“It shows we are moving one step forward.”

— Malik Hosendove,  Livingstone sophomore on being able to get a COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic on campus

“When I’m talking to people who tend to laugh about it, I just say, ‘Hey, I was their guinea pig.’ Between that and I don’t have three eyes and three arms, that usually starts the conversation.”

— Judy Klusman,  Rowan County commissioner who is among local officials to have been vaccinated

“We’ve really been much more focused on what the work is. Is it interesting? Are the companies fascinating? Is it work that has value to people’s lives? That’s the type of work we try to put in our small towns.”

— Matthew Achak, president and co-founder of the Oregon-based outsource provider FCR, which announced its expansion into Rowan

“If they can tear down Yankee Stadium and build it back better, then they can tear down Newman Park and build it back better than it was.”

— Brian Hightower,  former Catawba player and East Rowan baseball coach on plans to renovate the college’s historic baseball field

“Graduation is literally why we are in education. It’s a culmination of 13 years of effort on behalf of the public education system, the students and their families. It’s absolutely, unequivocally the most important day of the year.”

— Angelo DelliSanti,  A.L. Brown principal on in-person graduation events planned for May 29 in Kannapolis

“The park couldn’t have been built to the design today without Nancy, Bill, Fred and Alice Stanback. They’ve been huge supporters all the way.”

— Dyke Messinger,  on the renaming of the ‘Bell Tower Green at Stanback Square’ to reflect contributions made by the Stanbacks

“Hopefully it’s a start that, no matter if you wear a badge or what type of power you may be in, you can’t do this to people,  especially unarmed Black people.”

— Gemale Black,  president of the Salisbury-Rowan NAACP after the guilty verdict in George Floyd’s death

“As much as I love the kids at South and as much as I don’t want to leave South, I know that it’s time for a change — for the South football program and
for me.”

— Daniel Yow, South Rowan head
football coach who is stepping down after six seasons