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Record demand for Colorado resort homes is further pinching affordable housing for locals

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As a young teacher 25 years ago, Larkin Beaman almost bought a hotel room that was converted into a studio condo in downtown Telluride. It was $80,000 for 371 square feet.

Last month the ninth-grade teacher at Telluride High School toured the same unit. It was going for $445,000 and sold in a blink.

“I guess I just didn’t have the vision back then,” she said as she prepared for a day of remote teaching from her classroom in a town where she has been searching for a small home. “I just want a tiny studio. I’m just waiting, but there is not anything below $500,000.”

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Beaman’s story is a timeworn tale in ski towns, where sky-high real estate prices have dogged teachers, doctors, firemen and other essential local workers for decades. But this summer, a surge of largely urban newcomers fleeing big-city problems during the pandemic is hastening the displacement of locals.

Not only are the newcomers buying everything — setting records for both prices and emaciated inventories of for-sale homes — but they are also renting resort-area homes at a breakneck clip.

Across the high country, visitors are becoming residents.

“I can’t blame them, but I think it caught us all off guard how quickly it changed,” said Amy Levek, Telluride’s former mayor who now heads the Trust for Community Housing. “We have been dealing with gentrification and people buying and renovating houses for years. But it’s been a gradual process and now it’s just wham. Everything is changing so quickly. It’s just so fluid right now as far as what people want and what people are willing to pay.”

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In Telluride and Mountain Village, homes that have long been rented to local workers are selling. Fresh arrivals to the box canyon are capable of spending big on rent, too, further pinching the supply of housing for workers.

“Their budgets are often in the $5,000 to $10,000-a-month range, which is certainly not what locals traditionally pay for rent,” Levek said.

New buyers and new renters are only part of the reason the supply of local housing is dwindling in the narrow valley, where about 44% of the homes in the region are temporarily occupied by out-of-town owners or their vacationing guests. Those second-home owners are spending more time in their homes. And so are their not-so-short-term rental guests.

The gondola above Telluride connects the town with Mountain Village. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)

Communities like Telluride were built on tourism. They thrive on a steady rotation of visitors. When the visitors linger, though, the system gets off-kilter. The migration of wealthy urbanites has spiked real estate prices and rents, but they’ve also rescued economies that could have been decimated by the pandemic-triggered economic collapse.

After a complete shutdown of Telluride and Mountain Village’s hotels, short-term rentals, restaurants and shops in March, April and May, sales tax collections through July are down only about 10%.

“Which is really amazing,” said Telluride Tourism Board chief Michael Martelon, who has developed a complex network of data points to measure not just the number of visitors but their impact. “Second-home owners are certainly a big piece of the reason why that decline is so small.”

(Sidenote: Hotels and lodges in Telluride and Mountain Village also raised room rates in July to compensate for declining volume, bringing the cost of summer lodging closer to winter rates.)

The flight of urbanites is national. Bloomberg News this week studied data from United Van Lines to show city residents fleeing New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut while states like Vermont, Idaho, Oregon and South Carolina are seeing more newcomers.

Many brokers in the high country say the pandemic has simply accelerated an already underway trend of people shifting their lives away from hectic cities and into places where lifestyle and recreation reign.

“Most of the buyers I’m seeing are people who I have been in touch with for many years,” said Frank Konsella, a real estate broker in Crested Butte who remembers a roommate living in an attic of a home he rented as a ski bum in the 1990s. “Whether it’s the low interest rates or the COVID or the low inventory — or a combination of all those things — they are pulling the trigger.”

Darin White Eydenberg sits with her sons Harrison, 10, left, and Graham, 8, at their home in Aspen, Colo., Thursday, July 23, 2020. The Eydenberg family recently moved into their Aspen vacation home from New York City and have enrolled the children in the Aspen Country Day School. (Barton Glasser, Special to The Colorado Sun)

The Colorado Association of Realtors showed a 38% annual decline in the number of homes for sale in July across Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers the entire Western Slope. The association noted a 29% decline in the number of townhomes and condos for sale in the district in July, compared with July 2019. The average sales price in July for a home was up 32% and a whopping 63% for condos and townhomes, compared with the same month in 2019.

In Colorado’s resort communities this summer’s spike in real estate prices and near-record lows in the number of residences for sale is even more dramatic.

In Pitkin County, the average sales price of a home climbed 60% in July and the inventory of homes for sale fell 33% when compared with July 2019.

In Eagle County, the average sales price of a home climbed 43% in July and the supply of homes for sale dropped 43%, compared with July 2019.

In San Miguel County, the average price of a townhome or condo climbed 366% in July, fueling a 15% increase in the number of condos listed for sale, compared to July 2019.

In Routt County, the average home price was up 34% in July while inventory has dropped 56%, compared with the same month of 2019.

In Gunnison County, the average condo price was up 9% in July with the number of condos for sales up 30%., compared with July 2019.

In Summit County, the average home price was up 25% and inventory of homes for sale was down 52% in July compared with 2019.

“Higher prices and reduced inventory is a formula to out-price the workforce population that ultimately supports the growth and sustainability of a community for generations to come,” reads a memo last week from Steamboat Springs’ Four Points Funding, which has an Opportunity Zone Fund that has invested in multi-family housing projects in Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs.

