Source: Sandspur Online
The end for some is the beginning for others
by Staff Reports
June 3, 2009
While high school students start new chapters in their lives, some of our younger residents will be looking forward to a new beginning. Gray's Creek Elementary School, which will open Aug. 25 with 354 students, will become Cumberland County's first internationally themed elementary school. The school recently hosted an orientation night to acclimate new students and parents who will be attending Gray's Creek through reassignment from Gallberry Farm and Alderman Road elementary schools. That event drew more than 150 parents and 100 students who participated in activities with Gray's Creek staff and visitors from the Visiting International Faculty Program in Chapel Hill. The school has charged itself with the lofty goal of preparing its students to become global citizens of the 21st century -- "To provide them with the knowledge, skills and values needed to navigate through an increasingly competitive, multilingual and multicultural world. "To offer a world-class education that will inspire a lifelong love of learning a commitment to service for others, and a strong sense of empathy and compassion.'' So it is that as we prepare to bid farewell to one group of young adults, it is satisfying to know that the younger ones just starting out are doing so with the promise of a solid foundation.