SHSAA, Inc.’s Phase Two Committee Works to Preserve Our Legacy – The ‘Ole’ Sampson School
By: Rose Williams Linen, Phase Two Committee Chair
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The SHSAA, Inc. (“the Association”) Phase Two Committee is on the move in its efforts to preserve the ‘ole’ Sampson School, which is located at 615 McKoy Street in Clinton, North Carolina. The SHSAA, Inc. bought the School in 1986 from Sampson County for the sum of $ 57,750.00 for the intention of preserving it and utilizing it for a meaningful purpose. The Association has made strides towards its goals since the purchase of the School by its completion of Phase One in 1999, which was the renovation of one of the School buildings into 8-unit apartments to provide housing to low-income individuals. However, the preservation efforts continue with the Association’s Phase Two, which is the work to renovate and rehabilitate the School into a Community Resource Center.
Towards the goals of renovating and rehabilitating the School into a Community Resource Center, the Phase Two Committee has identified the areas where lead paint and asbestos reside in the School buildings and have removed those items from the on-site Cafeteria. It was also realized just a year or so ago that the School is a Rosenwald School, which is a most prestigious designation. A Rosenwald School is a school that was aided in its construction by funds that were provided in part by Julius Rosenwald, an American clothier who became part-owner and president of Sears, Roebuck and Company. Rosenwald was the founder of The Rosenwald Fund. The need arose from the chronic underfunding of public education for African-American children in the South, as blacks had been disenfranchised at the turn of the century and excluded from the political system in that region. Black children were required to attend segregated schools. The African American leader, Booker T. Washington, shared with Mr. Rosenwald the plight of African-Americans’ difficulty in receiving a proper education. Subsequently, Rosenwald contributed seed money for many of the “Rosenwald” schools and other philanthropic causes, requiring local communities to raise matching funds to increase their commitment to these projects.. The ‘ole” Sampson School was one of the schools for which Rosenwald provided the seed money. Therefore, it is not only essential for the SHSAA, Inc. to preserve this very important part of history, but imperative that we do so, as there are only a fraction of these schools that remain due to demolition, disrepair, or destruction.
Beautifying and Cleaning Our ‘Ole’ School
In an effort to present our School in the best light possible, the Phase Two Committee sponsored a “Clean-up Day,” on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The project, spear-headed by the Committee’s Co-chair of its Finance Sub-committee, Mrs. Maggie W. Williams, Mrs. Williams secured the assistance of the Tar Heel Challenge Cadets to come to the School on April 23rd to help beautify and clean a portion of the ‘ole’ School site. The group of Cadets that worked on April 23rd is an all-ladies group of teens who used this opportunity as one of their service projects. They did a spectacular job! The Cadets worked diligently cleaning the main buildings’ kitchen/main meeting room and toilets, where they also replaced the light bulbs. In addition, the Cadets cleaned the School campus’ front yard and also spruced up the front of the cafeteria, the main buildings’ porch and sidewalk, and placed all trash by the side of the road. Everything sparkled after the Cadets completed their tasks. The young ladies worked very hard with very little direction and Mrs. Williams was extremely pleased with their work. Mrs. Williams and the entire Phase Two Committee thank the Cadets for their industriousness and also send out a special “thank you” to the Tar Heel Challenge Director, Mr. Williamson, and to Cadet Supervisor, Ms. Jessica Manning. The Cadets who participated in the service project were: Nysasis Moody, Cheryly Kelly, Beyonce James, Brianna Britt, Janiya Andrews, Jaulyn Wells, Nailah Strange, Deja Pettiway, Destiny Gree, Katlyn Tester, Tyshonda Fraizer, Latonia Frazer, Jasmis Weil Frazier, Precious Smith, Falon Turnage, and Jama Jojnsonrya. Kudos to all the ladies for a job well done!
Spreading the Word About Preserving Our ‘Ole” School
On Saturday, August 13, 2016, the SHSAA, Inc’s Phase Two Committee will continue with one of its missions, which is to get the word out about the importance of preserving our ‘ole’ School. August 13th is the date that the Committee, in conjunction with the City of Clinton, will sponsor a half-day of workshops entitled, “Importance of Place Workshops: ‘Ole’ Sampson School Matters,” at the Sampson Center Gym located on Barden Street, Clinton, North Carolina, from 10 AM – 12:30 PM. The Committee’s desire, by having this half-day of workshops, is to provide information about the SHSAA, Inc. as a whole, and to shine a spotlight upon the importance of preserving the Sampson School, a Rosenwald School. The Committee and the City of Clinton have lined up several wonderful speakers to come and share some very important information with all of the attendees. Any and everyone are invited to attend this FREE event. Did I say FREE? Yes, that’s right, FREE. Here is a listing of the Workshop Topics:
- Sampson High School Alumni Association, Inc. Panel Discussion (presented Association Committee Chairs)
- History
- Scholarships
- Phase One
- Phase Two
- Rosenwald Schools (presented by North Carolina State Historic Preservation)
- UNC-Chapel Hill Student Presentation (presented by Graduate Students from UNC-Chapel Hill)
Refreshments will be provided throughout the day and a few door prizes will be given out.
The Phase Two Committee hopes that EVERYONE will attend this very important half-day of workshops and that you will come away from the workshops with a new and/or renewed understanding about the importance of the ‘ole’ Sampson School and why it should be preserved.
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