ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Orangeburg County School District welcomed members of the community, the school district and alumni to the groundbreaking of the new orange Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School on Cook Road.
Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster says although there was controversy over the location, this is going to be a positive impact for the community.
“The site and the speculation about over crowdedness and those kinds of things I think we’ve taken those things into consideration in our designs, in our plans we’ve tried to mitigate much of that," said Dr. Foster. "But I really think it’s not going to be as impactful as people think I think its going to be a great impact and fun impact just to have traffic and coming here for games and those things. But it just makes for a great community partnership and I think once everyone sees it in action then some of those doubts and some of those things that you have question marks on are gone.”
Ruby Edwards has been on the board of trustees for the school district for six years and is the chairperson. She says she hopes the new school will inspire students.
“Every child might not have all great academics but they might be the best athlete so that’s the first thing," said Edwards. "When you walk into a building that’s brand new and when you ride up and see that big bruin on that window looking out ferocious I think that’s going to give them the most pride that they need to make themselves successful each day in school.”
The new school is expected to be able to hold 1300 students. One of those students will be Patrick Hubbard, who is a freshman at Orangeburg-Wilkinson. Hubbard says he is excited for his new school campus.
“Our classrooms right now we have a lot of children in one classroom and I feel like with bigger classrooms there’s more opportunity to learn in a better environment,” said Hubbard. “I think there’s going to be a lot of growth in academics in you know achievements in the community because you know with new things comes new ideas, new growth, new things.”
Orangeburg County School District expects Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School’s construction to last 30 months.