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KENANSVILLE — Five East Duplin High School students were instrumental in coordinating with Duplin County’s Health Department, Sheriff’s Office, and Board of Education to arrange for guest speaker Charlene Zorn to visit James Kenan High School Thursday morning and share her step-son’s tragic story in an effort to raise awareness about the dangers posed by vaping, drug-use, and addiction.
James Kenan is the second school in Duplin County where students Zoe Thigpen, Madison Kornegay, Alondra Morales, Harley Lanier and Gavin Jarman have arranged for Zorn to speak. This follows her initial appearance at East Duplin High School in 2024. After speaking at James Kenan, Zorn will also address students at North Duplin Jr./Sr. High School and later at Wallace-Rose Hill High School later in the year.
The campaign arose as the unintended though auspicious result of an Honors Chemistry assignment at East Duplin High in December of 2024, in which students were placed into groups of five and tasked with working together to develop a project that would make a change in the Beulaville high school.
After days of discussion and debate amongst themselves about what change their group could pursue, the enterprising students came to a decision: the group would center their project around the prevalence of vapes among their peers and the impact those implements have had on the community.
“One day Maddie came home and said “Okay Mom, we’re going to do vaping,” recalled Madison’s mother, Tracey Simmons-Kornegay.
As Duplin County’s Health Director, Simmons-Kornegay had a few months prior attended the county’s annual Opioid Town Hall, where Zorn was a speaker, and shared with her daughter the story of Solomon Wynn, a 15-year-old New Hanover High School football player, who became the first person in the state to die as a result of vaping.
Madison had an idea: what if they could arrange for Zorn to speak to the class for their project?
Part of Simmons-Kornegay’s duties include oversight of the Opioid Response Team. Composed largely of retired teachers, the Opioid Response Team utilizes the recently implemented Too Good for Drugs curriculum to educate 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th grade students on the dangers of drug use and addiction as part of the county’s early intervention strategy to combat the opioid crisis. Richard Goldsby, a retired teacher and former United States Marine responsible for the administration of the curriculum over a nine-week period at high schools across Duplin County, was teaching the Too Good for Drugs program to freshmen at East Duplin High while the five students were working on their project.
“Here I am, both of them are running parallel, and I just happen to intersect,” said Simmons-Kornegay. She encouraged her daughter to reach out to Goldsby, as Madison and Thigpen had both been members of his flag detail team in elementary school.
“They were my captains, and they ran a tight ship,” recalled Goldsby. Once the group had found a mentor in Goldsby, the project picked up momentum.
Goldsby helped the group get permission for Zorn to come speak to ninth-graders currently enrolled in his Too Good for Drugs program by contacting the principal and working with the Board of Education to approve her visit.
On Dec. 12, 2024, Zorn joined Thigpen, Kornegay, Morales, Lanier, and Jarman at East Duplin High School and shared with the freshmen class the heart-breaking consequences of vaping addiction. The presentation was a great success and made an impact at the school.
After the presentation at East Duplin, the students coordinated with Sheriff Stratton Stokes, local principals, Health Department officials, and the Board of Education to bring Solomon Wynn’s story to high schools across the county.
Though she’d previously spoken to adults about the dangers of vaping, the presentation was the first time Zorn had the opportunity to speak with children who were the same age as her stepson when his life was cut tragically short. “When I’m looking at these kids, I’m looking at Solomon,” said Zorn.
Thursday morning, Zorn recounted the events leading up to her stepson’s death on June 17, 2023, and the impact the loss has had on her and her family for a gymnasium of ninth-grade James Kenan High School students and implored them to seek help if they’d engaged in risky behavior like vaping or drug-use that could mean dire consequences for their health. “The most important thing is to have an honest conversation with your parents,” said Zorn. “I want to save your life,” she continued.
What began as a class project has developed into a county-wide initiative to raise awareness of the dangers that vaping, drug use and addiction present to the community thanks to the resourcefulness of Thigpen, Kornegay, Morales, Lanier and Jarman, as well as the mentorship of Goldsby and the collaborative efforts of local educators, law enforcement, and health officials throughout Duplin County. As Zorn continues to share Solomon’s story at the local high schools, she hopes students find a way to speak to their loved ones about the killer that’s found its way into the hands of children across the country – before it’s too late. In her closing remarks, Zorn left the freshmen of James Kenan with a final plea. “You have a future ahead of you. Don’t let something stupid take it away from you.”
