ASHE COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL

About Me

My name is Brandon Bower I was born and raised in Ashe County for all of my life. Throughout school but mainly high school I never knew what I wanted to do with my life. However, one day I heard about the NC Teaching Fellows scholarship and being that my stepmom was a teacher I was able to see how many lives she impacted on a daily basis and that’s what drew me to teaching. Thankfully I received the scholarship and am currently a junior at Appalachian State University seeking my Bachelors in Middle Grades with the concentration areas in Math and Social Studies.

Ashe CountyPopulation: 27,281

Education

According to the U.S Census Bureau with the adult population of 25 years and over: 5,910 who graduated from high school Some college but no degree 3,050 Associates degree 1,057 Bachelor’s Degree 1,449 Professional degree 692

Economy

The highest percentage came from the $50,000-$74,999 income range for families in Ashe County. However, if you look at the percentage that is less than $10,000 it is 6.6% which is not good for students who live in a home that is considered under the poverty level.

Families 8,120 +/-597 8,120 (X)

Less than $10,000 535 +/-215 6.6% +/-2.5 $10,000 to $14,999 400 +/-163 4.9% +/-1.9 $15,000 to $24,999 1,028 +/-265 12.7% +/-3.1 $25,000 to $34,999 1,123 +/-288 13.8% +/-3.5 $35,000 to $49,999 1,215 +/-267 15.0% +/-3.0 $50,000 to $74,999 2,187 +/-365 26.9% +/-4.4 $75,000 to $99,999 721 +/-186 8.9% +/-2.2 $100,000 to $149,999 619 +/-202 7.6% +/-2.5 $150,000 to $199,999 202 +/-136 2.5% +/-1.7 $200,000 or more 90 +/-68 1.1% +/-0.8 Median family income (dollars) 47,119 +/-4,163 (X) (X) Mean family income (dollars) 54,516 +/-4,327 (X) (X)

Demographics

The population in Ashe County and in ACMS is not that diverse. The majority of the population is Caucasian however, the Hispanic population is growing making them the second largest race in Ashe County.

ACMS Demographics

The same demographics applies to ACMS as it does for the county. The majority of the students that do go to ACMS are Caucasian but there are many more Hispanic students attending this school as compared to previous years.

Religion

In Ashe County religion seems to be a very important focus on peoples lives because around every corner there are churches everywhere. Being that Ashe County is considered to be in the Bible Belt the majority of its residents are Southern Baptist with United Methodist falling in second.

Politics

Most of the voters in Ashe County claim that they are Republican with a total of around 42% of the total population. Democrats fall right behind them with around 34% of Ashe County’s voters and the remaining percentage is mostly people who claim Unaffiliated.

Student Life

Food Of the twenty students that responded to what

was their favorite food the results showed what typical young adolescents like to eat, pizza. The food that was liked second by these students was surprisingly steak. Another surprise was one of the students responded that salads were their favorite food which is shocking because most teenagers like to eat foods that are not too healthy. Most of the students also said that they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. There were some student that didn’t eat breakfast but ate lunch and dinner. For the most part all of these students responded that they at least got two meals in a day.

Favorite Foods at ACMS

Tacos Steak: 5 Pizza: 6 Mac and Cheese Sea Food Pickles Chicken Potatoes Pasta

Salad

Music The most

listened to genre at ACMS is rap with country being the second most liked by these students.

Religion

ACMS students for the most part seem to have strong feelings about their religion. Leaving only a few students who were undecided or thought religion is not important to them.

Language

Out of the twenty students that responded to speaking another language besides English seven responded to knowing and speaking another language. The language other than English that is spoken the most is Spanish because of the higher population of Hispanic students at ACMS.

Students who speak another language English: 14 Other than English: 7

Recreation

Of the students that responded to what did they do for fun the most responded to answer was playing sports in some manner. This shows that most of the students are physically active

Media

Almost all of the students watch television, have cell phones, and use some type of social media daily. On average with these students most of them either watch television, text, or are on facebook on a day-to-day basis. Also, most of them responded that they do no talk that often on the phone, they typically text.

Favorite TV Shows Family guy South Park Man vs. Wild The Fairly Odd

Parents Blue Water High Top Shot

Facebook Every students

except one has a facebook they check regularlyCell Phones: All but

three students

Relationships

After asking my students who did they consider to be the biggest influence in their lives the most common answer was their parents, brother or sister. However, there was the typical answer of people in the media, coaches, friends, girl/boyfriends.

Fashion

Wal-Mart received the most answers for where the students shopped at the most, second was Hollister. Some of the students also said TJ Max, Game Stop, Rue 21, and some simply didn’t know where the shopped most frequently.

Bibliography

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_3YR_DP03&prodType=table

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

http://www.city-data.com/county/religion/Ashe-County-NC.html

http://www.carolinatransparency.com/county/Ashe/