On Friday morning, Stan Elrod stood on a stage straddling the 50-yard line of Reagan High School’s football field.
Ten years and three days earlier, he stood outside the then-brand new building, ready to welcome the very first students.
“There was a rooster crowing in our front yard and deer running across (this) field,” said Elrod, Reagan’s first principal.
Reagan, along with Atkins High School, opened its doors in the fall of 2005. It started the year with 885 students — mostly freshmen and sophomores with about 180 juniors. Elrod said there wasn’t supposed to be a junior class that first year, but students petitioned the board to allow it. They came from schools around the county, with many pulled from the West Forsyth attendance area.
“Within a week, they were all Raiders,” said Elrod, who retired as principal in 2010 and now serves as athletics director for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.
A member of one of those early classes was Brette Powell, class of 2010.
“Walking through the halls this morning it felt very much the same, but very different,” Powell said. “I’m a very different person ... because of the experiences I had in this building.”
Powell said she was a good student at Reagan, but the lessons that stuck with her after graduation were not the ones that made it onto any test. Instead, Powell said her teachers helped her identify and hone her strengths, like public speaking, and taught her how to work hard for something — lessons she took with her to Appalachian State University. It was the help of supportive teachers and administrators that allowed her to flourish at Reagan — something Powell challenged current students to do.
“You can do absolutely anything,” she said. “Oh, by the way, you have to work hard at it and you have to ask for it.”
Reagan has made huge strides over the last decade, growing its student body and finding success in both academics and athletics.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, addressed the gathered crowd of students and guests, paying tribute to the school’s namesake.
Foxx said it didn’t seem like it had been 10 years since “we were here for the dedication of this wonderful schools named after a wonderful president.”
“I want to commend the school board for being bold and naming this school after Ronald Reagan,” she said.
Foxx referenced the former president several times during her speech, which touched on education’s role in protecting America’s freedom and touted the internships she offers in her offices. Foxx got choked up before exiting the stage.
Ed Thutt, one of 18 staff members who have been with Reagan for all 10 years, remarked on the school’s success in such a short time.
“As an educator, I’m most proud of the continued excellence Reagan High School students demonstrate after they matriculate,” Thutt said. “I’m looking forward to standing up here on the day we celebrate 25 years.”
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