‘Hail, hail, hail!’ School officials cut ribbon at renovated Alderson Elementary

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

The Greenbrier County Board of Education officially cut the ribbon on the “new” Alderson Elementary School yesterday morning.

“I still remember us standing at the old Alderson Elementary,” Superintendent Jeff Bryant remembers. “We knew we needed a new school and wondered what we were going to do.”

“We looked up on the hill,” toward the former Alderson High School, which had been closed for years as a school and was instead used as a community center. “We said, ‘That’s it.’”

Bryant and the elected members of the Greenbrier County Board of Education worked with the West Virginia School Building Association (WVSBA), DC Shires, and Thrasher Engineering to develop a plan to refurbish the former high school into a new elementary school.

Officials with Greenbrier County Schools shared the story of how they repurposed the former town high school into a renovated, state-of-the-art elementary school on Wednesday. Photo by RealWV.

“I heard a lot of naysayers say it couldn’t happen,” commented Board President Jeanie Wyatt. “But there was so much history here and so much love for this facility. Everybody should be thrilled with what’s happened here. You’ve been patient, and you deserve this state of the art school.”

Alumni of the high school, town officials, and neighbors came out for the ribbon-cutting on Wednesday morning alongside the students and staff of Alderson Elementary School.

Skylar Bennett, left, and Willa Crane, right, are fifth-grade students at Alderson. They welcomed guests to the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Photo by RealWV.

Fifth-grader Willa Crane was selected to speak on their behalf, as the fourth generation from her family to attend the school.

“I would like to thank the board, teachers, and community for embracing the past and the creation of our present and future,” she said. “Our small town will continue to make memories just like the ones my family shares with me.”

To loud applause, she shared the school’s motto, “Hail, hail, hail to Alderson!”

The $11 million project was funded with $3 million in county school dollars and $8 million in state dollars from the WVSBA.

SBA Director Andy Neptune attended the ribbon-cutting and shared memories from his first trip to Alderson right after beginning his job. “We came down and walked through. I thought, ‘My lands, how in the world are they gonna pull this project off?’ But now I’m gonna tell you something. You all did a fabulous job.”