Students from Hillcrest Elementary School in Burlington, North Carolina, toured campus after visting a restored schoolhouse near Rhodes Stadium first used to teach children in the 1800s.
By Brittany Barker ‘19
Elon University students and faculty welcomed dozens of third graders from a nearby elementary school on Wednesday for tours of a restored 19th-century schoolhouse and visits to other campus academic and athletics locations.
As part of their Nov. 18 visit, the students from Hillcrest Elementary School in Burlington, North Carolina, took part in a simulation of what learning was like for children when the schoolhouse first opened in the late 1850s.
Originally known as the Travis Creek School, the two-room building adjacent to Alumni Field House was renamed the Cable School in the late 19th century. Records indicate the schoolhouse was built in the early 1850s, about a decade after the state legislature first authorized local communities to levy a tax for supporting public education and receive matching state funds. Such facilities were known as “common schools.”
After serving residents of western Alamance County through the 19th century, the school closed and withstood the test of time until the building and a small tract of land were donated to Elon University by Kaye Cable Murray and her husband, Joseph. Restoration was completed in 2014, and Elon now utilizes the historic property for educational purposes.
The field trip was coordinated by Marna Winter, director of education outreach and a lecturer in Elon’s School of Education, and Karen Allen, a third grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School.
“As part of their social studies curriculum, third graders study change over time in their local communities,” Winter said. “We decided to include a tour and simulation at the Cable School to help students gain this understanding.”
The School of Education works very closely with the Alamance Burlington School System, Winter said. in fact many of the teachers in the school system serve as cooperating teacher to Elon teacher candidates Winter said.
Several Elon University Odyssey Scholars, as well as staff from the Center for Access & Success, guided the third graders throughout the day, allowing the children to interact with college students.
“We hope that by having the third graders interact with Elon students, we will be able to spark their interest in college,” Winter said. “At Elon, we want to help motivate these students to focus on their education in the hopes of them becoming college bound.”