photo-stories — Alex Kim

finding the foundation

“Our football program is small, yet it's hard-working and fearless at its core,” said Ken Lathan, the head coach of the Carrboro High School football team.

“I wanted to be a mentor and motivator. I like to inspire people to do things that others, and sometimes themselves, don’t think they can do,” Coach Lathan said. “I also love to see young people work together for a common goal. Watching their confidence grow over time helps not only on the football field, but in life.” Lathan was a former assistant to the head coach student manager at the University of South Carolina.

Special Teams Coach Fred Dale congratulates Jake Adams, a junior on the Carrboro High School football team, and gives him a special GS Necklace, short for “Goon Squad,” that Dale made to give to his players whenever they complete a special teams play.

“I would describe this team as blue collar. They have learned over the years of playing that there are no shortcuts to success on and off the field. You have to work harder than your opponents, day in and day out,” Coach Lathan said.

The 33 players and seven coaches that comprise the team all squeeze into one men's locker room in order to discuss the plays they want to perform during the games. Jevontay Paisant, a freshman on the team, listens to the coaches as they prepare for an upcoming game.

"We all we got...We all we need,” Coach Lathan explained the team’s motto. “This is something that we take with us into every practice and game, and it has paid off in our success.” Jamaal Purefoy-Thaxton, a freshman on the team, along with his teammates push against a football sled during practice.

“We are a little similar to other sports here at CHS,” said Lathan when describing his team. “We work really hard to be competitive and when we play as a team, we are hard to beat." Senior Tim Rogers-Neal stretches before Carrboro High School’s homecoming game against Graham High School.

“We have fun, but they know when it’s time to work, we work. My coaches and team are an easy-going bunch of jokesters, so we have to do a great job keeping a balance of work and play,” said Coach Lathan.

Junior Phoenix Tudryn holds up a sign advertising the team’s fundraising car wash. “Compared to bigger schools and programs, we do not get a lot of funding, but I think we do a good job of maximizing what we do get to better our program as a whole. What we don’t have, we work for through fundraising,” said Lathan during their team’s Carrboro High School Car Wash event.

At most high schools, players do not have to worry about keeping up the fields they play on. Instead, there are usually people hired to prepare them before every game. However, for Carrboro High School, the players and coaches have to make sure the fields are ready for their games. It has become a tradition for the seniors to paint the fields before every home. In addition, they must help set up field markers and put up goal post paddings. “I used to look forward to when I would be able to help paint the field before games, but honestly, it just gives me less time to prep before we have to head out,” said Braden Hunter, a senior at Carrboro High School.

Senior, Braden Hunter holds the American Flag as he and his team get ready to storm the field, a tradition the team performs before every home game. Walking past the team are members of the opposing team, the Graham High School Red Devils.

“I want my players to be champions in everything that they do,” said Coach Lathan. “Being a champion does not necessarily mean that you win at everything. It means that you gave your best and you helped someone else along the way.” Luke Adams is tackled by Graham High School's defensive line as he completes a pass for the Jags during Carrboro High School’s homecoming game.

During each huddle, the team shouts, “Say what you mean and mean what you say!” Je'Sean Barkley screams with the team as they hype each other up before their game.

Coach Lathan leads a prayer with players from both football teams after Carrboro beat Graham High School, 22-0. “I have built this program on three simple principles... God before all, team before me, and be the best that I can be,” Lathan said. “If they can live by that, I have done my job as a coach, and we all can be champions.

hangul lessons

For Korean Americans, it is easy to forget about Korean culture, especially when faced with microaggressions in society as they grow up. These microaggressions range from being looked down upon for eating “smelly” foods during lunch to taking shoes off inside the house. These days, some Koreans who were born in America are referred to as American Koreans because of how little they know about their own culture. However, parents attempt to combat this lack of culture by taking their kids to Korean school. Every Saturday, their kids learn how to read and write Korean and also about Korean culture

The Triangle Korean School is a Korean school located in Raleigh, NC that kids from all over the Triangle come to learn Korean. The school session is from 9:30am to 12:30pm.

The age range of kids who go to this school are from five to nine. The kids are split into different classes based on age.

John Min, a senior at UNC, spends his Saturday’s teaching young Korean American kids Korean and Korean culture.

