- [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on Carolina Impact - I'm Sheila Saints.

If you live in Charlotte, you probably know the neighborhoods of Plaza, Midwood, NoDa, and South End.

But do you know where MoRA is?

We'll take you there coming up.

- I'm Tonia Lyon.

Though there may be no silver bullet to addressing the anxiety and depression that can often lead to substance abuse in teenagers, one local school is having some success.

We'll take you inside, coming up.

- [Amy] And the Charlotte Checkers return after a year off.

Find out from the players what it's like to be back on the ice.

Carolina Impact starts right now.

- [Narrator] Carolina Impact, covering the issues, people, and places that impact you.

This is Carolina Impact.

(upbeat music) - Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

The latest national data shows nearly 14% of teens, ages 12 to 17, use illegal drugs.

However, overall teenage drug and alcohol use is down by 3%.

While experts debate the why behind that trend, new methods focus less on penalties and more on empowerment or gaining momentum.

Carolina Impact's Tonia Lyon gives us exclusive access to North Carolina's first recovery high school to meet the students whose lives are being changed.

♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ Way up high - [Tonia] Judy Garland's performance in the 1939 classic "Wizard of Oz" reminds us of the deep loneliness any of us can feel.

♪ In a lullaby ("Over The Rainbow" by Harold Arlen) - [Tonia] Ask most 12 to 18 year olds today, and you'll find their desires are the same, to belong, to be seen, understood, and accepted.

When those dreams don't come true, longing can turn to depression and anxiety.

For Jissel, the emotional pain turned to drug abuse.

- None of my friends did the things I did.

I always wanted to be different.

- [Tonia] Jissel says she started experimenting with illegal substances as a preteen.

As the addiction took over, she was using every day, several times each day.

When her mom caught her smoking marijuana in her room at 6:00 AM, the family grew desperate for help.

- [Lorraine] When we noticed that there was a problem or a situation, really the bare minimum became I just want my child to be alive.

It was very clear to me that it was a self medication, whether it was depression or anxiety.

Does it make you feel better?

Yes, but that's not the right approach, especially for her 14 year old brain.

- [Tonia] Before 2019, students working to get clean in North Carolina could recover in a 30-day treatment program, and then head back to their traditional school where many would relapse.

- [Mary] Jissel came to us as a freshman, and had had challenges in and out of different schools, social struggles, and just dealing with different things in harmful ways.

- [Tonia] Mary Ferreri is the executive director of Emerald School of Excellence.

It is North Carolina's first recovery high school.

- We're all in recovery from something.

- [Tonia] An educator for 11 years before launching Emerald, Mary heard from students who were struggling.

- [Mary] Biggest issues in school for middle and high school students are anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance use.

And it's happening everywhere, every school, all over, and it's starting younger and younger.

(soft music) - [Tonia] Students work on traditional studies and integrate faith, fitness, and fellowship, with a goal of learning to more fully embrace what it means to be human, imperfect and in progress.

- [Boy] Yeah!

- We are so excited today.

We are so excited.

- [Cooper] Here, everyone's their own person.

So you get all kinds of personalities, all kinds of behaviors, and it's amazing because it all mashes together, and it's just a magical environment.

Living in sobriety, I'm able to create true memories, so everything about it is morally correct because it's a great environment.

Not to mention the connections are forever-lasting.

The opportunities that I have, you can't get anywhere else.

- [Tonia] Cooper Miller is on track to graduate in the spring with a top GPA.

He's already receiving acceptance letters from colleges.

- [Teacher] Ooh, excellent teamwork happening in this exchange.

- [Tonia] Jissel confirms the Emerald magic is in the collaborations and deep relationships.

- [Jissel] Coming here and having a genuine relationship with my teachers was one of the most amazing things 'cause I can talk to my teachers about my real issues, and I would never be able to do that before.

- Students here are given permission to process their own stories at a deeper and more vulnerable level.

This is the gratitude wall, and here's an example.

