Why I’m proud to be from North Carolina, and you should be too

There’s lots to love about the Old North State


Amidst a blizzard in January of 1996, I came into the world screaming and crying in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. For the entirety of my life until college, I was raised an hour and a half to the East in Cary. I’ve known North Carolina intimately, inside and out, from its metropolitan areas to the far off corners that most folks will never go to.

See, North Carolina’s a place with strong Southern roots that sticks close to tradition, cutting edge medicine, and a frugal business culture that opens up the gates of opportunity. A State that know what it wants and ventures out to get it. A State that’ll laugh in the face of a hurricane, but will cower about a half an inch of ice.

As you can see, I’m mighty proud of my state, and there’s a million reasons why. Unfortunately, I can only write about a few.

Me grinning creepily while holding a lobster at a seafood place in Asheville

Our contribution to medicine 

The State of North Carolina has made an impact on the country and the world in regards to one of the most important facets of our lives—medicine. It was a comfort when I was growing up to know that some of the best hospitals in the country were just a stone’s throw away.

In Research Triangle Park, one of the most prominent high-tech research and development parks in the country, private companies toil away in their scientific endeavors as they aspire to cure and/or treat some of the world’s most deadly diseases and disorders.

North Carolina is also home to two of the country’s best medical schools in Duke and the University of North Carolina whose research along with training the next generation of doctors helps to make the world a better place.

The State has also made its fair share of breakthroughs. Duke engaged in a clinical trial that destroyed a woman’s brain tumor, and also discovered that a mutated form of a gene could cause ALS. The University of North Carolina, meanwhile,  has made strides towards shrinking the scar tissue in the heart for patients with heart failure while also refreshing healthy heart muscle.

And those are just three of the most recent.

National Anthem at a Carolina Panthers game

North Carolina is an economic powerhouse

We’ve known this was becoming the case for a while, what with Research Triangle Park and the growing job market, but recently those outside the state have taken notice. CNBC ranked North Carolina as its #5 best state for business, rising four spots from #9 the year before. The News Outlet also states that this is due in part to our access to capital, something we’re ranked #2 in.

If that isn’t enough, three companies have recently announced plans to expand in the state, adding jobs in the process. Dynamic Air Engineering intends on opening its corporate headquarters in Catawba Country, bringing with it 46 jobs. B & G Foods plans to expand its operation in Yadkin Country, which will create 58 new jobs over the next three years. Then finally, Relias Learning intends on expanding in my hometown of Cary, bringing with it 450 new jobs and a $450 million dollar investment in the town.

Skyline of Charlotte, NC

With all this in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that all three credit agencies, Moody’s, Standard and Poor’s, and Fitch have all assigned North Carolina a AAA bond rating—the highest possible.

To boot, North Carolina has also recently ended up with a $425 million budget surplus blowing our neighbors to the North, Virginia, out of the water as they ended up with a $266 million budget shortfall.

Why does this make me proud? The better question is: how could it not? The fact of the matter is, it’s a comfort and a joy seeing my beloved “Land of the Longleaf Pine” trending in the right direction under the responsible leadership of Governor Pat McCrory, an administration that’s been a much needed far cry from the disaster that came before it.

Our identity is strong and proud

North Carolina is a Southern State, a Christian State with a culture based upon traditional family values.

Here we value our history and our heritage because we know that in order to have gotten where we are and to get where we want to be, we have to remember where we were.

It is because of this that you can visit places like Moore’s Creek Bridge, the site of a Revolutionary War battle you probably haven’t heard of if you’re from outside the state. This is why you can visit the house that the infamous pirate, Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, once lived in.

Because of this reason, in the wake of the Confederate Flag controversy over a year ago, North Carolina passed a Heritage Protection Act in order to prevent the removal of historical markers and monuments. Because in North Carolina, we understand that history is something that should be embraced because it educates, not something we should erase because it might offend depending upon the lens through which it’s looked at.

The first national flag of the Confederacy flying at the state Capitol for Robert E. Lee’s Birthday

Truth is, I may not be proud of my State for the usual reasons others might attest, but I’m still proud of it nonetheless.

Even then, no State is perfect, but as with anything North Carolina’s imperfections are yet another thing which makes it great.