Resort communities across the West have spent years laboring to build more diverse economies that don’t rely solely on vacationing tourists. They foster non-tourism-related businesses. They install faster internet, build more recreational amenities like trails and river parks, and provide better, year-round air-service to help entice those remote workers and employers who can build their businesses anywhere.

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New residents relocating their jobs, buying homes and settling in rural areas are the spark for many rural economies across Colorado’s Western Slope as they diversify beyond sole reliance on single industries like energy development or tourism.

But when the newcomers arrive with their well-paying jobs and big budgets, they can push out locals who keep tourism economies humming. And this summer, the impacts of urban migration into Colorado’s high country are clearly evident.

“It’s almost a case of be careful what you ask for,” said Chris Romer, the head of the Vail Valley Partnership, which in May launched its “Welcome Home Neighbor” campaign to encourage Vail-area second-home owners to visit longer and even move to their vacation spreads.

Golfers on the links at the Vail Golf Club on Sunday, May 31. The Vail Valley tapped second-home owners to help float the tourist economy this summer. (Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun)

Romer and his Vail-to-Gypsum push to yoke second-home owners as the key drivers of an economic rebound from the pandemic shutdown were on the front end of what would become a national acknowledgement that owners of vacation homes were going to fuel recovery in rural locations.

“We were pushing that message when other communities were digging in their heels and discouraging people from visiting their homes. But it turned out to be pretty brilliant,” said Romer, noting that Vail’s sales tax revenues through the summer, like Telluride’s, are not far off last year’s thanks in part to lingering visitors. “And we are not done needing the contributions of our second-home owners. They absolutely will play an instrumental part in the success of our community and the success of our ski season from an economic standpoint.”

Still, the sudden surge of largely urban newcomers this summer has caught many rural communities off guard.

Levek’s trust recently enlisted the help of Colin and Kai Frolich in the mission to find more housing for local workers. They are residents of Truckee, near California’s Lake Tahoe, and their LandingLocals.com online marketplace connects vacation-home owners with local workers in need of year-long leases.

The Frolichs are working with Truckee, Telluride and Montana’s Big Sky. All three communities have long toiled with finding housing for local workers. The struggle has become critical this summer.

“There is a community housing trust in almost every Western mountain town and they are all raising the red flags right now,” said Colin Frolich, whose LandingLocals.com website connects renters, who fill out profiles, with homeowners who list their resort-town properties for rent.

Jason Peasley, the head of the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, recently saw 390 local families apply for 72 new deed-restricted units. That’s indicative of the demand for affordable housing in Steamboat Springs, he said.

His housing authority has 175 rental units and about 100 deed-restricted ownership units, plus a mobile home park. He’s breaking ground on another 90 affordable units later this year.

Peasley said the pressure on housing for locals will be slightly eased by the lack of temporary-visa workers who typically spend only four or five months in Steamboat Springs every winter. (The Trump Administration banned J-1 and other visa workers for 2020. But resort operators are reporting more local college kids are applying for jobs.)

But the number of new arrivals relocating from the Front Range and elsewhere could add a different level of pressure, he said.

“They largely seem to be people who can buy nice houses but they are part of the catalog of people who are looking for housing in Steamboat and make it unaffordable for regular wage earners,” Peasley said.

Summit County has a multi-partner apartment complex for locals opening this fall. The Village at Wintergreen in Keystone has 36 seasonal units for Vail Resorts, 40 units reserved for low-income workers and 120 units for local workers.

The new units will help offset a need for more than 2,400 affordable units in Summit County in the coming years, according to a 2019 housing needs assessment. That assessment showed year-round businesses adding more than 700 jobs since 2016, which has increased demand for housing. The assessment also concluded that local residents were being squeezed out of the county’s supply of homes — pointing, in part, to 9,800 units marketed as short-term rentals, which is close to one third of all the homes in the county.

The opening of Wintergreen “couldn’t happen at a better time,” said Amy Priegel with Summit County’s Combined Housing Authority, who has seen more owners of vacation homes coming up to Summit County for longer stays this summer instead of leaving them vacant or renting them out.

Kelly Herzog has converted a 54-room hotel in Eagle into a micro-apartment building, with large communal gathering areas. The model could help ease the affordable housing crunch in Colorado’s resort communities. (Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun)

Pent-up demand for affordable housing is a decades-old story in the Vail Valley, where recently the Town of Vail listed a $210,000 deed-restricted condo that drew more than 50 locals in a lottery. One of the challenges for the local workers vying to buy the 60 to 100 deed-restricted units that hit the market in the Vail Valley every year is getting approved for loans when their tourism-dependent jobs are unclear in the pandemic.

“We have seen a lot of locals struggling to get pre-qualified because their hours were reduced or they were on unemployment or they were not back to work full time,” Eagle County Housing Director Kim Bell Williams said.

Williams said it’s too early to clearly see the impacts of changing migration patterns on affordable housing in Eagle County, but she has a glimpse of the impacts every time she walks around her neighborhood in Eagle-Vail.

There are 26 homes on her street, evenly split between year-round residents and second-home owners who either use their place occasionally or rent to vacationers.