"Coming up on two years sober," it says, "I get to give back to my community and others who are struggling."

And how about this one?

"I like cars instead of self harm."

- [Jissel] It's been like a year and a half in recovery.

I have straight A's.

I have a job.

- [Tonia] Students are succeeding as they learn to accept themselves, to process their mistakes with a healthy perspective, and to listen deeply with respect, and without judging.

12 steps recovery strategies that provide healing for parents too.

- [Lorraine] You realize that it's not your fault, and that is one of the hardest things to get through.

But eventually you have to realize that you didn't cause it and you can't cure it.

(upbeat percussive music) - [Tonia] And though there is no cure for substance abuse disorders, students are practicing the skills of sobriety now, learning acceptance, honesty, and boundaries in a nontraditional atmosphere.

- [Mary] They're doing the work.

It's us just creating the opportunities all day long.

It's empowerment and opportunity and the peer culture they create.

- [Tonia] Add to that accountability.

Drug testing at Emerald is random and frequent.

- [Jissel] It means everything.

I probably wouldn't be sober without this school.

- [Tonia] Sober and hopeful for a healthier road ahead.

♪ Happy little bluebirds fly ♪ Beyond the rainbow ♪ Why oh why ♪ Can't I - [Tonia] For Carolina Impact, I'm Tonia Lyon reporting.

- Thank you so much, Tonia.

It's great to see those students on track for a brighter future.

Well, tuition at the Emerald School of Excellence is just over $1,200 a month, and scholarships are available at the year-round school.

Eight seniors are on track to graduate clean and sober in 2022.

Well, most people realize Charlotte's population has exploded.

To stand out, some neighborhoods are defining themselves through creative branding like NoDa or South End.

Recently, a passionate group of neighbors began re-envisioning Charlotte's Monroe Road area.

The established neighborhood has emerged with a new identity.

Carolina Impact's Sheila Saints introduces us to the volunteers and businesses of MoRA.

(upbeat country music) - [Sheila] At the corner of Monroe Road and Conference Drive, people gather for an evening of music, fun, and food, called Thursdays Live.

A few years ago, this energy didn't exist here until several neighbors started a grassroots effort to attract business investments and improvements to Monroe Road.

- [Kathy] Job number one was creating a name, an identity for this area.

- [Sheila] They came up with MoRA.

- [Kathy] MoRA stands for Monroe Road Area, and MoRA is also Monroe Road Advocates, which is an all volunteer group of neighbors, and businesses, and stakeholders that are trying to lift up this whole Monroe Road corridor.

- [Sheila] MoRA is eight miles from where Monroe Road starts near Elizabeth, until it ends near Matthews, and includes about 12 neighborhoods.

- Our organization has given businesses and residents confidence that there's somebody.

There's a there, there.

There's somebody who cares about this area.

(upbeat music) - [Sheila] Their efforts are paying off.

The older apartment complex in this photo became the upscale M Station Apartments and Meridian Place with retail and restaurants.

- Everyone loves apple fritters and maple bacon.

- [Sheila] OMG Donuts and Coffee opened their Charlotte location here.

- [Mia] Well, we love the sense of community here.

We've got an overwhelming response to our business being open, so we're really grateful for it.

- [Sheila] Edge City Brewing also found a home in MoRA.

- We were looking around Charlotte for a place to open up, and stumbled upon this awesome community here on the east side of Charlotte.

(funky music) - [Sheila] Now longtime storefronts, like Morris Costumes and Banner Nursery, share the corridor with newcomers, like the Common Market and Vaulted Oak Brewing, which brews beverages in a former bank.

- [Kiel] Quite a few of us live within the area, so when this property came up, we knew that we had to jump on it.

Always remembering the community in the back of our heads, we knew that we could really do something special here.

- [Sheila] MoRA offers a diverse mix of locally owned businesses, services, and shops, plus new additions, like grocery stores.

You could stroll through parks or catch a movie.

You can buy patio furniture, work out, or get a prescription filled.

