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High Point University Receives $2M Gift For Athletic Center

A $2 million endowment gift will be used to support and enhance the Witcher Athletic Center at High Point University. Photo courtesy of High Point University.

High Point University has received a $2 million gift that will be used to support an athletic center on campus. 

The gift comes from Doug Witcher, a High Point University graduate and Board of Trustees member.

According to a news release, the $2 million endowment fund will be used to support ongoing maintenance of the Witcher Athletic Center, which opened and was named in his honor in 2014.

The 36,000-square-foot center is home to High Point's lacrosse and soccer programs.

Witcher graduated from High Point in 1977 and has given a total of $4 million to the university. He's the founder and current CEO of Smart Choice, a Triad-based company that has grown into a national network of independent insurance agents. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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