SC School Featured By President Obama Gets Facelift

Students at a rural South Carolina middle school whose shoddy condition was highlighted in a speech by President Barack Obama have a spiffed up cafeteria and new classroom furniture. Students arriving at J.V. Martin Junior High in Dillon on Monday said the new desks, chairs and tables and a revamped cafeteria show that people care about them.

AP
Published: May 4, 2009

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DILLON, S.C. (AP) - Students at a rural South Carolina middle school whose shoddy condition was highlighted in a speech by President Barack Obama have a spiffed up cafeteria and new classroom furniture.

Students arriving at J.V. Martin Junior High in Dillon on Monday said the new desks, chairs and tables and a revamped cafeteria show that people care about them.

The ergonomic classroom, band and cafeteria furniture was custom-built in school colors. It was donated by a Chicago furniture supplier whose CEO called the school after eighth-grader Ty’Sheoma Bethea appeared beside the first lady during Obama’s address to Congress in January.

The 14-year-old’s plea for help for the school - a hodgepodge of buildings with the oldest dating to 1896 - prompted a response.