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
(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.
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.
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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. |
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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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story, please visit the
Steele Creek Forum.
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