This is a one hour documentary special, featuring a collection of stories from our series published in May of 2025, "Running Towards Disaster."

In the face of North Carolina's largest natural disaster, alumni and students of the community college system sprang into action, serving and saving their region.

In our last episode of "Running Towards Disaster," we head to Asheville and it's community college, Asheville - Buncombe Technical Community College.

We speak with their president, Dr. John Gossett, who unknowingly inspired the title to this series, and to the school's resident Fire Chief, John Wilson. Wilson is the director of fire services for the college and his students, or cadets as they are called, worked at fire stations around the region the Friday after the storm hit and beyond.

In this episode of "Running Towards Disaster" you hear from flight paramedic John Carrico who treats patients in the Mountain Area Medical Airlift, better known locally as MAMA. We are thankful for his dedication to critical care, and willingness to fly where its needed.

In this episode of "Running Towards Disaster" you will hear from three Emergency Medical Services professionals and educators who answer the call when you dial 911. They are serving their county and saving lives, while teaching others to do it too.

In this episode of "Running Towards Disaster," we talk with one graduate of Southwestern Community College's Outdoor Leadership program, who along with his friends organized a matrix of missions to get supplies and food to those in need.

In this episode of "Running Towards Disaster," we interview three electrical lineworkers who helped during Helene - two by land and one by air. We also visit a training facility to see these 'climbing cowboys' at work. We are thankful for them, the hours they put in and for sharing their stories.

In this episode of "Running Towards Disaster" we hear from three forestry management students at Haywood Community College who in the immediate aftermath of Helene, with their classmates and friends - used their schooling to help communities in the west.

Welcome to Running Towards Disaster, a new podcast from EdNC. This will be a series of stories from people who are educated at our community college system, and in times of crisis, run towards it to help.

EdNC was established to be an independent source of news – providing data, and analysis about education for the people of North Carolina. In short, we tell the stories happening in our state’s classrooms and involving our state’s students. For a full bibliography of this episode, and all of our coverage go to EdNC.org. 

The Junior Appalachian Musicians program, or JAM for short, is rooted in a region known for its music and storytelling. We visited the organizations first ever summit to hear from the musicians who are passing along traditions and building students up in the process.

To learn more about JAM, visit jamkids.org.

One hundred and twenty years after the Wright Brothers historic first flight, juniors and seniors in Dare County are using the same aviation principals and building a modern plane within eyesight of the runway.

The First Flight students will be constructing the airplane over two years, and at the end of class, FAA certification pending, the plane will take to the same skies as the Wright Brothers, students in tow.

Learn about the program and the partnerships that made it happen, here.