Image 1 / 4
Hundreds attended the NAACP-sponsored event to celebrate the coming school year, listen to keynote speaker Myra Holloway, executive director of secondary education for Scotland County Schools, and get free school supplies.
"I think it's wonderful," said Lugretta Harrison, a grandmother of six who attended the tenth annual Back-to-School/Stay-in-School.
Harrison said she wished a similar event was in place when she was in school.
She said she felt good about the effort of the "older generation" reaching out to youths as the school year is about to begin.
"It's good to see the community come together," she said.
Organizers say the event's purpose is to galvanize local students to do well in their studies.
I.E. Johnson Principal Emma Stone told those in attendance that the schools were ready for students to return.
"This is the happiest time of the year," she said, adding "Right, parents?"
Stone told students and parents alike that teachers, administrators and staff members labored over the summer break to get everything ready for the first day of classes.
"It's a lot of work getting prepared for you," she said. "We do it lovingly."
Keynote
Holloway, known to most as the "CEO of the high school," told children in the audience that most teachers have a secret.
"The teachers are holding out on you," she said. "They know more than they are telling you."
Educators stick to the state and federal curriculums, Holloway said, and told students to always ask questions to find out more as learning is important.
"I have never had a student or an adult that has said 'I had too much education,'" she said.
She told parents they need to make sure their children accomplish their tasks, challenging them to ask questions of their students.
Holloway also told parents to pay attention to their children as they grow up quicker than you'd think.
"Take your family life seriously," she said.
Holloway has spent 24 years as an educator. She came to Scotland County Schools from Cumberland County, where she was also executive director of secondary education.
Dropout Prevention
Robert Malloy, president of the Scotland County chapter of the NAACP, told students to Stay in School in order to be successful, a call that was repeated by many of the speakers.
State Rep. Doug Yongue encouraged students at the event to finish school, calling the local dropout rate "sinful" and "shameful."
"There are many countries... where the dropout rate does not exist," he said.
Dropping out of school leads to criminal enterprises like selling drugs as those without diplomas struggle to get jobs, Yongue said.
Yongue was followed on stage by Cynthia Johnson, assistant principal of East Laurinburg Alternative Learning Academy, who spoke about the Scotland County Twilight Success Academy program.
The program runs 3 to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday at East Laurinburg and is designed to help students graduate.
Twilight is geared toward dropouts, at-risk youth, and 18-year-old students who lack the credits to graduate.
The program includes one-on-one assistance for students with poor reading skills.
Rodney Hassler, the former principal of the Scotland High School of Visual and Performing Arts and a candidate for Scotland County Board of Education said it takes more than classwork to be able to go to college.
"If you want to graduate college ready, you have to read every day," he said.
One issue that students have is they have never been taught to like reading, he said. He encouraged parents to "get excited" about their children reading.
School board member Charles Brown told the students that when he started primary school in a two-room school house – one room for grades 1 to 3, one room for grades 4 to 6 – he did not know he'd end with two master's degrees and a career in education.
"If you stay with the program, things happen," he said.
He told the students to listen to their teachers.
"They want you to succeed," he said. "They want you to do well."
Post a Comment
