Story By John Mann
It was a momentous occasion at Kate Duncan Smith DAR school in Grant on Friday morning as the school welcomed national Daughters of the American Revolution members to celebrate the school’s 101st Dedication Day.
“Last year we celebrated one hundred years of Kate Duncan Smith DAR school,” KDS-DAR Board of Trustees Chair Melvina Phillips said. “This year we are on the cusp of celebrating 250 years of our great nation. What an exciting time to be a citizen of this great country and a supporter of this great institution.”
KDS-DAR opened its doors in 1924 and it was recognized by the national DAR society in 1928. Today the school serves grades K-12 and is the only school founded by a state DAR society still recognized by the national society. Originally only made up of one four classroom building the school has grown to forty buildings, including eleven faculty residences, that serves over 1300 students. The high school on its own is made up of 346 students with twenty-six teachers. According to high school principal Larry Bolin sixty-seven percent of the high school faculty and staff are alumni of the school, with five of those members of the national DAR.
The Daughters of the American Revolution meanwhile is a national women’s service organization founded in 1890. The group’s mission is to promote patriotism, preserve American history and provide education to children. National Society President General Ginnie Sebastian Storage, who was one of the guests at the Dedication Day, reported that the organization is made up of 190,000 members worldwide.
“Today I join with Daughters from all over the United States who have traveled here on this momentous occasion,” Storage said. “We are here to celebrate the 101st Dedication Day, a milestone in this school’s history and long standing collaboration with the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. We are fortunate that over one hundred years ago the Alabama Daughters were forward thinking and wanted to ensure that Gunter Mountain children received a patriotic education.”
After the introductions were finished the ceremony included performances from the high school choir, the fourth grade choir and final the first grade choir who sang “DAR, Oh How We Love You.”
The main event of the morning though was the presentation of gifts from the many chapters and organizations around the country, which will be used to fund scholarship programs, family programs and other needs of the school. These included 430,925 dollars from the National Society, presented by Storage, and 120,766 dollars from the Marshall County Board of Education along with gifts from the community. In total just over one million dollars was gifted to KDS-DAR during the ceremony.
One of the biggest projects going on at the school at the moment is the construction of a new elementary school as mentioned by Marshall County Board of Education Superintendent Cindy Wigley. Wigley noted that initial work is progressing smoothly and completion is expected by the end of December next year.
“We are extremely excited to see the construction begin for our new Kate Duncan Smith DAR Elementary School,” she said. “This 58,000 square foot project will include classrooms and media center, cafeteria, integrated storm shelter and much more to serve our students, faculty and community.”
More information about KDS-DAR school can be found on their website at kdsdar.org, while more information about the National Society DAR can be found at dar.org.
