Last year I toured the then new multi-million dollar Dillon Middle School and in a Herald column made the  comment that its presence was a far cry from what the national media unfortunately had once portrayed it to be, a part of the state’s Corridor of Shame.
But because the students now had unparalleled facilities, highly qualified teachers plus the support of the interested parents and members of the taxpaying community, it was then up to the students themselves to do their part to make it instead a Corridor of Acclaim: Attend classes every day, pay attention and study hard, behave and equally as important, take justifiable pride in the educational opportunities that only a few in South Carolina and elsewhere have available to them.  Having done that, their march towards the goal of becoming not just an average school but a superior one whose example others would want to follow would, with hard work, make their school rank right up there with the nearby football team, Champions!
That was last year.  So one year later, what does history tell us about Dillon Middle?  Even a casual observer would still be duly impressed by this state-of-the art facility that has been kept in its original pristine condition. No graffiti is to be seen anywhere, the polished floors and student support rooms have been kept as new, the attractive display cases are impressive some of which house important past history of contributing schools, there are many colorful bulletin board areas that are both aesthetically pleasing and indeed appropriately informative such as goals to be achieved during the coming year.  The country club landscaping perfectly complements the building. As far as technology is concerned, by comparison to many other area schools, Dillon Middle is light years ahead.  No expense has been spared to provide the best for what is the hope for our future: youth.  Don’t disappoint us; don’t let us down, Wildcats! No one likes to hear empty bragging, but someone has rightly said, “It’s not bragging if it’s so.”  And while Dillon Middle still has a ways to go to reach its potential it is definitely making progress. It is an incremental process after all; it does not happen overnight.
Did you read in the Herald recently the news article about the test scores earned by the area schools?   While a few were less than noteworthy, there were several who made exemplary scores and one of them was Dillon Middle.  Sure it is an ongoing process and there is surely room for improvement but improvement is being made.  Dillon Middle has obviously accepted the challenge to show interested Dillon County citizens/taxpayers that they are on the right road to making all proud by their achieving notable, proven academic success; they are trying hard to do better and are actually accomplishing it.
The challenge: the best is yet to come.  It’s everyone’s responsibility — the most important being Dillon’s 6th, 7th and 8th graders —  to help to make it come true.
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128,
Hamer, SC 29547 – DHS ‘46