HOLLY HILL, S.C. — The Orangeburg County School District celebrated the opening of East Lake Elementary School on Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The new school, which will serve hundreds of students, is set to welcome its first group of learners on Monday, with even more expected in the fall.
The $46 million East Lake Elementary School will accommodate 700 students from Holly Hill, St. James Gaillard, and Vance Providence elementary schools. It features state-of-the-art amenities, including suites for teachers and classrooms equipped with full-sized refrigerators.
Wendee Evering, the school's principal, shared her enthusiasm.
“I believe that this is a new beginning, a new opportunity for us to just come together. All of our strengths and all of our wonderful things that we have as individual schools—can you just imagine what that will mean when we come together as one?" Evering said. "I think this will allow kids to really discover who they are. We’ll have the platform to just have them take off and soar and just accomplish any goal they have for themselves.”
Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster explained that the consolidation of the three schools into one facility was a financial decision that benefits the district.
“With the maintenance costs from having an old facility, it made more sense to bring students into this state-of-the-art facility that will allow us the opportunity to have new programs but also the infrastructure to expand," Foster said. "But then bringing it here and making sure we have better utilization, which is a better use of taxpayer dollars and the operational costs to service and function with only one school, as opposed to three older facilities that are underutilized.”
The excitement was visible as students and parents toured the new 110,000-square-foot building.
“I think it’s going to be a fun experience, to talk to some friends, laugh, learn, get my grades up and stuff, so I think it will be fun,” student King Jackson said.
Parent Lakeeta Boyd expressed her gratitude, saying, “I’m very excited, grateful, blessed to have it. The other school has been here for a very long time, so I’m from the community, born and raised, so it’s very exciting to see a new school being put here.”
Mindy Wilson, another parent, added, “I think it’s great. I was so happy to hear about this. This is a great move for Holly Hill.”
To make room for a new parking lot and student drop-off loop, the old Holly Hill Elementary School will be demolished. Students from the old school will begin classes at East Lake Elementary on Monday, and those from St. James Gaillard and Vance Providence will join in the fall.
The town of Eutawville plans to transform the St. James Gaillard Elementary School into a new town hall.