This summer, all those second-home owner units have been occupied, and typically by people who are staying for several weeks or even months.

 “It’s not just traditional two-week-a-year occupancy like it has been in the past,” she said. “People are staying longer. I mean why not, with remote employment and remote schooling, why wouldn’t you want to be up here. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing or a good thing, it’s just changing. And I think these changes will end up changing our culture a little bit too.”

Frolich, from LandingLocals.com, is hearing from all kinds of mountain-town employers — big and small — as well as workers looking for housing.

“They come to us and write their profiles and everybody is saying the same thing: ‘I’m looking for housing because the house I’ve been living in has been sold,’” Frolich said.

Meanwhile the people with remote work are coming in and renting sight unseen, paying a year up front and even paying landlords more than what they are asking.

MORE: Why Colorado’s housing market looks so hot even though coronavirus is ravaging the economy

“They are coming from cities where they are used to that kind of frenzied market scenario,” said Frolich, who describes his business as “geared toward convincing homeowners to rent to locally employed workers who are the foundation of the community.”

Frolich used to work for Airbnb in the Bay Area when he decided to move his family to Truckee. He hoped to find a rental home. But the explosion of short-term rentals made his search almost impossible. That’s the story across resort communities, where thousands of homes that used to house local workers are now rented to vacationers in what has become a multibillion-dollar industry.

When the pandemic settled on resort towns this spring and tourism evaporated, there was a spark of hope that maybe the reset could lift some of the pressures caused by the short-term rental boom. Maybe homeowners would start renting their properties to locals when the pool of vacationers dried up. No such luck. Yet.

The impacts of the pandemic will linger into this winter. The steady stream of fly-in vacationers will not be nearly as robust as visitors avoid long-haul flights. Maybe the short-term rental markets in remote ski towns like Telluride and Crested Butte could still contract and homeowners could convert their homes to rentals for locals.

“The uncertainty and unpredictability of the short-term market may help the long-term market. Maybe this spring, with homeowners saying, ‘Wow, I don’t want to go through a drought like that again,’” Frolich said.

Jennifer Kermode, the executive director of the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority, has seen more buyers and vacationers further stressing the market for local housing.

The flood of out-of-town renters who are booking homes for months at short-term rental rates has left homeowners flush and less likely to convert their properties into year-long rentals for locals, she said.

Vacation homes that are largely vacant and owned by out-of-town owners, sit beneath Mt. Crested Butte. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Deed-restricted workforce housing is under construction, but won’t be a remedy for at least a year. Kermode is pushing her housing authority to use a program she built during her tenure as the head of the Summit Combined Housing Authority in Summit County. The Housing Works Initiative master leases homes from owners and then offers rental agreements to long-term locals. The initiative allows locals to rent with only a first-month payment and smaller security deposit.

“So they can actually get into a unit without needing $6,000 to $7,000,” Kermode said of the program, which also includes a program to help renters improve their appeal to landlords.

The Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority has 268 deed-restricted housing units for local workers plus several employee units in hotels near the Crested Butte Mountain Resort ski area. Another 120 units are under construction and a recent needs assessment concluded the valley could use another 800 deed-restricted units to house the valley’s workforce.

This summer, as big crowds converged on Crested Butte, Kermode said some restaurants were forced to close because they could not find workers. That was a sign for second-home owners, she said. And some of them saw what the community would look like without ample housing for wage-earning workers.

MORE: “COVID is still affecting everything”: Fears still mounting over a forthcoming Colorado eviction surge

Kermode said she is finding many property owners in Gunnison and Crested Butte who are willing to work with her to offer more affordable housing.

“There is a growing number of homeowners in the valley who recognize the problem and are willing to take their homes out of the short-term rental pool and put it into the long-term market,” she said.

Romer suspects a reliance on part-time residents and newcomers relocating to rural mountain towns is “the next normal for the foreseeable future.”

“I think it’s more than a passing fad, right? At a minimum it’s a trend and it could just well be the way it works from here on,” he said. “We are seeing more companies saying they will be completely remote for the near future.

So, Romer says, communities need to start building the infrastructure needed to support these shifting demographics.

“And we need to shift the way we think about workforce housing,” Romer said. “Counties and towns are going to need to view housing as critical infrastructure … just like they do with roads and bridges.”

Housing advocates are hoping that a huge, snowy winter — with all that shoveling under gray skies in remote, cold valleys — could send the newcomers back to the warm, vibrant cities. Or maybe ski areas will close again, sending tourist-based economies into hibernation, which could open up short-term rental homes to hunkering locals who still have work. Or maybe the market will collapse as it did in 2008 after real estate prices skyrocketed. Maybe.

Meanwhile, there are countless locals like Beaman, the Telluride teacher, waiting and hoping for one of those maybes. Locals like her are digging deep as appraisals for real estate fall short of sales prices, forcing them to come up with extra cash to cover the gap for wary lenders. And they are commuting from afar while they wait for homes close to their jobs.

On drive up from her friend’s house in Ridgway on a recent morning, she found herself stacked in a line of about 30 cars, all workers heading to their jobs in Telluride.

