Local Yale Alumni Support Hall Fletcher Elementary School Year Round

The Yale Alumni Association of western North Carolina has been actively involved in supporting West Asheville’s Hall Fletcher Elementary School in many ways since the summer of 2012.

“We are a committed group,” said Conner Fay, Community Service Task Force Chair for the Yale alumni group, “that is constantly seeking to recruit friends, family, neighbors and other service groups to join in supporting this dynamic and creative elementary school. A number of Harvard alumni, neighbors, friends, and family have already joined us.”

Roughly 80% of Hall Fletcher students are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches, and 20% of them are in the Program for Exceptional Children, which serves children with identified disabilities. These percentages are the highest in the city schools.

The Yale alumni have served as painters, tutors in reading, gardeners, media center (library) workers, and clerical and teacher’s assistants. They have trained fifth-graders to record weather information for the National Weather Service, and stimulated third-graders to write, produce, and perform a play about baseball barrier-breaker Jackie Robinson.

Yale alumni and friends have also helped construct an outdoor pizza oven; built picnic tables, outdoor benches, and chess tables for the chess club; and have solicited several thousand dollars’ worth of landscaping plants. Yale alums have also helped install a colorful ceramic mural around the main entrance to the school.

“Yale alumni, some of whom are nationally known writers, have, with the help of other alumni, put several thousand books into the hands of children to keep as their own,” said Fay. Another alumnus has helped to create an ongoing working relationship between the Asheville Tourists and the teachers and students at the school.

Alumni have contributed art supplies and new, warm winter coats. They have also actively raised money for Hall Fletcher from businesses, churches, and other non-profit groups, and have contributed generously to the Parent Teacher Organization for the children’s Special Experiences Fund and Outdoor Learning Center.

“The satisfaction of working with these dedicated educators and their students,” said Fay, “is powerful, unforgettable.”

Given North Carolina’s government cutbacks in support for public education, the need for outside support is greater than ever.

The Yale alumni are dedicated to working side by side with others from the community who share their desire to help our local schools excel. All who are interested in joining them in this important project to improve the children’s future prospects should contact Jess Gulla, Volunteer Coordinator at Hall Fletcher, at (828) 350-6451 or [email protected].