Carolina Elementary marks 60th anniversary

As part of American Education Week, Carolina Elementary School held its annual Grandparents Day Tour on Friday. Guests were given a tour of the school and classrooms, treated to music, a book fair and refreshments.

“One of the things that makes grandparents day such as success is that our children write personal invitations to the grandparents or to their special friends because some of them don’t have grandparents that are local,” Carolina Elementary Principal Donna Barrett said.

Fourth graders escorted guests to their child’s classroom, and then the child showed the guests around the school and the classrooms.

“They’re so excited about taking them on the tour, showing them the school and showing them what they do in the classroom,” Barrett said.

New this year, fifth graders played the alma mater and other musical selections on recorders in the cafeteria where visitors had cake and punch. The school updated the alma mater this year.

“We changed one of the words to it because when it first opened it was called West Carolina and it’s no longer called that,” Barrett said.

The school also invited alumni to attend to celebrate the school’s 60th anniversary and national recognitions.

Carolina Elementary first opened in 1949. It was named a National Blue Ribbon School this year for its academic achievement and has been recognized as a Red Carpet School by the S.C. Department of Education for its family-friendly environment.

“This is a special time because it was 60 years ago that the school was first opened,” Barrett said. “We invited the alumni, and some of them are grandparents.”

Ann Meares, formerly Ann Bell, was one of many alumni who attended the event. Her grandchildren Manny, 7, and Madeline Meares, 10, took her through the school.

“When I came here I was in the third grade, and this was in the outskirts of town,” Meares said. There was no cafeteria and no library at that time. There were only three schools in Hartsville at that time: Thornwell, West Hartsville and Carolina.

Dan Watford, another alum, graduated from Carolina with the first class in 1955.

“I was with the first graduating class, the first class here and first class to get out sixth grade,” Watford said.

He attended the event with his grandchildren, Alex and Billy Fox, in first and sixth grade respectively.

“It’s a lot more people [now],” Watford said. “We were one class. By the time I got to the fourth grade, there were two fourth grade classes.”

“We have three generations. A lot of the volunteers working at the book fair are second generation,” Barrett said. “Then the children are the third generation.”

Dr. Jimmy Bell, who was in the same class as Watford, walked the halls with Abby Trader, 6, Matthew Quinn, 6, and his wife Nancy. The Bells’ children Andrea Trader and Elizabeth Bell Quinn went to school at Carolina too. Elizabeth works as a speech therapist in Hartsville and works with Carolina Elementary as part of her job.

“There’s just a consistency of pride and support for the school,” Barrett said.

Dr. Sara Odom, alumni and former teacher at the school who now teaches at Coker College, took the chance to revisit the school. She raised four children who all studied at Carolina.

Odom, an author, wrote plays for the children to perform while a teacher at Carolina.

“The most exciting thing for me this year was to hear that my first graders from Carolina got up at their 25th class reunion and performed that play [I wrote] and sang their songs,” Odom said.

The vibrant teacher forum and leadership council in the school district that is a role model for other districts in the state was the brainchild of Odom. The programs were started in the early 1990s with the help of Superintendent Jimmy Newsome. 

The forum and council provide a way to recognize and nurture top teachers in the schools and give them a voice with the superintendent. The program allows teachers to become leaders in the school district. Several have gone on to become principals. Portia McJunkin, who participated in the program, now leads the district’s adult education program.

“I think you can’t do enough for teachers,” Odom said.

“We’re just delighted we can bring 1949 to 2009,” Barrett said. “And have such consistent community support for all the 60 years that Carolina has been here.”