A crowd of proud students, parents and faculty and staff gathered at Bennett’s Mill Middle Sept.30 to officially dedicate the school to the community.

Festivities included performances by the school’s symphonic band, orchestra and chorus and remarks by student Rachel Pullias, PTO President Lauri Hogan and Fayette County School Superintendent John DeCotis. Board member and vice chairman Lee Wright read a proclamation in honor of the dedication.

While students and parents boasted about Bennett’s Mill, no one was more proud of the school than Principal Rae Presley-King.

“I stand before you humble and proud. Humble because every day I come to work and lead an unbelievably talented staff of professionals who amaze me with their devotion to the children of Bennett’s Mill Middle school. Humbled by a student body filled with high achieving students who are kind to each other, kind to their teachers and even ask me to stay when I visit a classroom for a quick observation,” Presley-King said as she welcomed guests at the ceremony.

Like any pleased parent, Presley-King took the opportunity to brag about her 540 children by entertaining the audience with a slide show featuring photos of the school’s baseball and football teams, cheerleaders, band, student award winners and Dandy, the school’s mascot, carrying an United States flag donated to the school by Rising Starr Middle.

Presley-King thanked members of the Bennett’s family, who owned the land on which the school was constructed, the Fayette County Board of Education, architects Manly, Spangler and Smith and RK Redding Construction Company for the facility.

“We are enjoying every moment here and plan to do so for years to come,” she said.

Presley-King ended the dedication with a quote from the Honorable Sandra Day O’Conner, which she says sums up what is happening at Bennett’s Mill: “We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone…and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.”

Bennett’s Mill Middle opened August 13, 2007. It is the county’s sixth middle school.

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