“I can really understand why people want to be here. I’m doing the same thing, I just have a much more limited budget,” she said. “I think about all those people in their cars, lining up to get into Telluride. I bet all of them would prefer to live here. But sometimes I wonder about the investment. Are these tiny studios designed in the ’90s really worth $500,000? Do I really like that space, or am I being pressured by this land-grab scenario right now?”

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the-record-briefs · 6 years

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May 16, 2018: In other news

WCC holds 52nd Commencement Ceremony on Tuesday, May 15

Wilkesboro, N.C. – Wilkes Community College’s 52nd Annual Commencement Ceremony took place on Tuesday, May 15, in the John A. Walker Community Center on the Wilkes Campus. Two ceremonies will be held.

The Health Sciences Division and Applied Career Technologies Division graduates participated in the 4 p.m. ceremony. The Arts & Sciences Division and the Business & Public Service Technologies Division graduates participated in the 7 p.m. ceremony.

Presenters for the program were Dr. Jeff Cox, president of Wilkes Community College; Mr. Terry Bumgarner, chairperson of the Board of Trustees; and Kayla Colglazier, president of the Student Government Association. The speaker was Dr. David Ritter, lead instructor Economics and Management Information Systems, and Blair Hancock, vice-president of Instruction, presented the candidates.

The prelude for the ceremony Summit Strings (Mr. Steve Holman & Ms. Tess Angel). Ms. Tammy Griffin-Garcia, Soloist performed the national anthem and provided inspirational music.

Following the ceremony, a reception was held in the Lakey Ballroom for graduates, faculty, staff and guests.

Arts and Sciences Division

ASSOCIATE GRADUATES

Two-year Associate Degrees will be awarded to the following students:

ASSOCIATE IN ARTS: Benjamin Thomas Adair, Moravian Falls; Billie LeAnn Adams, Millers Creek; Trent Michael Adams; North Wilkesboro; Allie Suzanne Anderson, Moravian Falls; Kayley Virginia Anderson, North Wilkesboro; Chrystal Aponte, North Wilkesboro; Taylor Haynes Baker, Wilkesboro; Mastin Cole Bauguess, Thurmound; Zoe Rae Beaman, North Wilkesboro; Joy Elizabeth Billings, Ronda; James Dylan Blankley, Ronda; Allison Belle Bowers, North Wilkesboro; Caighlen McKenzie Brady, Millers Creek; Summer Sky Branciforte, Traphill; Kaela Paige Bray, Millers Creek; Erik Bueno-Medina, Wilkesboro; Dawson William Burwell, Moravian Falls; Brittany Lee-Ann Byrd, Ronda; Lauren Ashton Byrd, North Wilkesboro; Logan Allen Byrd, North Wilkesboro; Heaven L. Call, Millers Creek; Adriana Alejandra Carmona-Jurado, Moravian Falls; Dashae LaVaun Chatham, Wilkesboro; Austin Benjamin Church, Wilkesboro; Kayla Marie Colglazier, Hays; Whittney Alissa Combs, Wilkesboro; Elizabeth Gray Cooke, Wilkesboro; Johanna Copley, North Wilkesboro; Karla Yamileth Cortez, Moravian Falls; Marc Gonzales Cruz, North Wilkesboro; Lauren Grace Dancy, Wilkesboro; Caroline Amelia Daughtry, Roaring River; Tracey Hockett Daughtry, Roaring River; Mikki Leigh Davis, Purlear; Jose Maria De La Garza, North Wilkesboro; Khara Faw Dimmette, North Wilkesboro; Angela Jean Dolinger, Wilkesboro; Ashley Espinoza, North Wilkesboro; Joshua Blake Estep, Millers Creek; Katelyn Yvonne Fielder, Barton; Maria Guadalupe Frausto-Barbosa, Wilkesboro; Lesly Pilar Fuentes-Ramirez, North Wilkesboro; Diego Francisco Garcia- Galindo, Wilkesboro; T.J. McRae Gordon, North Wilkesboro; Taylor Nicole Greer, North Wilkesboro; Rhianna Shanice Griffin, North Wilkesboro; Stephenie Alana Hamby, Millers Creek; Jessica Gisselle Henriquez, North Wilkesboro; Charles William Hicks, North Wilkesboro; Patrick Carl Hill, North Wilkesboro; Cassie N. Huffman, Wilkesboro; Jonathan Willis Inman, Wilkesboro; Allison Mara Ivey, North Wilkesboro; Laken Alexandra Jarvis, Wilkesboro; Kodie Leigh Jennings, North Wilkesboro; Charles Jacob Johnson, Roaring River; Jesse Samuel Johnson, North Wilkesboro; Joseph Gregory Kennedy, Traphill; Megan Nicole Knight, Wilkesboro; Austin Timothy Lane, Wilkesboro; Rachel Dawn LaPrad, North Wilkesboro; Ana'e Desarae Limon, Wilkesboro; Morgen Nicole Love, North Wilkesboro; Yandery Mariela Manzanares, North Wilkesboro; Kyra Leigh McClarrin, North Wilkesboro; Erika Layne Miles, Hays; Ursela Gena Miller, North Wilkesboro; Stephen Christopher Mitchell, North Wilkesboro; Alexander Elijah Morales, Moravian Falls; Rachel Jean Muskelley, Wilkesboro; Pedro Anthony Noon, Ronda; Lakyn Danae Parrish, Wilkesboro; Dakota Leeann Passmore, North Wilkesboro; Haley Perez-Ramirez, North Wilkesboro; Tamika Lashaun Phillips, Millers Creek; Marco Antonio Pineda-Sierra, North Wilkesboro; Andrew Jeffrey Pinkerton, Wilkesboro; Ricky Seth Poe, Moravian Falls; Delaney Raeh Richards, North Wilkesboro; Gabriela Ruvalcaba-Barragan, North Wilkesboro; Garrett Joseph Saffold, Wilkesboro; Lisa Penhollow Salmon, North Wilkesboro; Alisha Dawn Scott, Sparta; Briana Church Shell, Millers Creek; Kirsten Sierra Shepherd, North Wilkesboro; James David Simmons, Jr., Wilkesboro; James Dalton Smith, Moravian Falls; Karma Raine Smith, North Wilkesboro; Miranda Michelle Smith, North Wilkesboro; Brandon James Teague, North Wilkesboro; Rebecca Elizabeth Triplett, North Wilkesboro; Mary Jane Boiser Vawter, McGrady; Moriah Grace Vimont, Moravian Falls; Phillip Ethan Waldrup-Dobbins, Ronda; Marissa Ruth Walker; Wilkesboro; Travis Remington Wall, Wilkesboro; Montanna Morgan Walters; Wilkesboro; Alicia Dawn Widener, Millers Creek; Zechariah Patrick Kent Wilborn, North Wilkesboro; and Olivia Marie Wilcox, North Wilkesboro.

