Carol Dement Weeks (A.B.Ed. ’67), who after a 17-year teaching career has led development of the Boys & Girls Club in Zebulon, has been named “Tar Heel of the Week” by The News & Observer of Raleigh.
When Weeks, who majored in elementary education at UNC-Chapel Hill, left her job at Zebulon Middle School, she continued her work with children, the newspaper reported in its profile in its July 24, 2011 editions.
She worked to make sure the Wake Boys & Girls Club expanded to Zebulon, becoming the driving force to establishing the program there. It now owns four acres of land where a 15,000-square-foot facility is under construction. The Zebulon club has averaged just more than 400 members in recent years. That figure is expected to climb to about 1,000 children during the next five to 10 years.
Weeks, a native of Zebulon, said she saw a great need for the program there.
“Being a teacher in this community, I saw a great need for a positive place for children to have and go to after school,” she told the N&O. “I felt like that was a time a lot of parents were working and that was a time children needed a safe place to go for good educational and fun activities.”
Weeks was named Zebulon’s 2010 Citizen of the Year in recognition of her efforts.
“She’s always been a very committed person,” said Zebulon Mayor Bob Matheny, who has known Weeks for nearly 40 years. “When you have people that care about the community and want to give of themselves, what more could you ask?”