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Adopting a school
Furman, volunteers help revitalize Sirrine Elementary School
Two years ago Sirrine Elementary, a disadvantaged school in southern Greenville County, was on it deathbed.
Students at the school had just received some of the lowest test scores in the county. And the dilapidated facility was scheduled to close with its students to be bused to other schools.
But Furman and some local businesses and volunteers have breathed new life into the community school.
The effort began in 1999 when the Urban League, in conjunction with Michelin N.A., created the Adopt-A-School Program. The Greenville Board of Directors chose to adopt Sirrine Elementary because it is one of the oldest in the county as well as one of the last community-based schools. Furman University joined the effort last year when the library staff adopted the Sirrine library.
Working with Michelin and the Urban League, the library helped raise more than $6,000 in the "Be a Santa for Sirrine" fundraiser. The funds, presented to the school last December, will be used to purchase new library books for the school.
"The book collection at the Sirrine library is sorely out of date," says Janis Bandelin, director of the James B. Duke Library. "The majority of its books were published before 1950, and its encyclopedia sets were published before 1980. So we felt it was important that the students have more up-to-date reading material available to them."
Betty Kelly, an acquisitions librarian, says the average cost of an elementary school library book is about $15. In addition to raising book funds, some staff members at the library are planning to donate their time to help the school sort and stock the new books.
So far this year, other Furman groups have joined the effort help the Sirrine library. The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Student Services raised more than $700 for the school as part of its "Dollar for a Dream" fundraiser. The project was held in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day.
"This is just the beginning of what we hope will be an enduring and enriching partnership between Furman and Sirrine," says Kelly. "We want to involve more groups and student volunteers in this project."
The Adopt-A-School program has been so successful that the Greenville County School District has decided to build a new school on the original site. Michelin N.A. recently received the Innovision Technology Award for its achievements at Sirrine Elementary.