Lees-McRae: College Tour

As you turn left onto Main Street in Banner Elk, you see a quaint little building labeled "Chamber of Commerce" with a sign out front inviting you to "Race Your Wooly Worm"! Banner Elk, North Carolina, is the home of the Annual Wooly Worm Festival, but it is also home to Lee-McRae College. 

 Just a couple turns of the tires later, you see this sign saying to "Turn Here" to park for Open House. At check in, they gave us Lunch Vouchers. Three of the four places on the voucher were within walking distance of the campus. The other was only a couple blocks away, so we could have walked there. 

   

Just about every school we have visited has given Chasity a bag and a t-shirt. She's never going to run out of t-shirts!! 

At Lees-McRae, they had the bag customized. It had her degree plan in there. It gave information specific about the art program. Most schools just give you a generic bag and let you collect information from your specific program as you make the tour. 

Just inside was Wily the Bobcat with a couple of the cheerleaders. Chasity didn't even complain when I asked her to take the picture. She walked over and smiled! (Ok, so I'm going to say she's smiling since we can't see her face!) 

Inside the bag was a Lees-McRae mask. Chasity put it on, but it is made of different fabric than her normal one, so she changed back rather quickly.

She did let me take a picture of it, but since we were inside, the flash on my phone activated. Oops!  

The buildings on campus are all beautiful. Most of them are stone. Even the ones they have added and/or renovated look historical too. 

I'm not sure what building this is, but isn't it awesome?

This is the plague on the art building. I really wish I had taken pictures of the new art studio they are finishing up renovations of. Upstairs has beautiful spaces for the students to work, and there is storage for their works in progress and supplies. Even though we were wearing masks, I could see Chasity's mouth drop when she went into the new studio. There is even a section for critiques, and I did not take pictures of any of it. 

Although the sign on the rock says "Water Tower" this is the Bell Tower. There is a bell that chimes every 30 minutes. It is three minutes early, so our guide was joking that if you have a 9am class and hear the chime, you need to hurry because there are only three minutes left to get to class. 

Previously, this was the water tower for the town of Banner Elk. (At least I think that is what our guide told us!)

                   

These pictures are outside the North Carolina building (I think)! Tony took the two with Chasity in them. I was at the top of the stairs and didn't want to walk down. I took the one of the water feature alone. Of course, Chasity had to have the picture of her doing her "peace sign" (middle picture)!! 

  

                                     

At the end of the tour, we finished submitting all of the supplemental stuff (transcripts, letters of recommendation, etc.) for Chasity's application. About 10 minutes later, her admissions counselor walked over to us with this banner "Bobcat Nation" and "#TheMountainsCalled" to congratulate Chasity on being accepted to Lees-McRae. They also offered her the maximum amount of merit scholarship on the spot and invited her to join the Honors College which is another scholarship on top of the merit one. In a couple of months, she will get her invitation to interview for a full ride scholarship. 

I have to say that I am one proud Momma!  I love my kiddo!

At the end of the day, seeing the smile on her face is all that really matters. (Oh wait! She put the mask back on so I couldn't see her smile!)

I can hardly wait to see where she chooses. She has so many options. She will do great things at any of these schools. I can't wait to see what all she accomplishes, but I do wish that time would slow down. This Momma is not ready for my kid to be out of the house just yet.