ASSOCIATE IN GENERAL EDUCATION: LarkAnn Louise Byrd, North Wilkesboro; Kayla Marie Colglazier, Hays; Katrina Leigh Fletcher, Purlear; Harlee Denise Glass, North Wilkesboro; Adrianne Janette Johnson , North Wilkesboro; Alexandra Morgan Johnson, McGrady; Sydney Laura Johnson, Wilkesboro; Seth Malachi Kerr, Moravian Falls; Christen L. Martin, North Wilkesboro; Paige Elizabeth Neely, Millers Creek; John Thomas O'Connell, Jr., Millers Creek; Taylor Leigh Osborne, Boomer; Patricia Meadows Owens, Wilkesboro; Staley Elizabeth Parks , Wilkesboro; Selina Greene Richardson, North Wilkesboro; Kristie Hope Royal, North Wilkesboro; and Alicia Dawn Widener, Millers Creek.

ASSOCIATE IN SCIENCE: Evan Walsh Adams, North Wilkesboro; Ryan Richardson Barrett, Wilkesboro; Brandon Carl Billings, Hays; Heaven L. Call, Millers Creek; Kayla Brooke Chipman , Traphill; Daniel Ryan Cooke, Wilkesboro; Joshua Blake Estep, Millers Creek; William Chase Greene, Millers Creek; Leslie Giselle Huezo-Arias, Wilkesboro; Adrianne Janette Johnson , North Wilkesboro; Ana'e Desarae Limon, Wilkesboro; Bethany Noelle McGill, North Wilkesboro; Marlen Veronica Nava, Roaring River; Hunter Daniel Page, Purlear; Meagan Elizabeth Thibodeau, Moravian Falls; Cameron Grant Tribble, North Wilkesboro; and Kelsy Elizabeth Waddell, North Wilkesboro.

Business and Public Service Technologies Division

ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE GRADUATES

The following student will receive Associate in Applied Science degrees:

ACCOUNTING: Alejandra Limon, Moravian Falls; Rosa Angelica Dionicio Mariano, North Wilkesboro; Kang McCoy , North Wilkesboro; Brenna Metzger Lara, Millers Creek; Katlyn Davis Mickel, Roaring River; Juan Antonio Olea Chamv, North Wilkesboro; Samantha Jane Prevette, Hays; and Susie Violeta Ramos, Wilkesboro.

ADVERTISING & GRAPHIC DESIGN: Candelaria Andres Francisco, North Wilkesboro;

Alexandra Morgan Johnson, McGrady; Danny Bubba Lane, North Wilkesboro; Marina Nicole Moore, Millers Creek; Courtney Young Moser, Wilkesboro; Sylvia Rubio-Reyes, Wilkesboro; Rosalinda Ruiz Carbajal, North Wilkesboro; Austin Ray Shrewsbury, North Wilkesboro; Alexis Erin Smith , Statesville; and Sabrina Michelle Summerlin, North Wilkesboro.

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION: Aaron McKae Billings, Hays; Courtney Danielle Bullis, North Wilkesboro; Joseph Alexander Kamperman, Boomer; Amanda Leigh Kelly, North Wilkesboro; Katlyn Davis Mickel, Roaring River; Donna Jean Miller, North Wilkesboro; Juan Antonio Olea Chamv, North Wilkesboro; Marie Jeanette Phifer, Lenoir; Samantha Jane Prevette, Hays; and Laura Nichelle Rector, Hays.

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION – Management Information Systems: Amanda Leigh Kelly, North Wilkesboro.

