Week 14

It was a slower week than usual, filled with planning for future events. My meeting with Dr. Lyons led to sending out email to Susan Waldrip, former PTA president.

She (Mrs. Waldrip) has a fascinating history which included meeting President Bill Clinton earlier mentioned in my blogs on Sentinel articles of times past. She sent via email a host of responses to some questions I had asked on the subject of Hillcrest as a way to inform how I will formulate my script. Her response began with telling me her children went to the elementary school, which largely fell during the period of the 1990's. One of her daughters was in the initial magnet program, which corresponded to the years Mrs. Waldrip was heavily involved in the school's going ons. She was even awarded the prestigious OCPS Volunteer of the year for her five years of service! She also organized the 75  year anniversary of Hillcrest, which saw a variety of special guests present at the gala. The Sentinel even had a title article on the event with on-site coverage from news outlet. The Clinton visit also received similar coverage. Mrs. Waldrip was also instrumental in the creation of aforementioned magnet school program by visiting schools who had created one in Miami and instituting certain regulations. The foreign magnet included languages like French, Spanish, and Vietnamese, which is indicative of the multiculturalism present at Hillcrest Elementary. Her time at Hillcrest seemed extremely fruitful, with many other programs being recounted by Mrs. Waldrip such as her gift store for the holiday season and initiative to have families socialize with her dollar dinner concept. She goes on the explain Disney's impact, with one field trip in particularly allowing the foreign language. The direct quote from Mrs. Waldrip goes as follows, "The most memorable event of all was a school field trip to Epcot as part of the initial Black History Month celebrations held there. That day, the students, chaperones and I had the amazing opportunity of meeting Rosa Parks, an icon of the civil rights movement.".

Mrs. Waldrip has been an integral part in Hillcrest going, I cannot wait to interview her in the coming weeks and she seems to have even more stories to tell.