HINDMAN, Ky. (WYMT) – Hindman Elementary School saw heavy damage from the July 2022 flood.

Principal Brandi Sims said when she woke up on July 28, 2022, she had no idea the long term impact the storms from the night before would have.

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” said Sims. “We had never been through a situation like this and really never dreamed that it could happen to that magnitude.”

When she and her daughter heard about the damages they immediately went to the school. Cambree Sims, who was going into third grade at the time, said her school was unrecognizable.

“We saw the busted glass and then we came inside and it was just like you couldn’t get into the offices because like the doors were just like covered with like books and stuff,” Cambree said. “Then you could see like the water line from from how high the water got.”

She said all she could think about was how they could possibly go back to school in a month.

“I thought we were gonna have to like tear down the whole entire school and build it back,” she said. “I thought we weren’t gonna get to go to school.”

However, with the help of the community Hindman Elementary was able to open their doors for students on Sept. 19, 2022.

“Looking back on it I don’t know how we did it, but I can remember being here many long nights,” said Principal Sims. “So many people came together to help us rebuild so quickly.”

She said at the time they had no floors and the furniture was all donated. Now, two years later they are adding the finishing touches to the school and hope to have a sense of normalcy this coming school year.

Principal Sims said they learned a lot from the flood.

“Even as far as you know, high grounds and low grounds,” she said. “So preparing for an event like this in the future in the event students were in the building. We’re much more aware of safe spaces to get our students and so yes, we have definitely learned a lot through this process.”

She said the process has felt slow and frustrating at times, but when reflecting and looking at the bigger picture she is proud of how far they have come.

Copyright 2024 WYMT. All rights reserved.

Kentucky basketball is one of the greatest brands in college basketball and all of college athletics, for that matter. Kentucky basketball is the greatest tradition in all of college basketball, and that was the case before John Calipari got to Lexington, and that will be the case now that he is at Arkansas.

Coach Calipari just landed an elite recruit in the 2025 class, Darius Acuff Jr, who is one of the best guards in the class. Shortly after this commitment, some college basketball personalities began to say all of Kentucky’s recruiting success during the Calipari era was solely because of Coach Cal and had nothing to do with the Kentucky brand. That is just blatantly not true. Now to give Coach Calipari credit, he is the best recruiter in college basketball, and he will continue to succeed on the trail in Fayetteville, as he has already proved, but Kentucky sells itself easily.

Coach Mark Pope will be able to prove this to be true when he starts to land elite players in the 2025 class and beyond. Coach Pope was not an elite recruiter when he came to Kentucky, but he isn’t selling himself to recruits. He is selling the history of Kentucky basketball, and hearing from some elite players in this class, this strategy is working so far.

Coach Calipari is a legend, and he will succeed at Arkansas, but to say that Coach Cal was the only reason that Kentucky had recruiting success during his time in Lexington is just in no way true.

The North Carolina Tar Heels recently offered 2026 prospect Caleb Holt, adding him to their recruiting board last week.

The small forward is among the top prospects overall in the 2026 class and will be a priority for many programs, including UNC. But now, another blueblood program is getting involved as well.

Kentucky became the latest program to offer Holt, joining the recruitment and upping their pursuit of him. Holt took to Twitter to announce that he had received an offer from Kentucky.

They join Duke, North Carolina, Alabama, Kansas, Auburn, and Tennessee among the programs that have officially offered him so far.

The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Holt is ranked No. 3 nationally, the No. 1 small forward and No. 1 player in the state of Georgia per the 247Sports recruiting rankings.  He holds a total of 16 offers in his recruitment with more likely on the way.

Holt is one of five players to hold an offer from Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels in the 2026 class. UNC has yet to land a recruit in either the 2025 or 2026 class so far.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

Story originally appeared on Tarheels Wire