COMPUTER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Derek Scott Patterson, North Wilkesboro.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION –Game Development: Daniel Joseph Metz, McGrady.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION – Networking Technology: Kyle Conrad Martin, Ronda; and Trenton Matthew York, Wilkesboro.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION – Programming: Ashton James Absher, Moravian Falls

CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY: Hannah Kristain Absher , McGrady;

Vernon Earl Byrd, Hays; Brandon Matthew Caudle, Taylorsville; Sammy Shawn Clonch, Wilkesboro; Justin Lee Combs , Ronda; Ethan Daniel Gambill, North Wilkesboro; Colby Austin Greene, North Wilkesboro; Mirella Izquierdo, Wilkesboro; Caleb Richard Johnston, Hays; Alondra Limon-Garcia, Moravian Falls; Michelle Raye Mitchell, North Wilkesboro; Preston Lee Parsons, North Wilkesboro; Daniel Allen Prevette, Hays; Damian Lee Smithey, Ronda; and Derrick Allen Taylor, Wilkesboro.

CULINARY ARTS: Andrea Fay Barton, Moravian Falls; Tonda Dane , Wilkesboro; Marie Shirk Maltba, North Wilkesboro; and Victoria Nicole Smith, Millers Creek.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: Amber Noel Anglin , North Wilkesboro; Racheal Lynn Brionez, Wilkesboro; Laken Nicole Cox, Ronda; Jamie Marie Higginbotham, Wilkesboro; and Jenna Alysse Walker, North Wilkesboro.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – Network Management: Sean Conan Nichols, Wilkesboro

DIPLOMA PROGRAMS

OFFICE ADMINISTRATION: Christian Yolanda Howell, Wilkesboro

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

The following will receive certificates:

ADVERTISING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN – Graphic Design: Candelaria Andres Francisco, North Wilkesboro; Alexandra Morgan Johnson, McGrady; Danny Bubba Lane, North Wilkesboro; Marina Nicole Moore, Millers Creek; Courtney Young Moser, Wilkesboro; Rosalinda Ruiz Carbajal, North Wilkesboro; and Austin Ray Shrewsbury, North Wilkesboro

ADVERTISING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN – Photography: Candelaria Andres Francisco, North Wilkesboro; Alexandra Morgan Johnson, McGrady; Danny Bubba Lane, North Wilkesboro; Marina Nicole Moore, Millers Creek; Courtney Young Moser, Wilkesboro; Sylvia Rubio-Reyes, Wilkesboro; Rosalinda Ruiz Carbajal, North Wilkesboro; and Austin Ray Shrewsbury, North Wilkesboro.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION – Cyber Crime: Douglas James Morrison, Moravian Falls.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION – Networking Security: Kyle Conrad Martin, Ronda; Douglas James Morrison, Moravian Falls; and Trenton Matthew York, Wilkesboro.

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION – Networking Technology: Kyle Conrad Martin, Ronda; and Trenton Matthew York, Wilkesboro.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY: Haley Patricia Barker, Hays; Kendra Blane Casse, North Wilkesboro; Breanna Lynn Dancy, North Wilkesboro; Michaela Madison Huffman, Purlear; and Ashley MacKenzie Woodruff, Hays.

EARLY CHILDHOOD: Racheal Lynn Brionez, Wilkesboro; Emory Christian Carroll, Moravian Falls; Hannah Nichole Shumate, North Wilkesboro; and Siara Eden Vidrine, Moravian Falls.

INFANT/TODDLER CARE: Racheal Lynn Brionez, Wilkesboro.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY- Information Technology: Jared Nathenial Ball, North Wilkesboro; Addison Blaine Carrigan, Millers Creek; Melissa Grace Cleary, North Wilkesboro;

Andrew Paul Johnson, Millers Creek; Dalton Maclaine Johnson, Purlear; Zachary Keith Lunsford, Wilkesboro; Alexy Mario Palma, North Wilkesboro; Kaitlyn Michelle Roark, North Wilkesboro; Ryan Thomas Smith, North Wilkesboro; and Brittany Marie Watkins, North Wilkesboro.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - Cyber Security: Vernon Earl Byrd, Hays

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – Network Management: Sean Conan Nichols, Wilkesboro

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY – Network Security: Sean Conan Nichols, Wilkesboro

Health Sciences Division

ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE GRADUATES

The following students will receive Associate in Applied Science degrees:

ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING: Jessica Harris Ball, Purlear; Kayla Ann Bowlin, Millers Creek; LarkAnn Louise Byrd, North Wilkesboro; Alivia Leeann Flinchum, North Wilkesboro; Kayla Laws Hawkins, Hays; Benjamin Silas Johnson, North Wilkesboro; Hannah Daun Johnson, Millers Creek; Tiffany Lashele Lytton, North Wilkesboro; Teresa Munoz-Maya, Hays; Taylor Leigh Osborne, Boomer; Haley Nichole Wagoner, Millers Creek; Dongyan Wang, Wilkesboro; and Callie Brooke West, Wilkesboro.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SCIENCE: Colby Ryan Cooper, Thurmond; Heather Renee Dancy, McGrady; and Jesse Robert Laws, North Wilkesboro.

