LAUREL HILL — Laurel Hill Elementary School on Wednesday got what they hope is about 13 tons of school spirit.
The school received a large boulder — a spirit rock — that it plans to use to raise money and school school spirit by painting positive messages on it.
About 50 second-grade students watched Wednesday morning as a crew from Superior Cranes out of Rockingham put the boulder in place at the entrance of the school.
“We’re trying to make sure the folks here like it where it is,” said Lee Griffin of Vulcan Materials Company, the business that donated the giant rock. “Once it is there, it is there.”
Several students squealed and pointed as the crane lifted the 27,000-pound boulder from the back of a truck to the ground. The students said “crane” was one of their vocabulary words.
“We’re excited to have it here,” said Sheila Liles, a fifth-grade teacher at the school. “A spirit rock is the going thing these days I’ve seen them in different counties and we thought it would be nice to have one here.”
Liles said school officials think the spirit rock will be a great way to celebrate birthdays and special events as well as to promote school spirit
“We can use it to advertise student birthdays or school events like our carnival or PTA meetings,” she said.”It is a great fundraiser. Parents can sign up for a day and they will be responsible for painting the rock with perhaps a happy birthday message or congratulating a student on an accomplishment.”
The school plans to charge $5 for the use of the boulder.
“It can help pay for field trips or our Relay for Life effort or different things like that,” Liles said. “It is another way to boost morale and excite the kids.”
Liles added that the school “was extremely grateful” to Vulcan and Superior Cranes for donating their time and equipment.
“Vulcan Materials is really big into education,” Griffin said. We try as a company to give back to kids to help with materials, playground equipment and spirit rocks like you see today. It just a big part of who Vulcan Materials is.”
The company, which has a quarry in Rockingham, is one of the nation’s largest producers of construction aggregates, primarily crushed stone, sand and gravel.
