Willow Drive Elementary School turns 75
School caps birthday with celebration event, time capsule burial
One of Sumter's oldest schools celebrated its 75th anniversary recently and featured a fun-filled week of activities to mark the milestone.
Willow Drive Elementary School turned 75 years old this school year and marked the diamond anniversary with a celebration night on April 8 and a student time capsule burial of artifacts on April 11. The week's activities also included retro-dress days.
Currently with about 500 students in grades K-5 and 75 staff members, Willow Drive is a Title I (high poverty) school, and federal funding this school year helped pay for two reading interventionists, a STEAM teacher and a math coach, according to school officials. Title I money also helped with school supplies for students, professional development for teachers and staff and field trips, among other items.
Honorary guests at the April 8 celebration included some members of Sumter School District's Board of Trustees, district administrators, Sumter Mayor David Merchant, Willow Drive alumni, former principals, assistant principals, teachers and staff.
Merchant proclaimed April 8, 2025, as Willow Drive Elementary School 75th Anniversary Day in the City of Sumter.
Sumter school board member Matthew "Mac" McLeod, who is also a Willow Drive alumni from the 1970s, served as the event's guest speaker.
McLeod described the school as providing a "strong foundation" locally.
"A building that has been standing for 75 years has a strong foundation and similarly this school has built a strong foundation in this community, in our students and in myself," he said.
McLeod went through Sumter's public schools and graduated in 1984. He said after high school that he went directly into the workforce and then at 40 years old enrolled in college at University of South Carolina.
He would finish college in three years and then became a teacher for 13 years, he said. Now, he owns a small construction business.
Before a dinner was served to all attendees, Willow Drive's Eagle Choir provided musical entertainment. The choir consists of 31 third- through fifth-graders at the school. The choir's selections represented traditional and classical themes prevalent during the school's early years and also focused on inspiration, cultural appreciation, teamwork, fun and light-heartedness.
Willow Drive Elementary opened in 1949 and initially served white children in the City of Sumter in grades 1-6 before integration occurred locally in the 1970-71 school year.