1983 VES Meteor

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Vol. LXIV -NO.4
A GREAT COACH:
Not Forgotten
to leave after a winning season.
US POSTAGt PAID P•rmot No 6SCJ
Lvnchbura. V1 Non-Profot Ora
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By Kevin H. Merritt ' After 32 years of coaching, Robert I. Lee Jr., or Rock Lee, as
he is known to most people associated with the school, is retiring from being Head Foot- ball Coach.
Rock Lee has been part of the V.E.S. community for many years. He graduated from V.E.S. in 1945 after spending two years here. He went on to attend North
Carolina State University.
In 1950, Mr. Lee returned to V.E.S.as a math teacher.At that time, he coached one of the city
football teams. The following year he became an assistant coach of the V.E.S. Varsity foot- ball team. Rock Lee began his reign as the V arsity Head Coach in 1953, the same year he became the athletic director.
Mr. Lee has won two Prep League titles. In 1969, he won his first title with a 9-0 rel'.ord. ThA
title 'c•me just one year ago when the 1981 team compil- ed a record of 7-1-1.
After the 1981 football season, Mr. Lee began to think about retirement. But, he didn't want
The 1982 season was a difficult one for the Varsity, finishing with a record of 2-8. Mr. Lee decided then that it was time to retire from footbalL
Mr. Lee has enjoyed his years of coaching, but he wants to be able to have more free time. Since the V arsity plays most of its games on Saturday, Mr. Lee will now be able to spend his
weekends relaxing. He wants to spend some of these weekends
fishing at his house in Kitty Hawk, N.C. or watching some N.C. State football games.
Rock Lee will be replaced by Mr. B. K. Mundy, who has been the defensive coordinator of the Bishops for the last 12 years. Mr. Lee Bo McLaughlin will be Mr. Mundy's right hand man, while Mr. George Berry will coach the lineman.
The Meteor staff would like to wish Rock Lee the best of luck especially, with his fishing. We would also like to congratulate Mr. Mundy on his appointment as bead coach and wish him great success in the years to come.
Many people have asked me where I come from and many people know that I live in Eng- land about fifty miles northeast of London. To be more specific, I live just outside a small village called Quainton which is near a town called Alesbury which is where I went to schooL It is a
large day school accomodating 1,200 pupils and is one of the last remaining grammar shools in England, since the last socialist government saw fit to replace
the old stake system of streamed classes with a new one whereby people of varying abilities are taught in the same class at their own pace.
Less people may know what I am doing here and what my first impression of this school and the U.S.A. are. In England about six- ty percent of all those people go- ing to university decide to take a year off between (high) school and university. This is what I wanted to do and while trying to find some worthwhile pursuit to fill in the time, my mother told me of a scholarship scheme run by the English speaking union, which is a worldwide organiza-
tion that exists to promote friendly contacts between Eng- lish speaking countries, especial- ly between Britain and America. They run many educational ex-
change schemes between these two countries. The winnen of
the particular scholarship tried for are able to 1tudy at an Ameri- can private sebool for a year or 10. Having alway• been faselnat-
ed by the impre81ion of Ameri- can 10elety that I hid learned
from friend• and ft om the media at home, I thourht I would have a
go. I w11 lucky enouth to win a ~eholanlllp aad • lam.
Now that I have been here for a little while, what are my im- pressions of this school and of
America? The first thing· that struck me about V.E.S. was that the faculty all seemed so young.
Everyone appeared to have little children running around the campus. Secondly, I noticed that the school is a very tightly knit community where the faculty participate in school life to a greater extent than they would in England. Life here is very
communal which, to start with I found difficult to adapt to having
livedathomeforfiveyears.With this sense of community I notic- ed a loser rapport between the faculty and pupils, which helps to create a family atmosphere in
study hall in the evening. Tutes in music too seem to be pretty universal.
My impressions of America u a whole have been limited to Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. and Lynchburg, but what I
have is a lot wider tbu in England. The houses are furthw
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A New Face From
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and around the schooL
There are also several dif- wider,
ferences in curriculum between my school and V.E.S. To start
with the whole system of assess- ment differs from the English system. Here, your grades dur- ing the term contribute to your graduation grade. In England, achievement is based solely on
perfotmance in the exam room
and grades are seen only as an in- dication of potential. Also, I was very surprised to see wrestling
on the athletics program, I know of no school back home that h u this option. I w u intereated to note that it differa
from the profe11ional wre1tling 1 have seen on televi1ion.
Some thlnp however 1eem to be the aame. Student'• attitude
to live in general and work i1 par- ticular 1eem to be pretty much univerul, although, having been Uled to 1tudylng three to ft.. hour• a night, I w u 1111')11'1Md at how little time
ro to are ...U
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apart, the shopping areas are
and aeem to have more near lights per square mile than in England. The c1rs too are
a lot bigger. all seemtometohaveagteaterpre occupation with food than in England and there are certainly a greater number and wider varietyofeatingemporiathaniD England.
Finally, I would like to men- tion the great
have shown me and the
length• to whieh they
help people.
known for their kindneaa aad hospitality in pneraland everr- one I have met hu lived up to
that reputation.
I llbtothanll
for their ldnd aupport Ia
me feal at Mm•. I a
hoaort.etle t.em&Uttle
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