UNC-TV:A Colored School

For every Second Ward teacher who hoped that his or her students would leave high school to embark on a lifetime of learning, Dr. Bill Yongue fulfilled that dream. After working for the Railway Postal Clerk upon graduation and the Navy for 15 months, he enrolled in Johnson C. Smith College to pursue a biology degree. He began his teaching career as a biology teacher in the Lincoln and Alamance school systems and stayed for two years before moving to Iowa to attend classes at the University of Iowa.

After a year in Iowa, Dr. Yongue returned to Charlotte, NC to resume work for the Postal Service, and left to continue his teaching career, this time at West Charlotte High School. His love for learning eventually inspired him to continue his education, which he did at Virginia Polytechnic State University after 11 years at West Charlotte High. He earned two graduate degrees--a masters in zoology and a Ph.D. in ecology, specializing in protozoology.

He remained in Virginia for 15 years, teaching and launching a research project on testing water quality, a project that drew attention from states around the country, since the testing procedure he instituted could be done in a shorter amount of time than water quality tests that had been conducted before. Before he left Virginia Polytechnic, he had earned the position of associate professor and the esteem of water quality research institutions. He returned to North Carolina to work with the state Department of Public Instruction and retired after 13 years.

Retiring to a life of golf and a rocking chair did not suit Dr. Yongue, so he began working as treasurer for his church and seeking other teaching opportunities. Currently he is the director of Student Support Services at Barber Scotia College in Concord, NC. His wife, who has a Ph.D. in English, also works for Barber Scotia part-time, and his son remained in Virginia to practice law. In addition to his other activities, Dr. Yongue finds time to serve as president of the Second Ward High School National Alumni Foundation, which he has done several times since the Foundation began.

Dr. Yongue remembers Second Ward with much fondness and says the memory that makes him smile the most is one of the school dances for which he played tuba in the jazz band.

"I was so excited about being there that I fell off the stage and messed up several instruments," he recalls. "I got reminded of that time quite a bit."

Dr. Yongue started his time at Ward quite dramatically as well. In seventh grade, the first year students could enter high school, Dr. Yongue was chosen as May King. He vividly remembers the dance he and the Queen were supposed to have and hurriedly finding a substitute dancer when he revealed his inability to dance.

But his fondest memories are of his teachers, whom he said taught him to pursue learning throughout his life and inspired him to want to teach.