You can eat pizza, barbecue, international food, or cupcakes.

It's equally hip and historic.

- [Tressa] I like the community feel.

I like the fact that although Charlotte has grown, and even this area has grown, I like the fact that it's still preserved its character.

(upbeat guitar strumming) - [Sheila] Like Oakhurst, which blends adorable bungalows with trendy modern homes, the Oakhurst Steam Academy is bringing in new families.

- It definitely feels like there's a lot of energy and momentum here, which is kinda cool.

We wanted to be part of that.

- [Sheila] Night Swim Coffee chose Oakhurst on Monroe for its first cafe location.

The 19 acre retail center includes new town homes.

Woonsocket Lane honors the textile mill once here.

- And we're just really amazed and impressed with all the activity that was going on and some of the surrounding businesses.

We were like, there's something about this Oakhurst neighborhood.

And we came out here one day and looked, and it was pretty instantaneous.

We were like, yeah, we like this.

- [Sheila] Residents along Monroe Road knew they needed more than just a catchy new nickname.

They were looking for ways to tie the community together, and they found that way through art.

(upbeat music) - So art, being very intentional about where we place it, begins to create markers along the corridor.

They begin to stitch together the communities and the neighborhoods that thrive along this corridor.

The Embrace sculpture.

We had several hundred people who met with us during workshops, who rolled out clay tiles and stamped them, and then glazed them.

And then now there are 32,000 tiles on the sculpture itself.

The patchwork project.

Each of these crosswalks represents something about the area that it resides in.

- [Sheila] Access to transit, amenities, and walk-ability are a must for MoRA.

- [Corey] When I was looking for a new home, what I wanted was a place that I could walk places, that I could easily bike places, that I could get around the city without always having to ride on a car.

So to really make a community feel cohesive and knit together, you have to have ways for people to get around the community and to visit different parts of it.

- [Sheila] One day, the LYNX Silver Line will service southeast Charlotte.

- [Kathy] Making sure that, as this big project comes into this area, that the people in this area have a voice.

That's an opportunity for us to create our own stamp on how this area grows.

- [Sheila] An authentic community that's developing a brand identity all its own.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Sheila Saints reporting.

- It's great to see that sense of pride in the community.

Thank you so much for that story, Sheila.

MoRA is a nonprofit, always looking for people willing to volunteer their time and talents.

For more information, head to our website pbscharlotte.org.

History and art have converged at the Fort Dobbs Museum in Statesville.

The state historic site provides a window into the French and Indian War during the mid-1700s.

On this one tank trip, visitors at the reconstructed fort experience what it was like for soldiers in battle.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis takes us inside this piece of American history.

(soft guitar music) - [Jason] Historic downtown Statesville sits in the heart of Iredell County.

But before it was officially a county, it was just part of the old Carolina back country.

- [Scott] The hilltop that we're standing on is the site of a fort that was constructed 265 years ago during the French and Indian War.

- [Jason] Known as Fort Dobbs, and only three miles as a crow flies from modern day Statesville, it was named for the colonial era governor of the state, Arthur Dobbs.

The original fort is long gone, and until just a few years ago, a visit to Fort Dobbs left a lot to the imagination.

- [Scott] We had a hole in the ground where the archeology had once happened.

And to try to get visitors to get excited and use their imaginations and understand the importance of the history here when you're just walking around a historic hole in the ground is pretty difficult.

- [Jason] But today, standing tall on the original site, is a new Fort Dobbs.

Site manager Scott Douglas says getting the project going took years of research.

- [Scott] In the last decade, as we were gearing up towards rebuilding the fort, we made sure to complete the archeological surveys of the entire footprint of the building.

- [Jason] And years of dreams.

- [Scott] I'm still not fully processed the fact that we have the fort here now.

That was something that our staff, our volunteers dreamt about, planned for, thought about for so long.

And there were times in that process when people maybe thought it wasn't going to be able to be successful.

