Patrick Miller and Shay Beamon on this same campus. He never imagined he would one day represent Greene County in the state house. The new school “is much more than bricks and mortar. It is an investment in our children, our teachers, and the future of Greene County,” he said, telling students the building sends a message that “we believe in you, we’re investing in you, and we expect great things from you.” He thanked local school and county leaders, educators, and everyone who worked together to make the day possible, and singled out state Senator Buck Newton, with whom he serves in the General Assembly representing Greene County, for helping secure additional funding for the project.
Senator Buck Newton Recalls School Dances
State Senator Buck Newton told the crowd it was an honor to serve as their senator and promised short remarks given the heat, joking that he did not want anyone “passing out on my hot air.” The campus looked very different than it had roughly 30 years earlier, when he used to bring his wife to school dances there, “quite a different scene” from what he remembered. He congratulated the project team and the Barnhill construction crew for a job well done, then turned to the students in the crowd: the new building “is done for you and those that will come after you,” and state leaders wanted the best possible education for them. He said he was thankful to serve alongside legislators like Representative Humphrey who had the foresight to preserve funding for the lottery’s needs-based program so that counties like Greene would have the money to build new high schools when their time came.
Congressman Don Davis Brings the Community Together
Congressman Don Davis greeted the crowd warmly before turning to Dr. Patrick Miller with a playful question, asking whether Greene Central had actually beaten Representative Humphrey’s team back when the two of them played basketball against each other as students.
Humphrey shook his head, and Davis let the moment pass with a laugh before growing more reflective. When he looked around, he said he saw “Greene County at its best,” made up of personal friends, dedicated professionals, and educators who show up for students even under difficult circumstances. No other place had brought the community together quite like Greene Central, he said, calling it “the center point of bringing people together for a common cause, for the greater good and the betterment of Greene County” since the school first opened.
Davis recalled legendary figures from his own time in the school system, including Coach Fulghum, a music teacher Kenneth Ginn who taught students “how to allow the notes just to flow,” and Lanie Barfield, along with a retired staff member who had given more than 50 years of service to the county.
Buildings can change, he told students, but “you can’t change heart, grit, resilience, and who we are.” He traced the project’s roots back to the state legislature, noting that the General Assembly created and oversees the lottery, and recalled that securing the funding for schools like Greene Central “took a little pushing” but ultimately came together. He thanked state officials involved in that process, including former state lottery commission member Jody Tyson. He closed by telling students to “dream big, work hard, and never, ever, ever forget where you’ve come from,” and offered a blessing to the students, the county, and the country.
Adam Owens Delivers the Lottery’s Check
Adam Owens, representing the North Carolina Education Lottery, opened with a joke that the crowd would likely appreciate him because he had “a really big check and very little to say.” The lottery is marking its 20th anniversary this year and has raised more than a billion dollars annually for education in North Carolina over the last several years, totaling more than $13 billion for education since the lottery began.
Greene County had, in his words, “won the lottery in a very, very big way.” He presented a ceremonial check to Dr. McNeill on behalf of the lottery commission. Owens noted that he had recently visited several other counties opening new schools built with lottery funding, mentioning stops in Chowan County and Bertie County among others, and said that of all the new schools he had toured recently, Greene Central’s new campus was “spectacular.”
Dr. Patrick Greene’s Farewell and Welcome
The final speaker was Dr. Patrick Greene, who has served as principal of Greene Central for 13 years and was marking his last few hours in that role before the new school year began. He called it “truly an honor” to stand before the crowd celebrating the new school and reflected on what the old building had meant to the community for generations, a gathering place where students learned, friendships formed, championships were celebrated, and countless memories were made. There had been “genuine sadness” when the old building came down, he acknowledged, but the day was one for celebrating what comes next.
Greene recalled sitting in one of his first state board meetings when he learned about the new school construction grants and texting Dr. Creech to ask whether the county had a real chance at securing one. He had no idea at the time that he would one day be standing in front of the finished building. The new school represented “an incredible achievement and investment” in the students and staff of Greene County, giving students a space that matches “the limitless potential that they bring with them every day” and giving teachers the resources and environment they deserve. He recalled advice from his own clinical teacher during his first week of student teaching: keep a learning environment looking good, because “if it looks bad, they will treat it bad.” He also allowed himself a little humor about the practical upgrades the new building offers, noting that for the first time the school has a gym without a mystery smell, and joking that having working bathrooms throughout the building was, in his words, “a pretty significant advancement in educational attainment.”
Still, Dr. Greene told the crowd that walls, classrooms, and technology were not what would make the new school great. “The people will,” he said, pointing to the students, teachers, staff, families, and community who would fill it. The ribbon cutting was not simply the opening of a new building but the opening of “a new door into a new chapter” in the history of Greene Central, one that would honor the memories made in the old building while creating new ones he hoped students would still be talking about 20, 30, or even 50 years from now. He closed with a simple welcome: “Greene Central, welcome home.”
Cutting the Ribbon
With the remarks finished, Dr. McNeill told the crowd it was time to move the chairs and podium out of the way for the ribbon cutting itself, joking that afterward everyone could head inside “to some AC.” Chairman Johnson invited elected officials and school board members to the front for photos, with the rest of the crowd filling in behind them. Once everyone was in place, the group counted down together, and the ribbon was cut.
Attendees then made their way indoors for tours and refreshments, stepping out of the August heat and into the cool halls of a school built for the next generation of Rams. On a day that honored 65 years of history while opening a new chapter, Greene Central High School stood ready, not just as a building of brick and glass, but as a place where students will learn, grow, and carry the spirit of the county forward for decades to come.
