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STEELE CREEK NEWS

Gala to Raise Funds for Steele Creek Elementary School Technology

The 90th Anniversary and Homecoming Gala on September 26 will Celebrate the History of Steele Creek Elementary School and its Forerunners

Steele Creek Elementary School 1968(Updated September 8, 2015) Did you attend Steele Creek Elementary School? Or maybe you attended its predecessor on South Tryon Street at Erwin Road that served the community before 1968.

If so, please plan on joining the Steele Creek Parent and Teacher Organization (PTO) in celebrating 90 years of service to the Steele Creek Community on Saturday, September 26 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the school (4100 Gallant Lane).

The evening will feature CMS Superintendent Ann Clark. Other speakers will be Yates Reep, who opened the new school, Marion Briggs, and other early principals. Speakers will focus on past history and future vision of the school. The evening will include a tour of the school and a dinner provided by La'Wan's Soul Food. Historic photographs and other information will be on display in the Media Center.

Schedule:
    4:00 - School tours and history presentation in the Media Center by Linda Blackwelder
    5:00 - Buffet dinner.
    5:45 - Speaker presentations.

Please bring your old Steele Creek photos and memorabilia from as early as 1925 to share. Scanners will be available to scan photographs for posterity.

Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the school or from event sponsors. (If anyone has special dietary requirements; vegetarian or gluten free, please request those when purchasing tickets. These meals will be served from a “reserved” chaffing pan.)

Please purchase tickets at least a week before the gala if posssible. Tickets will not be available at the door. The PTO needs to know how many attendees to expect so they can plan for the meal and seating.

TIcket purchases support PTO efforts to raise $60,000 to fund technology for the students! Additional donations and sponsorships will be welcome for the Gala.

This value would provide 200 classroom sets of Google Chromebooks for all 3rd graders and students in other programs. This will allow them to complete grade level projects and assignments and expose them to technology at an earlier age. The PTO welcomes your financial contribution at any of the various levels of Cougar sponsorship:

    Bronze Sponsor $50 – Cougar Cub (2 tickets for the event)
    Silver Sponsor $100 – Mountain Lion (4 tickets for the event)
    Gold Sponsor $200 – Catamount (6 tickets for the event)
    Platinum Sponsor $250 – Panther (8 tickets for the event)
    Diamond Sponsor $500 – Fire Cat (10 tickets for the event)
    Prestige Sponsor $1,000 – Super Cougar (12 tickets for the event)

All contributions will be publicly recognized at the event as well as in the community media venues. The PTO will provide receipts for the tax deductable donations after the gala. Checks can be made to "Steele Creek Elementary PTO" attention "Steele Creek Gala."

Please direct questions about the Gala or sponsorships to Stephanie Lasne, Steele Creek Elementary School PTO President, at SteeleCreekPTO@gmail.com or 980-343-3810.

A special thank you to Steele Creek Elementary School and our sponsors: Steele Creek Printing, La'Wan’s Soul Food, Diamond Springs Water, Linda Blackwelder, Walter Neely, Alsco, Alignment Southwest Charlotte, Men of Steele, Central Steele Creek Presbyterian Church, and Steele Creek Presbyterian Church.

The current Steele Creek Elementary School opened in 1968 and drew students from all over Steele Creek before Lake Wylie Elementary School opened in 1995. Before that white students attended a school located on York Road (now South Tryon Street) at Erwin Road at the current site of Lions Gate Townhomes. It opened as Steel Creek High School (spelled without the third "e") in 1925. At some point after 1931 area high school students began attending Berryhill High School to the north.

Although this school was torn down after 1968, the original school bell and the sign presented by the 1930 graduating class were preserved. The bell is now in the bell tower in front of the current school, and the sign was embedded in the sidewalk. The Gala celebrates the anniversary of this school, which opened 90 years ago in 1925.

Steele Creek School 1925

During the first quarter of the 20th Century, Steel Creek Township was divided into five districts. Each district had one school for white and one school for black students. Two of these schools still exist today.

Steel Creek School 1902   The two-story Steel Creek High School opened in 1902 near the corner of York Road (now South Tryon Street) and Sandy Porter Road. It operated until 1921 when the students began attending the Observer School to the southwest. The school's top story was removed, and the school was used as a Community House until 2001 when the widening of South Tryon Street threatened it. It was moved to the Steele Creek Athletic Association athletic fields on Choate Circle where it continues to be used as a meeting house today.
 

McClintock School   Black children attended school at the McClintock Presbyterian Church on Erwin Road from the late 1870s until the McClintock Rosenwald School was built in 1922. This school was built with matching funds from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, which helped construct thousands of schools for black students across the south. It operated as a school until the 1950s when students began attending school in Pineville. The McClintock Presbyterian Church continues to use the building as a fellowship hall.

Please come share your stories and learn more about the history of early schools at the Steele Creek 90th Anniversary and Homecoming Gala!

For more information contact the school at 980-343-3810 or steelecreekelem@cms.k12.nc.us.

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