For 100 years, there has been a school in Nevils, Georgia, an educational cornerstone for children in the rural southwest corner of Bulloch County, and to commemorate its history, the public is invited to a Centennial Celebration on Saturday, March 2.
Nevils Elementary School, the current incarnation of the Nevils School, is set to welcome its students and families plus all alumni and former faculty and staff to its gymnasium beginning at 10 a.m., on Saturday for a brief ceremony. Afterwards guests can enjoy touring the hallways to reminisce, see historical exhibitions about the school, and engage in activities and crafts that offer a glimpse of the Nevils School over the decades.
“We want the Nevils community and all those who've walked these halls to feel a connection to the school and to feel welcome to return, share their memories with us, and see how we are serving children now,” said Rob Lindsey, principal of Nevils Elementary School.
For the Centennial Celebration, Lindsay and his faculty team are using the name Nevils School to show respect to the school’s evolution so that all those with a current and past connection to the school feel welcome. The school enjoys multiple generations of families in the school at one time. Former students are now teachers, and grandchildren of employees are now eager learners.
“The faculty and staff of the school are proud that Nevils School is an icon in the community,” said Lindsey. “We want it to continue to have a multigenerational impact for years to come.”
In preparation for the Centennial Celebration, Nevils Elementary School has been reaching out to faculty alumni and hosting times for students to conduct video interviews with retired faculty and staff like Nan Rushing.
“My room is no longer here,” said Nan Rushing, 94, who taught for 37 years, 20 of those years at Nevils. “I hated to see it go. It didn’t have the technology you have today. We had gas heaters and chalk boards.”
Rushing came out of retirement to teach English language arts for seven more years at Southeast Bulloch High School, and retired again at the age of 77. She'll return to the high school on Saturday as well to also preside over the 38th Annual Nan Rushing Write-off, the middle school language arts competition she began with a $1,000 grant, while a teacher at Nevils.
Rushing also shared how the Nevils School was selected as a Georgia School of Excellence, was featured in an episode of the television show Route 66 in 1964, and how she and others later fought consolidation proposals to keep the school open. She and the other former faculty have fond memories.
“I helped train young people to find their niche in life and to have a sense of community and learn to love, not hate,” Rushing said. “Nevils is a fascinating school. It had tragedies, but it made it through because of the community.”
History of Nevils School
First built in 1924, the Nevils School began as a one-room schoolhouse to which local farmers would add rooms when there was money after a successful harvest. It served children in grades 1 to 11 with only six teachers – four teaching the younger students and two teaching high school. The Depression and a fire on Nov. 14, 1940, which destroyed the school, presented two of Nevils’ greatest challenges. Classes were placed in many different makeshift locations like the Methodist Church and vacant farm houses until a new building could be built, which was delayed by World War II.
These major obstacles did not hinder the students’ success. During this time the Nevils High girls basketball team won back-to-back Class C State Basketball Championships in 1949 and 1950. The boys basketball team also made it to the third round of the state playoffs in the 1948-49 season, and won the Class C State Basketball Championship in 1949-50. The trophies that were presented to the teams during these memorable occasions can be seen in the trophy case in the Nevils Elementary School lobby.
In 1953, grade 12 was added to Nevils, but in 1954, the last senior class graduated from the school when the three small rural high schools of Nevils, Brooklet, and Stilson were combined to form the first Southeast Bulloch High School. In 1960, Kindergarten was introduced.
The current building was built in 2007, and the historic oak trees that dotted the original property were preserved during its construction. Today, Nevils is one Bulloch County Schools’ nine elementary schools with seven grades, Pre-Kindergarten through fifth-grade. However, with changes announced to accommodate growth in southeast Bulloch County, the school will evolve again within the next five years to be a primary school that serves children up through third grade. Grades four and five from Nevils, Brooklet and Stilson elementary schools will be moved to a planned upper elementary school that will be housed in the current Southeast Bulloch Middle School. The middle school will be relocating to the current Southeast Bulloch High School once the new Southeast Bulloch High School, which is in its design phase, is constructed.