“So we go in the morning around 8:30am, and we get there around 9am. And then what I do is I print the material and set up the room because they do it at a church that’s not theirs. And then I just wait for all the kids to come,” said Min.

Halfway through their session, Lee Jiwoo is captured as her class goes over homework. For this particular session Min accidentally assigned too much homework to the kids, so they were tired during class.

“They don’t take off their shoes at any point because it’s a White church,” said Min.

It’s an interesting concept, the idea that a Korean school does not take their shoes off inside. However, because the school rents a space in primarily White church, they do not take off their shoes.

“I’ll just use a workbook to teach them,” said Min.

Min is covering the mouth of Sukjoon Lee while Sehyun Park is trying to recite workbook answers in Korean. Lee’s mouth is being covered because he kept trying to say the answers. Meanwhile, Kayleigh Kim is trying to pry Min’s hand off of Lee’s mouth.

“The girls are really good. The guys, no,” said Min in response to the behavior of the kids.

“The reason I teach is because other kids were born here. They are familiar with American culture because of their elementary schools, but a lot Korean parents bring their children here to learn Korean culture. So as an older person, I think it’s my duty to help teach them,” said Min as he lines up his kids to go outside.

“Around halfway, we’ll have snack time and outside time,” said Min.

Min is captured pushing ChaeEun Jin on the swings with JiWoo Lee.

“I think he’s funny and cute,” said JeongYun Ham as she grasps onto her teacher, John Min’s, wrist.

Parents come back to the church to pick up their kids after school. There is a mixture of parents who are Korean, Korean American, and other races.

“It ends at 12:30pm, but I usually stay until 1pm to clean up everything,” said Min as he vacuums after the day’s session is over.

not a farm story

Sandra Vergara and her husband, Ted Domville bought Elodie Farms in 2016. Vergara is a full-time scientist at Duke University. Domville is a professional chef who primarily takes care of the goats during the week while Sandra is away. This is their not so traditional farm story.

“We ended up buying the goats that ended up with the farm, which was 27 of them. And they were all pregnant. We went from zero goats to 27 goats. That was a lot of fun. And now we have 75,” said Sandra Vergara, co-owner of Elodie Farms in Rougemont, NC.

“Jojo is our guard donkey. He doesn’t really do a good job,” said Vergara. “Jojo neighs when something is wrong, and all the goats understand. But he’s currently overweight. Donkeys are desert animals. They didn’t evolve to have this much greenery around. And so he just eats and eats and eats and eats. So he gets to wear a grazing muzzle so that he can still eat, but not as much,” explained Vergara.

“It’s been a lot to learn. Goats are very different. And we love them,” said Vergara.

“Not all goats are friendly. They’re friendly here because they spend a lot of time with humans because we treat them like pets,” said Vergara.

“I used to be a chef at this place that would close late at nights in Durham. And Sandra was finishing her doctorate. She would just come in when it wasn’t really busy at night,” said Domville in reference to how he and his wife Sandra met.

“Good cheese is from happy goats. Our goats are happy.”

“People sometimes ask why our cheese is so expensive. They can get a log of goat cheese for $2.99. But people buy ours because you can taste that it’s better,” said Domville.

“For Ted, he knows some of the background and that we should do certain things because it’s good for the animals. But for me it’s more intuitive because of my scientific background,” said Vergara.

“Yeah, she is not interested at all in what goes into cooking. And I don’t really necessarily know the science behind the goats or animals. So we really do work well with each other’s strengths,” said Domville.

“Every second Saturday, we host a Farm Dinner. People come with their friends and eat our food. Ted cooks and we have volunteers who help set up. Everyone sits communal style, so we all get to know each other.” Said Domville.

During the farm dinner on September 14, 2019, Elodie Farms served steak, goat cheesecake, chestnut chowder soup, and more.

“I painted that sign,” said Vergara in reference to the “Kids at Play” sign. “The goats like to just roam around wherever they want whenever they want because they feel comfortable. And that’s important to us.” Said Vergara.

Domville and Vergara are able to identify each of their goats in addition to their cats, ducks, and donkeys.

“We want to have a child one day, maybe not now, but once we feel more stable to do so. But for now, we have our family,” said Vergara.