HUMAN SERVICES TECHNOLOGY: Lindsey Michelle Baldwin , Hays; Simone Nicole Barbetta-Latos, North Wilkesboro; Natalie Jean Helms, Wilkesboro; Tamara Nicole Mayes, Wilkesboro; Barbara Diane Thompson, North Wilkesboro; and Brenda Sue Trivette, Purlear.

MEDICAL ASSISTING: Annette Nichols Laws, North Wilkesboro; Marie Kuharik Mercer, Millers Creek; Hannah Elizabeth Miles, Roaring River; Kaitlyn Michelle Mullis, Roaring River; Maria Jasmin Munoz-Maya , Hays; Paige Elizabeth Neely, Millers Creek; Rebekah LeeAnn Pardue, Millers Creek; Kristie Hope Royal, North Wilkesboro; Mercedes Oyola Simons, North Wilkesboro; and Allison Ruth Virginia Strickland, Traphill.

RADIOGRAPHY: Madison Olivia Ashley, North Wilkesboro; Abigail Christine Byrd, North Wilkesboro; Janice Marie Foster, Hays; Tracey Jean Harkless, Wilkesboro; Hugo Fernando Limon-Davalos, North Wilkesboro; Brianna Lea Shelton, Wilkesboro; and Stephanie Edan Wingler, North Wilkesboro.

RESPIRATORY THERAPY: Lyndsey Raegen Bumgarner, Wilkesboro; Layvin Allen Ferguson, Millers Creek; Kara Leigh Forester, Wilkesboro; and Laykn Johnson Howard, North Wilkesboro.

DIPLOMA PROGRAMS

The following will receive one-year diplomas:

DENTAL ASSISTING: Kendall Genene Faw, Wilkesboro; Hannah Ashley Miller, Moravian Falls; and Haley Jensen Rogers, Wilkesboro.

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

HUMAN SERVICES TECHNOLOGY: Christen L. Martin, North Wilkesboro; and Brenda Sue Trivette, Purlear.

Applied Career Technologies Division

ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED SCIENCE GRADUATES

The following students will receive Associate in Applied Science degrees:

APPLIED ANIMAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY: Jeff Patterson Allison, North Wilkesboro;

Brandon Wayne Blankenship, North Wilkesboro; Harlee Denise Glass, North Wilkesboro; Kasey Lee Harrold, Millers Creek; Erica Leigh Matteson, Wilkesboro; Brittany Nicole McNeill, North Wilkesboro; Katelyn McKenzie Parker, Wilkesboro; Ruth Grace St. John, Ronda; Lisa South Staley, Millers Creek; and Bailey Nicole Sturgill, Hays.

APPLIED ANIMAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY – Poultry Management Technology: Jeff Patterson Allison, North Wilkesboro; Kasey Lee Harrold, Millers Creek; Ruth Grace St. John, Ronda; Lisa South Staley, Millers Creek; and Bailey Nicole Sturgill, Hays.

APPLIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: Jarrett Lane Brown , Millers Creek; Jake L. Craven, Millers Creek; Jacob Scott Eddy, Wilkesboro; James Dakota Garris, Traphill; Heather Nicole McGuire Richter, Wilkesboro; and Nicholas Trentten Sparks, Roaring River.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY: Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda.

Architecture Technology: Joshua Taylor Benson , Moravian Falls; Samantha Ann Church, Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro; Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

Building Construction Technology: Dylan Ray Bauguess , Traphill; and Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda.

AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY: Mason James Brinegar, North Wilkesboro; and Giovanni Montoya, Wilkesboro.

BUILDING CONTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY: Joshua Taylor Benson , Moravian Falls.

DIESEL AND HEAVY EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY: Daniel Alexander Cook, Wilkesboro; Jacob Lyndsay Greene, Wilkesboro; Hunter Deice Jolly, Roaring River; Khori Thomas Jones, Boomer; Logan Walker Page, Ferguson; Gabriel Elijah Patrick, North Wilkesboro; John Ray Wilbourn, Purlear; and Jacob Austin Wood , Wilkesboro.

HORTICULTURE TECHNOLOGY: Roxanne Kay Beck, North Wilkesboro; Bobbie Santanna Smoot, Ronda; Lisa South Staley, Millers Creek; and Randall Austin Trapp, North Wilkesboro.

DIPLOMA PROGRAMS

The following will receive one-year diplomas:

APPLIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY – CNC Machining Technology: James Dakota Garris, Traphill

APPLIED ENGINERRING TECHNOLOGY – 3D Design Technology - James Dakota Garris, Traphill

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY- Architecture Technology: Samantha Ann Church, Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro; Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY- Building Construction Technology: Dylan Ray Bauguess, Traphill; and Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda.

HORTICULTURE TECHNOLOGY: Benjamin Phoenix Branciforte, Hays; James Thomas King, Wilkesboro; Roger Haskel Morrow, Millers Creek; and Janine Diane Severt, Wilkesboro.

WELDING: Thomas Shea Bitner, Purlear; Aaron Morgan Brown, Roaring River; Jonathan Chance Cleary, Purlear; Jesse Lee Driver, Boomer; Zachary Robert Huffman, North Wilkesboro; Samuel Aaron McNeil, Boomer; Kyle Edward Murray, Traphill; and Neil Jacob Rotsheck, Millers Creek.

