Water’s Edge Village School Receives Largest Grant In Community Foundation History

By: Tatum Clements    

Water’s Edge Village School (WEVS – pronounced “waves”) in Corolla is celebrating a major milestone in its capital campaign to build a new schoolhouse, thanks to a generous $300,000 grant from the Evans Family Fund at the Outer Banks Community Foundation (OBCF).

This transformative grant, coupled with ongoing support from the Corolla Education Foundation (CEF) and WEVS’ dedicated fundraising efforts, brings the dream of a modern educational facility closer to reality.

The grant was announced at the OBCF Advisors Breakfast by the OBCF Board of Directors and Wayne Evans of the Evans Family Fund. The award is the largest single grant in the Community Foundation’s 42-year history.

“We are incredibly proud, honored, and delighted to support the Evans Family and the community of Corolla through this transformative gift,” said Ray Meiggs, Development Chair of the Outer Banks Community Foundation. “The families of the Currituck beaches are an integral part of the Outer Banks, and this is exactly the type of major gift that creates meaningful, lasting impact—especially for the students who will benefit from this new schoolhouse for generations to come.”

While the grant brings WEVS to nearly 90% of its $2.1 million capital campaign goal, it has been a long journey for Corolla to have a school that meets their community’s educational needs.

The original Corolla Schoolhouse was built in the late 1800s for children of lighthouse keepers and surfmen, but by 1958 there were not enough children in Corolla to attend the school so they closed their doors.

Fast forward to 2008 when Currituck Beach Lighthouse manager and local mother Meghan Agresto was faced with the choice of putting her child on a school bus at 5:30 a.m. or moving away from Corolla to be closer to a school.

When Agresto realized that children who lived in Corolla were spending four and a half hours a day on the bus, she met with Sylvia Wolff, a local resident with a degree in elementary education who was the head of Corolla Ocean Rescue at the time, and they began the process of finding a way to start a school on the northern Outer Banks.

“I don’t think everyone realizes this, but Corolla is zoned for Currituck County Schools, which are almost two hours away,” said Meghan Agresto, who is now the Corolla Education Foundation Board President. “People in Corolla are geographically isolated from the public schools their children can attend. There has always been a need for a school here. People who live and work here would move away as soon as they started a family because there wasn’t access to a school in Corolla, and that was detrimental to our local businesses and community. Nobody who had a young family could establish roots here, and we knew we had to stop the move-away train.”

Before applying to start a charter school, Agresto and Wolff were required to have an operating nonprofit.

“We put together a board of concerned and energized residents, and together we founded the Corolla Education Foundation (CEF) in 2010,” said WEVS Director Sylvia Wolff. “And then, we worked to complete the application process for a charter school in 2011, and then again, successfully in 2012 after the legislative cap for the number of charters in NC was lifted.”

Water’s Edge Village School, a public, K-8, tuition-free charter school, was founded by CEF to revitalize local education on the northern Outer Banks.

“WEVS provides a child-centered learning environment where students explore their strengths and interests through active participation in the learning process,” said Wolff. “Our project-based curriculum follows the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, and supplements it with various enrichment opportunities.”

When WEVS reopened the doors to the 800 sqft historic Corolla Schoolhouse in 2012, they had 15 students for their first school year. Today, the school is thriving with 50 students. However, 50 students is also their capacity. For the last 10+ years the school has used a lottery to accept students from a waitlist as there are more children on the list than spots available.

“We have outgrown the original schoolhouse,” said Corolla Education Foundation Board Vice President/Treasurer Bryan Daggett. “While the students are still using the original schoolhouse, they are also using other facilities around Corolla, including the community room in the Corolla Chapel and an outdoor classroom at the boathouse, for classes and extracurricular activities.”

To continue to meet the needs of their community, CEF began searching for ways to expand WEVS and they connected with local leaders to begin the process.

The Twiddy Family gifted the property next to the historic schoolhouse to WEVS, and in 2021 WEVS launched a fundraising capital campaign to support building a second schoolhouse.

Corolla residents Wayne and Betty Evans, successful business owners originally from western Pennsylvania who have a long history of supporting educational causes, provided start-up funding through their donor-advised fund at OBCF.

“One morning we saw a school bus picking up children before the sun had come up, and my wife and I said, ‘This isn’t right,’ said Wayne Evans, who is now on the Corolla EducationFoundation Board of Directors. “Then, that same day, we went over to the schoolhouse to figure out how we could support them.”

In 2022, the Capital Campaign gained momentum with contributions from hundreds of donors along with grants from multiple OBCF funds, including the Evans Family Fund.

“We were privileged to be part of this expansion from the beginning,” said Chris Sawin, CEO of the Outer Banks Community Foundation. “In 2021, Wayne and Betty Evans invited us to their home for lunch to meet with the leaders of the Corolla Education Foundation and discuss their vision for expanding Water’s Edge Village School. It’s been inspiring to see their dedication to this project.”

In 2023, WEVS’ building permit arrived. They broke ground to begin building the new 4,000 sqft schoolhouse, which will have three classrooms, a community room, a breakout room, plenty of decking for outdoor learning, a teacher workspace, and an administrative office.

“The new schoolhouse will provide purposeful space,” said WEVS Director Sylvia Wolff. “Right now, teachers do not have any space to collaborate as a team or even to plan and grade without activity in the classroom. We will also be able to maintain organized supplies for art, science, music, books, and maker spaces. We house our materials and supplies in an (overfilled) shed outdoors, so we look forward to having a more effective and efficient system for storage. We will also be able to conduct science experiments inside instead of outside, hold whole-school assemblies inside, and so many things!”

The current plan is to have the new building open for the 25/26 school year.

“This has been a long process with challenges along the way, but we remain optimistic that we will reach our fundraising goal,” said Daggett. “One thing has remained the same throughout this process- it has always been for the kids and families in Corolla.”

The leaders of the Corolla Education Foundation invite everyone in the Outer Banks community to help them raise the final $240,000 to complete the project. Contributions to the capital campaign can be made online at WatersEdgeVillageSchool.com/donate or by mailing donations to PO Box 215, Corolla NC 27927.

WEVS is an active participant in Christmas in Corolla, which is a wonderful opportunity to become more informed about WEVS’ schoolhouse project and to experience their community.

“WEVS will be open every evening during Christmas in Corolla inviting people into the schoolhouse for tours, and selling baked goods and crafts,” said Wolff. “Most people who visit report that they have never been inside the schoolhouse, so we love sharing our magical space. We also annually participate as carolers in the Village during Christmas in Corolla. This year, we are singing and playing bells on Fri, Dec. 13. The kids have been working hard. Come hear the kids play music, or stop by the schoolhouse during Christmas in Corolla and learn more about WEVS!”

Christmas in Corolla is from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings from November 29 through December 28.

It has never been easier for you to make a real impact in our community! At the Outer Banks Community Foundation, there are countless ways to get involved in philanthropy, and one of the simplest and most effective is by creating a donor-advised fund. Start your journey today and make a lasting difference in the lives of those around us.

About the Outer Banks Community Foundation: The Outer Banks Community Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to fostering philanthropy and supporting local causes. Through its charitable funds and grant programs, the Foundation strives to enrich the quality of life for residents of the Outer Banks.