Every year, funds are raised to help with a special gift for the school and for the annual $1000 college scholarship award. To help with the scholarship, accomplished potter and former Waccamaw student Betsy Warren Sellers has donated an original art piece which will be auctioned off at the reunion. Ms. Sellers has created a one-of-a-kind pottery jug made of Phoenix Cone 10 stoneware clay and fired in a Cone 10 gas reduction firing kiln. The piece was thrown or “turned” on a potter’s wheel. She then sculptured Waccamaw school and it's eagle mascot into the wall of the jug. The “Class Reunion Jug” was juried into the 2008 Fourth of July National Show sponsored by the Associated Artists of Southport, and awarded an Honorable Mention by judge Ben Owen III of Seagrove, NC.
Waccamaw School began in 1927 in Ash, North Carolina, and started with students in grades first through eleventh. By 1935, ninety-four high school students and 593 elementary students were enrolled in the school which had a faculty of 17 teachers. Throughout the years various buildings have been part of the campus, including a teacherage (housing for teachers), an agricultural building, and several other structures; but the most famous was the old Waccamaw log gymnasium. This 1930s WPA project was boasted to be the largest log structure in the South and a source of great pride for the area. During the evening, a short program will look back at the rich history of the school and the region from which it evolved. This year’s program will also honor the class of 1958 with a special retrospective of their school days in celebration of their 50th graduation anniversary.