- [Jason] The reconstructed Fort Dobbs opened in 2019.

- [Scott] We had 2,000 visitors that first day.

And the ability to see all these excited people go into that fort for the very first time, to see it act as a teaching tool that we had planned for it to be for so long has really been an incredibly fulfilling part of my career.

(twangy guitar music) - [Jason] Now visitors who step inside the new Fort Dobbs step back in time.

- [Scott] We try to make it an immersive experience.

It's a museum exhibit, but one that you can walk through and be part of in a way.

We try to avoid having rope lines and do not touch signs.

Everything in the fort is a reproduction of original items, weaponry, and clothing, and stuff like that.

So during our guided tours, we actually encourage visitors to pick up items, to sit on beds, to feel the warmth of a fire in the fireplace, and hopefully it lends a sense of actually stepping back in time and being in a real fort that people really are living in and getting more of an understanding of that, of what it would've been like.

- [Jason] And several times a year.

- [Scott] We'll have people literally living their lives in that building for a 48 hour period of time.

And visitors walking through that can get an even deeper level of understanding of how smelly was this place with 50 sweaty soldiers in there.

That's maybe not the most attractive way.

But what was it like for people to cook around each other, to have all these soldiers sitting down to eat a meal?

What was it like to be in the building when it filled with gun smoke in battle?

Those are all things that living history programs allow us to experience.

- [Jason] Now, if you're wondering if Fort Dobbs ever saw action, interpreter Jason Melius has the answer.

- [Melius] There was a battle here, and it was not between French allies and the soldiers here.

It was actually between former British allies, the Cherokee Nation.

And here on February 27th, 1760, a party of Cherokee attempted to draw the soldiers out of the fort at about 8:00 or 9:00 at night, and ambushed them about 300 yards down the hill over there.

- [Jason] The original Fort Dobbs was abandoned, and eventually lost to time after the end of the French and Indian War.

But Melius says the new fort makes his job a joy.

- [Melius] I love this job.

It's fun.

I get to do a lot of research.

We use the fort more as a tool to talk about the people that were involved here.

So it's not necessarily a, an old house tour.

We go through the rooms and talk about the lives that were going on inside of the rooms, and then ultimately about the battle, the Cherokee War, and trying to give perspective to both sides.

- [Scott] This is a crucial piece of American history that isn't really focused on that much in popular culture.

It's something just that happens before the American Revolution.

But the French and Indian War is a global conflict.

It sets the stage for the Revolutionary War.

It creates the path to what is now the United States today.

It has a lot of repercussions that we still feel in our modern society.

This is the only state historic site in North Carolina where we have the opportunity to tell this story of our state's role in the conflict.

- [Jason] So the next time you're near Statesville, consider a visit, and immerse yourself in the North Carolina back country, and journey to the mid-1700's at Fort Dobbs state historic site.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- Thank you, Jason.

Fort Dobbs offers tours to families and students.

If you're interested in visiting, you can learn more on our website.

Well, the Charlotte Checkers are back.

The hockey team was on a roll, winning its lead championship back in 2019.

But the pandemic forced it to take a year off.

Since then, it's been wild ride.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis takes us behind the scenes to see how the team is doing now.

(crowd cheering) - [Jason] The players are back, so too are the fans.

- Let's go Checkers!

- [Jason] It's been a long time coming, but the Charlotte Checkers are finally back on the ice.

- [Announcer] Here come the Checkers.

Cross to Drew.

Shot!

He scores!

Alex Drew!

- I felt like...

This is gonna sound strange, but I felt like something was missing in my life for the last year, honestly.

- [Jason] For hardcore fans like Nick Brody, these last couple of years have deprived them of their passion.

Same too for team management.

- [Tera] It's been the most remarkable 19 months of my career, the most difficult, and I think the time that we absolutely learned the most about ourselves and our organization and how to persevere without a rule book.

- [Announcer] For the first time in franchise history, the Charlotte Checkers are Calder Cup champions!

