Berkeley Leader

Berkeley County Middle College High School issued the following announcement on February 3.

Cainhoy Elementary Principal LaWanda Glears is known for being a person who likes to take action and build a community within her school.

Her love for doing just that has landed her a big award from the South Carolina Early Childhood Association (or SCECA). This weekend, Glears will receive the SCECA Outstanding District Member Award for her commitment to creating a strong school community that supports its students.

Glears was nominated for the award by Shequita Phillips, a classroom assistant in Cainhoy Elementary’s special services class. Phillips has been a part of the association for about seven years and is entering her second term as president of District 1 for the SCECA; her position allows her to nominate someone to receive the award.

Phillips picked Glears because of all the work the latter does to build a strong community in Cainhoy; this year Glears has organized prayer breakfasts, football and cheer camps and has reinstated a Homecoming event for her school.

“I saw all the work that she was putting into the community and I saw that she had a passion for the school to just be better and grow,” Phillips said.

When recommending Glears for the award, Phillips included a quote that reminds her of how Glears impacts her school daily: “What you do has a far greater impact than what you say.”

“She’s all about doing,” Phillips said. “You can say a lot, but it shows more when you do. She tries to instill that in all her teachers that work here.”

Phillips added this method trickles down to how Cainhoy Elementary’s teachers reach their students.

“If they (the students) see you doing something, and they see you doing it on repeat, they’ll start to pick it up,” Phillips said.

This weekend is the SCECA’s annual conference in Myrtle Beach, and two big things are going to happen: Glears will receive her award, and Phillips will also receive a $1,000 grant that will be used to purchase items for the special services class.

This grant (separate from Glears’s award) is called the SCECA Early Childhood Grant. This was Phillips’s first time ever applying for a grant. Some of the items include a kinetic weighted ball, a socio-emotional classroom kit, and some items that help students stay focused while they work, among other purchases.

“I was totally happy – I was excited,” Phillips said, adding, “I’ll probably be applying for more.”

Phillips described her school as a place that makes others feel like home, and it starts at the top with the administration.

Glears is not one to talk too much about herself, and said receiving the Outstanding District Member Award came as a “shock”, but in a good way.

“That means a lot to me for her (Phillips) to put in that nomination,” she said.

Glears said she learned years ago that the school and its community go hand-in-hand, and that is why it is important to work together for the good of the students at Cainhoy Elementary.

Glears said she leads based off what she would want for her own children, as well as the experiences she received as a child growing up.

Glears reflected on Cainhoy High, which had its final graduating class in 1996, and said the old high school was considered a hub of the community.

“There was basketball, football, all of those things that brought the community together,” she said. “So after the school closed, those things went away.”

That is why Glears came up with bringing Homecoming back to the community; Cainhoy Elementary created a tailgating experience in October at the Cainhoy Football Field and invited alumni members. Glears said the goal is to make it an annual event.

“I knew how important it is to have community engagement, because community members are our partners, and they’re also our stakeholders,” she said, adding, “That’s why I work so hard to make sure that the students get everything they need (and) the community is on board.”

Monica Kreber

kreberm@bcsdschools.net

Original source can be found here.