Success Stories

Fundraising Efforts in our Community

The Lexington One Educational Foundation’s success through our fundraising efforts makes it possible for us to provide financial support to the district in so many ways. Through the years we’ve held many events and are extremely thankful to everyone who generously gave. Our corporate and individual partnerships and event sponsors are the reason we can provide educational grants, help to students in need, and other types of support to Lexington District One. In addition, since our staff is very small, we are also very grateful to our many dedicated volunteers who give of their time when we hold fundraisers.

We thank each one of these benevolent supporters for their contributions. Here are highlights of a few of our successful fundraising events.

Celebration Of Excellence In Education

Each year in February, we celebrate the top 10% academically of the graduating seniors in Lexington County School District One. Although our 2021 event format looked a little differently in order to accommodate coronavirus safeguards, we still honored our top seniors with very special student-only events at each of our five high schools. Our schedule for each school celebration was as follows:

  • Feb. 23, 9:00 a.m. – River Bluff High School
  • Feb. 23, 1:00 p.m. – Pelion High School
  • Feb. 24, 9:00 a.m. – White Knoll High School
  • Feb. 24, 1:00 p.m. – Gilbert High School
  • Feb. 25, 12:00 p.m. – Lexington High School

Outside guests were not allowed in light of coronavirus policies, however, we did livestream the events and then shared videos of each celebration so that parents, family members and our sponsors could watch these special programs as we honored the academic achievement of our top seniors.

Although our 2022 Celebration plans are still being determined due to the pandemic concerns, we know that our sponsors will again be extremely important in making everything possible! If you are interested in being a sponsor, please contact Julie Anderson Washburn at 803-821-1008 or via email. It’s only through the generosity of many that we can continue to offer this very special event to the top seniors in our Lexington District One graduating classes. We look forward to sharing details regarding our 2022 Celebration with everyone very soon!

2022 Celebration Sponsors

Every year we depend on our very kind sponsors in order to host this annual Celebration of Excellence in Education. The generous financial support provided by local businesses and friends make this event a very special occasion for our honored seniors from all five of our Lexington District One high schools. Contact the Educational Foundation staff if you are interested in sponsoring our future celebration or other foundation endeavors! We look forward to sharing our 2022 Celebration Sponsors with you soon!

Corporate Partners

The Lexington One Educational Foundation is fortunate to have a number of local corporations that generously support its mission of serving Lexington District One with significant contributions.

Michelin North America’s Lexington, SC locations have been a longtime benefactor to the Educational Foundation. Annually, the company sponsors the Michelin Golden Apple Teacher Grants, which provide funds to support smaller classroom projects that benefit our students. A Michelin donation also built a STEM lab at Meadow Glen Middle School. Since 2018, Michelin has also generously sponsored our VEX Robotics teams in Lexington District One as a commitment to STEM education and robotics learning experiences.

Nephron Pharmaceuticals generously donates in support of our students via the Pharmacology Course Grants. This financial gift enables our Lexington One seniors to take the course with the $300 course fee covered by Nephron. The experience also provides each student the chance to earn some valuable marketing skills and teaches them about the field of pharmacy to consider as a future career.

W.P. Rawl & Sons kindly provided financial support for our W.P. Rawl School Garden Mini-Grants for six years. These grants supported garden projects at schools throughout the district and taught students valuable lessons for maintaining a healthy diet, the scientific concepts of gardening, life-skills, and more.

BB&T (now Truist Bank) invested in the district’s International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), which offers a rigorous, pre-university course of studies aimed towards the needs of highly motivated high school students during their junior and senior years. The IB curriculum focuses on international understanding and citizenship, second language proficiency and high academic standards. The gift created the International Baccalaureate Learning Lab, housed at Lexington High School, which serves as a classroom and a unique space for academic collaboration for the IB students. 

The Educational Foundation leadership welcomes new individual and corporate partnerships that provide educational opportunities for our Lexington District One’s students and support their future career aspirations!

Dancing with the Stars Lexington

For five years from 2013 – 2017 the Lexington One Educational Foundation presented an elegant evening of dancing to support education via our “Dancing with the Stars Lexington” fundraiser. Guests enjoyed a night of ballroom-dancing fun featuring favorite local “celebrity” dancers as they spun and twirled across the stage to raise money for Lexington County School District One.