CERTIFICATE PROGRAMS

The following will receive certificates:

APPLIED ANIMAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY – Animal Production: Bailey Nicole Sturgill, Hays.

APPLIED ANIMAL SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY – Basic Animal Science: Lisa South Staley, Millers Creek.

APPLIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY – Advanced Level II CNC Machining: Michael Shane Hill, Ronda.

APPLIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY – Basic Level I CNC Machining: Michael Shane Hill, Ronda.

APPLIED ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY – Level I Electronics Technology: Christopher Alexander Roten, North Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – Architectural Technology Level I: Joshua Taylor Benson, Moravian Falls; Samantha Ann Church, Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro;

Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – CAD/BIM: Joshua Taylor Benson, Moravian Falls;

Samantha Ann Church, Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro; Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY - CAD Techniques: Joshua Taylor Benson, Moravian Falls; Samantha Ann Church, Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro; Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – Carpentry: Dylan Ray Bauguess, Traphill; and Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – Construction Management: Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro.

ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – Construction Mechanical Trades: Joshua Taylor Benson, Moravian Falls; and Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda.

ARCHTECTURAL TECHNOLOGY – Project Planning: Dylan Ray Bauguess, Traphill; Joshua Taylor Benson, Moravian Falls; Samantha Ann Church , Wilkesboro; Sarah Lynn Church, Wilkesboro; Jenny Lopez-Jimenez, Wilkesboro; Sharyn Danielle Stone, Ronda; and Andrew Ray Williams, North Wilkesboro.

AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY - Basic Transportation: Graylen Edward Barnes, Wilkesboro; Mason James Brinegar, North Wilkesboro; Joshua Dylan Brown, Purlear; Stephen James Brown, Millers Creek; Ca-Sandra Irene Burton , Wilkesboro; Josh Lee Call, North Wilkesboro; Joseph Kyle Casstevens, Ferguson; Jacob Lyndsay Greene, Wilkesboro; Gabriel Griffin, Millers Creek; Dawton Allen Hamby, Purlear; Devin James Johnson, Wilkesboro; Winston Blake Johnson, North Wilkesboro; Hunter Deice Jolly, Roaring River; Khori Thomas Jones, Boomer; Isaias Landeros-Davalos, North Wilkesboro; Joshua Lee Long, Hays; Rylan Cole Long, North Wilkesboro; Jonathan Lugo-Parra, North Wilkesboro; Zachary Nolan Miller, North Wilkesboro; Giovanni Montoya, Wilkesboro; James Dean Moretz , Millers Creek; Armando Javier Orozco, Moravian Falls; Jackson Conley Evan Phipps, Ronda; James Matthew Taylor, Purlear; John Ray Wilbourn, Purlear; and Patrick Scott Wilhelm, Traphill.

AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY – Transportation Climate Control: Graylen Edward Barnes, Wilkesboro; Mason James Brinegar, North Wilkesboro; Josh Lee Call, North Wilkesboro; Joseph Kyle Casstevens, Ferguson; Tyler Shane Cranfill, Hays;Jacob Lyndsay Greene, Wilkesboro; Devin James Johnson, Wilkesboro; Hunter Deice Jolly, Roaring River; Khori Thomas Jones, Boomer; Isaias Landeros-Davalos, North Wilkesboro; Rylan Cole Long, North Wilkesboro; Jonathan Lugo-Parra, North Wilkesboro; Giovanni Montoya, Wilkesboro; James Dean Moretz, Millers Creek; Logan Walker Page, Ferguson; Jackson Conley Evan Phipps, Ronda; James Matthew Taylor, Purlear; John Ray Wilbourn, Purlear; and Patrick Scott Wilhelm, Traphill.

DIESEL AND HEAVY EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY – Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology: Benjamin Carroll Bradburn, Millers Creek; and Gabriel Griffin, Moravian Falls.

WELDING - MIG: Charles Jacob Ballard, Wilkesboro; Jacob Ryan Church, Moravian Falls;

Aidan Thomas Ellsworth, North Wilkesboro; Owen Thomas Felts , Wilkesboro; Noah Landon Greene, Purlear; Zachary Michael Gregory, Purlear; Dylan Blake Handy , North Wilkesboro;

Ezekiel Morgan Hayes, McGrady; William Cody Johnson, North Wilkesboro; Payton Grant Moore, Millers Creek; Jesse Aaron Pennell, North Wilkesboro; and Zachary Isaac Ritenour, Ferguson.

WELDING - SMAW & MIG: Holden McNeil Eller, Moravian Falls.

WELDING - TIG: Charles Jacob Ballard, North Wilkesboro; Owen Thomas Felts, Wilkesboro;

Noah Landon Greene, Purlear; Zachary Michael Gregory, Purlear; Dylan Blake Handy, McGrady; William Cody Johnson, Wilkesboro; and Kyle Reid Tinnin, Wilkesboro.

Wilkes Community College, a member of the North Carolina Community College System, is a public, two-year, open-door institution serving the people of Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany counties and beyond. Established in 1965, WCC continues to build on a strong history of meeting the educational needs and cultural interests of our students, community and workforce. WCC prepares learners for success in a dynamic world.

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