- [Jason] The last time the Checkers played a full season, they were crowned American Hockey League champions in the spring of 2019.

- [Announcer] What a moment in franchise history.

- [Nick] I flew there for the game, and we won, and I flew right back.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

It was amazing.

- [Jason] But little did anyone know what the next couple of seasons would have in store.

- We get pulled over halfway through, and our coach gets a phone call.

And then as he walked back on the bus, everybody was silent.

He just said that we're going home.

- [Announcer] Laid out to center, Checkers might have a two on one.

They've got a mini break.

Here's Cole Schwindt into the zone.

Back in.

He scores!

- [Jason] When COVID first hit in March of 2020, Checkers forward Cole Schwindt was playing with a junior team in Canada.

Just like every other player in leagues across the world, his season abruptly ended.

- Couple days went by, then a week went by, then two weeks.

- We initially thought there was only gonna be two weeks where we were at home.

- And then it turned into your season.

- We quickly realized that that year was gonna be canceled.

- [Jason] During that off season, the team's parent club, the Carolina Hurricanes, ended their relationship with the Checkers.

So the Checkers then became affiliated with the Florida Panthers.

But the logistics of dealing with a team based in south Florida, as opposed to Raleigh, presented a few challenges.

- [Tera] We decided not to play this last season, and it ended up being the absolute best decision we could have made.

- It was super sad.

At first I was kinda angry, I'm not gonna lie, but it made a lot of sense to me.

It was the best decision for the team just not to have it, and I agree with that now.

- I knew it was a business decision.

It wasn't a political decision or anything to do with that.

If they'd have called me, I'd have came down here and volunteered my time.

- We are one of three teams that ended up not playing, and our geography had a lot to do with that.

It really boiled down to the fact that, at that time, the pandemic was raging.

For us to travel, we have to, we have to travel the farthest, so we have to get on a plane, and then a bus, and then a hotel.

And none of that was consistent with mitigating risk of...

There was no vaccine at the time, and so it was just the risk far outweighed the reward.

- [Jason] While players and coaches scattered, looking for opportunities elsewhere, the team did what it could to keep all of its employees.

But even that wasn't enough.

- We were able, through PPP money, to maintain our staff, at least through that first round.

I think we were one of the last teams in the American League to actually have to start laying off people.

So we went from 25 down to 8.

- [Jason] Going nearly a year and a half without any games, or any income, the Checkers managed to survive, and are now more than happy to be playing a full schedule once again, especially now that fans are allowed back in.

- Incredible.

And I'm not gonna lie to you, I kinda got teary eyed a little bit 'cause the season ticket holders, we're all kinda like a family.

So to see people after a year of not seeing everybody, and hugging everybody, and high fiving, and seeing everybody, I got a little emotional.

- It was like going back to your high school reunion, and everybody's the same.

(laughs) So, it was great.

It was perfect.

- It's a lot different just hearing music playing, rather than the fans screaming.

You do get that energy from the fans in the building, and that was definitely a little bit of a change.

But getting fans back in the arena this year has been awesome.

- So to actually be behind the bench, working with these guys, seeing them compete, and then obviously the fans in the building, creating that environment, that's what makes our game great.

It's physical, it's fast.

The energy the fans bring and the excitement... - [Jason] Despite all the hardships the pandemic brought about, the Checkers did have fun with at least one aspect of it.

Since they won the league championship in 2019, but no champion was crowned in either 2020 or 2021, they're still technically the defending Calder Cup champions.

So the team printed up three-peat champion T-shirts, and had the trophy engraved with player and front office staff names, trying to find the silver lining, and having a little fun in the process.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- It's just so nice to be able to get back to some of the things that we love.

Thank you, Jason.

Since the Checkers returned, the team has rehired some of those who were laid off.

The staff is now back up to 17 employees.

Well, that's all the time we have for you this evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time, and look forward to seeing you back here again next time on Carolina Impact.

Good night, my friends.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] A production of PBS Charlotte.