The Mumas and Raleigh

Tonight, Raleigh will be part of a grand experiment. We have all been waiting for this moment—the moment when the game really begins! If you are reading this message, the city is already falling under my control. The only question is, what will you do with this information? Are you the first one to read this? If you think not, will you risk the lives of thousands in your complacency? What’s your plan?

Not panicking? Read on, then, and perhaps you will realize what you must do to stop me. My associates have their hands in many places. A little bird brought this study to me. I leave to you, for your pleasure.

-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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           At a glance, Raleigh is a city almost indistinguishable from several others. Its size, its reputation, its climate and even in some ways its inhabitants are moderate—reasonable, pleasant, temperate, but moderate. It is in many ways unexceptional, with its big appeals mostly chalked up to mild weather and steady economic growth. In another sense, however, the city has an undeniable attraction to many thousands, as evidenced to the hundreds more which move somewhere within the city or its suburbs each year. For some, the migration is purely an immediate economic matter, but to others, the city represents possibility, hope, and a chance for the next generation to better itself and change the future for the better. This possibility rests squarely with education, and it is in education that Raleigh finds itself a leader.
           I met Davis Muma while walking down Blount Street in downtown Raleigh one day, and he was kind enough to share with me some of his family’s experience with learning and living in the City of Oaks. His story is, like any individual’s, much more complicated than I can relate here, but as a product of the educational systems found here, his family is a ready example.
           Growing up, Davis’s father David Muma made his home in several places, moving across, into and out of New York state multiple times. With his three brothers, Harold, Steve and Tom; his father Harold; and his mother Jane; David Muma inhabited several different homes in many distinct geographic areas, always anchored by the support of his family. It was not until David’s high school years that the Mumas found their way to Raleigh, North Carolina, then a modest but growing metropolitan area. David and Harold, the youngest of the brothers, finished their compulsory schooling at Millbrook High School while the elder Tom and Steve, coming of age, attended North Carolina State University. Each brother in his own time would make his way through the red-robed halls of this institution; each would take something unique from his time there. Although their interests were not perfectly aligned, the brothers found something uncommon in the university, some exceptional quality which appealed across the disparity of their ages and remained, for them, a constant unifier. Despite the paths their lives would take in the future, the university would remain a part of each man’s identity and shape his family in the years to come.
           Today, Harold and Jane’s Raleigh home remains an annual meeting place for major holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, despite the four brothers’ movement across the country. Davis’s elder cousins, as they have inevitably attended N. C. State University, have relied upon their grandparents’ proximity throughout their careers as students. Passing through Millbrook High, a Wake County Public School, these cousins have gone on to pursue degrees in such diverse subjects as business, engineering, history and philosophy, often graduating with high honors. All of Davis’s cousins, to date, are employed, hard-working and dedicated citizens, as well as avid N.C. State football fans.
           Davis, too, has been shaped by Raleigh’s exemplary schools and systems. Raised in north Raleigh, Davis first attended Lead Mine Elementary. There he completed his kindergarten through third grade years without a hitch, although he often felt stifled by the limited pace of his classes and contained within an overly definitive curriculum. Far from perpetuating these problems, however, the city provided for solutions; and so for fourth grade Davis made use of the city’s options to transfer to Hunter GT Magnet Elementary School, a place where several different “paths” allowed students to learn at different rates according to the level of challenge each individually required. The school was also one of the few elementary schools to offer students electives, granting kindergarten through fifth graders choices in their educations. Here Davis flourished, taking pride in his work and working hard to keep up with his classes. In his fifth grade year he received an academic award granted by the Wake County Public Schools Superintendent for his efforts as a student.
           Ligon Magnet Middle School followed, preparing Davis for the rigor of high school and higher education. Its effects, too, were indicative of the educational opportunities available in Wake County, but followed in much the same vein as Hunter Elementary, with different groups of students studying according to their particular strengths and weaknesses. A wide variety of electives here, too, allowed for an extraordinary level of choice for the secondary education stage. Perhaps most importantly, Davis’s positive impression with magnet schools, which seek to attract students rather than enrolling an assigned geographic base, disposed him to consider attending Raleigh Charter High School. The accelerated math program at Ligon also placed him into the highest level math class available to a freshman at Raleigh Charter, which contributed to his chances in the entry lottery.
           When he entered the school in the fall of 2007, Davis found the independence and intellectually-fostering atmosphere of the institution empowering. He sought out clubs from the almost extreme variety offered and ran by students, eventually rising to leadership positions. In Raleigh Charter’s small class sizes, individual attention was complemented by mutually supportive relationships between teachers and students. Far from being isolated in their studies, students often built upon each other’s energy and passion to contribute to the school’s unique environment. Davis was not an isolated incident; his classmates, too, committed themselves to learning, engaging in critical academic discussion on a daily basis. Almost all graduates of Raleigh Charter High School go on to pursue degrees in higher education. Many end up at some of the country’s finest colleges and universities, such as Yale, Harvard, Duke, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, among many others.
           It is evident that Raleigh has contributed to the growth of incredible students. Its diversity busing policy, its magnet programs, its teachers and Wake County’s attempts to ensure quality often succeed. Although Davis’s case above is not guaranteed and many realities within the city fall far short of the norm, his story still demonstrates the greater system’s possibilities. In all, his family is strongly tied to Raleigh through education, whether embodied in the previous generation’s relationship to N. C. State University or Davis’s own matriculation from Magnet and Charter schools. The city has served multiple generations.