“Dancing with the Stars Lexington” was one of the Educational Foundation’s biggest fundraisers. Our featured dancers trained with local professional dancers leading up to the event, where they competed for a number of trophies, including a People’s Choice Award. The community helped by voting for their favorite Lexington star by making a small donation to the Educational Foundation. Corporate and individual sponsors made it possible for these events to be true fundraisers, yet the events also provided a terrific evening of entertainment to all who attended.

Even though a winner was named at the end of the competition, the real winners were the Lexington District One students who directly benefitted from the proceeds earned by these spectacular events. Money raised from “Dancing with the Stars Lexington” fundraisers provided money for numerous educational programs in the district. Our efforts supported educational initiatives that ultimately helped to empower our students to be successful in their future paths whether pursuing college, the military or the workforce. Thanks to all who contributed in any way to make these events so successful!

Local Events Supporting the Foundation

We have been very fortunate in recent years to have a number of individuals and organizations choose to support the Educational Foundation’s mission of serving Lexington District One. We welcome such local partnerships and appreciate all who have been involved in any way in raising money to support the foundation.

Annually, Radius Church leaders ask their congregation members to donate to local charities and the foundation has been a recipient of their Give Hope endeavors in recent years. Such support has provided financial support to many of our Lexington One students whose families are struggling through our Caring Heart Fund; assisted many of our ESOL students in need; and helped our new international teachers who are financially stretched thin while attempting to get settled in a new home country.

The Lexington County Bar Association held a fundraiser in 2020 that supported our Caring Heart Fund. Donations from this local group provided food to countless Lexington One families suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

River Bluff High School’s Gator Nation generously donated half of their 2020 golf tournament proceeds to the Educational Foundation’s Caring Heart Fund and allowed volunteers to ask for donations at the 2021 event. This outreach and kindness provided food, medical care and much more to our district students in need.

The BAPS Charities held a Walk Green in the spring of 2017-2019 with part of their proceeds supporting the foundation’s important operational costs. Since the foundation’s staff is small, we can only continue to fulfill the many needs in Lexington District One with the kind support of our donors.

Furthermore, Lexington High School’s School Improvement Council held a Pace for a Purpose fundraiser in May 2017 that raised money for our Lexington One students in crisis. Lowes Foods and the Lexington County Blowfish partnered to host a Cake Walk in 2017 that resulted in support for our foundation. Soon after, the Blowfish team followed up by having a jersey auction with the proceeds donated to the foundation purchased STEM kits for each of our elementary schools. The Braelyn Aubrey Foundation held a fundraiser in 2020 and donated the proceeds to the foundation so that we could purchase educational toys for teaching for the district’s special needs preschoolers. We are grateful to all who donate and organize fundraising events that will ultimately support our Lexington District One students. Contact foundation staff today to learn how you can support Lexington District One through the Educational Foundation efforts!

Memorable Past Fundraisers

From 2002 through 2008 the foundation staff held a number of successful fundraisers that many fondly remember.

“The Heart of Lexington One” honored the now deceased community leader Raymond S. Caughman. All proceeds helped upgrade the media centers in our schools and supported literacy efforts.

The “Heroes and Legends” event held in 2007 paid tribute to all of the fallen veterans of Lexington District One and dedicated the Air Force JROTC Center in honor of US Congressman Floyd David Spence.

The Torrence Memorial Field House was dedicated in 2007 in memory of Lance Corporal Joshua Torrence, who died while serving his country in Fallujah, Iraq; he was a White Knoll High School former student and dedicated football player.

Finally, in 2002, White Knoll Middle School passionately reacted to the September 11, 2001 tragedy by raising money to purchase a new fire engine for the Red Hook Fire Station in Brooklyn, NY, with the Educational Foundation coordinating all funds for the project.

These events and others in the past were very important in laying the groundwork for future successful fundraisers organized by Educational Foundation leaders in support of Lexington District One.

$388,398

invested in Lexington District One in fiscal year 2022-2023

$33,000

All K-2 students benefited from the Counting Collections for Mathematics Grant

$22,000

Awarded in Scholarships and/or Higher Education Grants