A Western North Carolina College President Looks Back on a Tumultuous Semester

When Damian Fernández first moved from Florida to Swannanoa, North Carolina, last year, he thought he’d come to a "climate sanctuary." For a while, Warren Wilson College was the weather safe haven Fernández expected. The storms he initially saw as president of Warren Wilson College were nothing like the hurricanes he was used to navigating in St. Petersburg, Fla. That was until September of this year, when Helene hit North Carolina.

The tropical storm-turned-hurricane brought unprecedented destruction to the western part of the state. It flooded homes and businesses, crumbled roadways, and led to the deaths of over 100 people. Warren Wilson is located in one of the areas that was hit the hardest — Swannanoa Valley. It’s among several small private colleges in the mountains. Recovery has been challenging as it has limited funds and ongoing enrollment struggles.