I have attended NCCAT and it was at a critical time in my teaching career. It was the recharging of my battery to continue teaching. I am one of the statistics that demonstrate higher teacher retention after attending NCCAT.

I learned a lot and brought it back to my school and community. I was fortunate to attended the CSI sessions with Dr. Bill Bass from the "body farm" in Tennessee. What I learned I brought back and applied to the classroom in the forensics unit and later with the Jacksonville–Onslow County Sturgeon City Science Institute. The "bones" and buried pigs were a great hit and the talk of the area for weeks. That all came from my NCCAT experience. DO NOT cut NCCAT funding, it is something that is not broken and does not need to be eliminated.