WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. — The Watauga County School District has used the pandemic as a way to get creative with virtual learning.

While COVID-19 was difficult for educators, the district says it also forced them to find new ways of teaching.

All students were given a Chromebook, and those who lived in the county's outskirts, in areas that may have no access to the internet, were given a hot spot to learn virtually.

The district says this has been a silver lining and a way for them to make changes for years to come.

This district is known for going to school on Saturdays during spring break and even into the summer, as the area sees a lot of snow days and flooding days. Now, they can use virtual days on some of those days instead.

“It gave us the strength. It gave us the imagination and that we were much more flexible and much more able to do things we previously thought impossible,” Superintendent Scott Elliott says.

Elliott says they also could give out two meals a day to students during the pandemic, which didn’t stop once they returned to school. He says this is an important factor during this difficult year.