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Tuesday, 04 November 2025
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Written by Anna White
For Raqi Barnett, teaching theater is about more than her passion for the arts. A teacher at E.E. Smith high school and recipient of the North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators’ 2025 “Educator of the Year” award, Barnett says, “We’re all about tradition, legacy and family at our school.” Since 2014, Barnett has poured her time and energy into preserving and growing that legacy by building an increasingly vibrant theater community, despite challenges.
The North Carolina Theater Arts Educators recognized her contribution with an award that is presented to theater educators who, according to their website, have achieved a high standard of quality in their pedagogical endeavors, have gone beyond the call of duty to provide an exceptional program that benefits their students and community, and have shown their passion and dedication to the profession of theatrical arts. The award celebrates excellence in theater education.
As the first African American to receive the NCTAE’s Educator of the Year award, Barnett says her accomplishment is a testament to diversity.
“It was a great surprise to be the first African American to receive this award,” she shared. “I’m sure it’s going to open doors for me and bring more people to see my work.”
She says the award “really reflects on who you are and how you can reach kids.” If the teacher loves their work, there’s a trickle-down effect, according to Barnett. When students see a teacher taking on extra responsibility, investing in students, and relying on community support to bring theater productions to fruition despite tight budgets, they’re inspired in turn.
“Passion comes down from the top,” she explained. “That cycle is a beautiful thing to have.”
Barnett spent years developing the skills that she now shares at E. E. Smith. She began perfecting her craft as a teacher and performer in 2002 at Washington, D.C.’s Classika Theater Company. There she learned puppetry, choreography, directing, and helped host summer camps for around two years.
That experience taught her that she enjoyed teaching, prompting her to delve further into opportunities. In need of a steady job, she sought out work in the school system.
“I felt that would fill the interest and the passion to give back to the youth,” she shared.
Her first theater teaching job was at Windsor Springs Elementary in Augusta, Georgia, where she and her husband were stationed at the time. While there, she started a modeling club and drama club. Upon deploying to Germany, she became a theater specialist, working at Kelly Theater and directing her first musical, High School Musical II. She founded a summer camp while stationed there, eventually bringing the summer camp back to Fayetteville when they returned.
A military brat and spouse herself, Barnett initially limited the camp to military kids, wanting to provide them with opportunities. But since beginning as a teacher at E.E. Smith, she has expanded the summer camp offerings beyond military families, collaborating with both Fayetteville Parks and Recreation and the Town of Hope Mills Parks and Recreation.
In addition to her summer camp offerings, she opened a chapter of the International Thespian Honor Society Troupe, which brings students competition opportunities and involvement in the broader theater community.
Barnett emphasized the importance of community in the work she does. Whether it’s organizations such as Cape Fear Regional Theatre or parents and guardians of students who pitch in to build sets and salvage materials for productions, growing E. E. Smith’s theater program has been a group effort.
“When I first started, there were $238 in the school theater account,” Barnett explained. “The program was decent, but it wasn’t booming.” Working on a tight budget and with insufficient incoming funds, they kick-started their first play with a fundraiser. “They couldn’t see us actually doing it,” she explained, “That made me mad, so I said, ‘We have a challenge ahead and something to prove.’”
Their first play, Greece!, was made possible by a combination of using what they had, dumpster-diving, and Dollar Tree.
“We made it work, and I had really creative students, teachers, community members, and my own family donating.”
Barnett was also influential in procuring a $15,000 grant from The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County for the theater program—the second-highest grant of its kind in the state.
That grant allowed them to collaborate with Cape Fear Regional Theatre and “bring their professionals to our school and help us out with making sure that we had costumes and all the theater elements for a really professional performance.”
Barnett hopes her legacy keeps the community involved in E. E. Smith theater and facilitates a flourishing future where students can participate in competitions, perform an annual spring musical, and be exposed to new genres and opportunities.
In the meantime, her classes remain particularly popular. “My classes are always full,” she shared happily. “Students always want to come back.”
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Tuesday, 04 November 2025
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Written by Paul Woolverton, CityView Today
Cumberland County leaders and nonprofit organizations are bracing for the next wave of effects caused by the ongoing shutdown of the United States government, and are arranging for resources to reduce the pain.
The county government is compiling a list of options for people who have lost income, or who will lose government benefits like food assistance programs. It lists local charities, food pantries, and employment resources and has other information. This can be found at
https://www.cumberlandcountync.gov/resources People may also call the 211 hotline for advice on assistance or visit nc211.org.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners held an emergency meeting on Oct. 24 to learn more about the impending troubles and announce efforts to prepare. It included local leaders such as the mayors of Hope Mills, Godwin, and Wade, and Scott Embry, executive director of the United Way of Cumberland County. U.S. Rep. David Rouzer had a staff person attend remotely.
The federal government shut down October after Congress and the president failed to enact a new budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which started on Oct. 1. The first effects of the shutdown were largely confined to government employees, such as furloughs of civilian workers at Fort Bragg, and anyone who used the services those workers provided.
The next effects are anticipated to strike lower income people.
Here are some of the consequences for Cumberland County if Congress, including North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, and U.S. House Reps. Richard Hudson and David Rouzer, fail to pass a budget and reopen the government soon:
In November, 33,000 low income households may see food and nutritional services and SNAP benefits “disrupted or delayed,” county Social Services Director Brenda Jackson said on Friday. This is about one out of every four of the county’s more than 131,000 households (as of 2023).
After Nov. 15, 12,000 pregnant women and mothers of infants will stop receiving food through the Women Infants and Children program (known as WIC), county Health Director Jennifer Green said.
The county is waiting to find out how much money it will receive in December and later to help lower income people pay their heating bills, Jackson said. Funding is expected for people aged 60 and older with special needs, but there has been no information for other recipients.
Jackson advised people who might lose nutrition benefits to stock up on foods that are shelf-stable, such as canned goods, rice, and beans.
In the Fayetteville area, since the shutdown began most federal civilian workers at Fort Bragg have been sent home without pay. Teachers in the military families’ schools on Fort Bragg continue to work, but without pay. The U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville is closed.
Separate from the federal government shutdown, the North Carolina legislature has failed to pass a full budget for its current fiscal year, which started July 1. (Lawmakers have approved partial spending appropriations.) Starting in November, the lawmakers’ failure to pass a budget is projected to cause cuts in payments of 3% to 10% to doctors and hospitals that treat people who use the government’s Medicaid insurance program.
“We continue to stay in communication with them every day to understand where they are, how we can be of assistance, in finding a solution,” County Commissioners Chair Kirk deViere said.
“I want you to know that we are advocating as a body for a solution,” he said. “But I think our biggest responsibility is while they’re working through trying to find a solution, that we actively take care of the citizens of this community.”
If Congress and the N.C. General Assembly continue to fail to pass their budgets, the county leaders are seeking “to the best of our abilities, take care of our neighbors,” deViere said.
Commissioners Vice Chair Veronica Jones said she plans to hold Cumberland County’s Raleigh and Washington politicians accountable as the shutdown drags on. “It’s not acceptable,” she said.
She told CityView she plans to ask people in the community to sign a petition demanding that the leaders approve their budgets, she plans to have the situation discussed at a meeting of the county Democratic Party (Jones is a Democrat), and she wants the Board of Commissioners to pass a resolution expressing its displeasure with the situation.
“The reality is: We are Democrats and Republicans, and they do have a job up there to do,” Jones said.
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