throughout other New Hanover County schools — including the musical instruments. Although many of these instruments were still catalogued for use at Virgo, other stu-dents were already learning to play them and would continue to use them for the rest of their middle school careers. The situation left Cameron Bolish, the enrichment coor-dinator, with a very large task: find enough instruments that students could use free of charge. “I was told, ‘I want a band,’” Bolish explains. “But I was given an empty room, and that was it.” Wrightsville Beach resident and Wilmington businessman Bob Moulton, CEO of National Pawn, understood the majority of Virgo students could not afford instruments. Touched by their need, Moulton furnished the students with enough instruments to start a band and a yearly maintenance donation. “Every single one of my kids who wants to play an instrument now has the opportu-nity to do so,” Bolish says. “Even if they can’t afford to buy or lease an instrument, they now have the ability to enrich themselves and hone in on their individual talents.” The area surrounding D.C. Virgo, where many of the students live, is deemed an enrich-ment zone by the Blue Ribbon Commission, which means it is populated by mostly at-risk 14 WBM may 2014 National Pawn’s instrument donation helped Cameron Bolish, enrichment coordinator at D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy, start a band from scratch. Left: Brendon Carley plays the trombone. Opposite: The clarinet section plays during a sixth grade class. beachbites
Wrightsville Beach Magazine May 2014
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