Only a few minutes away from Winthrop’s campus is Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School. Winthrop’s Rex Institute within the College of Education has been partnering with the elementary school since 2014 and was recently honored by the Rock Hill School District for their work with EAES.
Due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the district was unable to honor the Rex Institute in person.
“Typically, during the last week in July, we have a luncheon to celebrate all of our school partners, community partners, business partners, and organizations such as PTA and school improvement councils. Because of COVID, we were not able to do that this year,” said Principal John Kirell of EAES. “This year, they did that via Zoom, so we [wrote] up what we’re thankful for, and why we appreciate them and the impact that the partnership has made on our students, our staff, and school community as a whole and they were awarded a plaque.”
Because of Winthrop’s close proximity to the elementary school, the Rex Institute has been able to help EAES in a number of ways.
“We’re just very fortunate to be right down the street from Winthrop…we’re able to take our students there to do a couple of different things, because we’re within walking distance,” Kirell said. “We’ve gone to the art galleries. We’ve gone to some theatrical performances and some musical performances and I just appreciate how much Winthrop continues to give back not only to our school community but the community of Rock Hill as a whole. So, we are just very appreciative for what Winthrop does for our school district, our families and our kids.”
According to Kirell, EAES used to be one of the smallest schools in the Rock Hill School District, but because the elementary school has added both a Montessori program and an inquiry program, EAES has become one of the largest schools in the district. So much so that their building has not been able to accommodate events such as the fifth grade graduation.
“Ebenezer is a very small school. They wanted to honor their fifth graders, but they didn’t have a large enough space to be able to invite families, so we were able to use our space at Winthrop,” said Dr. Lisa Johnson, senior associate to the dean and former director of the Rex Institute. “So, it was a very professional thing for fifth graders to be able to go to campus and walk across the stage in our auditorium and have the lights and the music and things of that nature.”
Not only are students from EAES welcome on Winthrop’s campus, but EAES has open–doors to Winthrop’s students in the College of Education in order to give future teachers hands-on experience in the classroom as well.
“That’s why that partnership is so important because we work with schools and have that benefit of being in a school,” Johnson said. “Ebenezer gives us a place where we can practice what we’re learning and learn from them…as a faculty member, I can go to Ebenezer and see what they’re doing and integrate it with what I’m teaching teacher candidates.”
“This semester, [Winthrop’s teacher candidates] will be working on co–teaching with their mentors and they’re really just getting prepared for their Spring internship, which is their internship right before they graduate,” said Ms. Williams, a fifth grade teacher as EAES, and liaison between the Rex Institute and EAES. “We’re just really thankful that we have this partnership. It always gives us a chance to get exposed to new resources for our teachers and it gets beginner teachers in the classroom earlier, which is awesome, because they get a chance to follow their passion.”
Winthrop’s Rex Institute was honored to be recognized for their partnership with Ebenezer Avenue Elementary School by the Rock Hill School District and is looking forward to continuing their partnership in order to help future teachers gain valuable teaching experience and in order to provide EAES students with exciting experiences on a college campus.
