By Gerri Miller
Staff Writer
Stanhope Elmore High School Principal Coach Ewell Fuller was in his office when he got a call from Mayor Al Kelley a few weeks ago with some great news.
Mayor Kelley told him that Marty Bean, owner of the Front Porch Grill, wanted to do something special for the Stanhope Elmore Class of 2020 because it had been a rough year for the Senior Class.
Once-in-a-lifetime activities such as prom and senior trips had been cancelled because of the COVID19 crisis and even graduation plans were up in the air at that time.
Bean told Mayor Kelley that he wanted to feed the entire class of 300 seniors. A Senior Skip Day was planned, and Bean made plans to feed the Senior Class pulled pork, baked beans, and potato salad. Beryl Jackson, a sales manager for Coca-Cola, offered to provide coke products for the event.
All of that planning came together today as the seniors gathered on campus to eat barbeque, get their graduation tickets and photographs, and view the senior video, a traditional senior memory compiled each year.
Fuller can’t say enough about the man who made the day special for seniors.
“This man (Bean) planned all of this before Gov. Ivey relaxed the restrictions on restaurants,” Fuller said. “He did this while business was declining. It was just a surprise how a business going through tough times would reach out and touch the community like this,” he continued.
“This tells you what kind of people we have in our community. It was really heartwarming,” he said.
He said this year’s Senior Class has risen to the many challenges they have faced and learned to be leaders during a difficult time.
“They are an awesome class. We’ve also gotten support from the City and Richard Dennis and the Board of Education have been phenomenal,” he said.
The heat was a little intense, but the students seemed happy to get out and talk with their friends. Music was blasting and games were set for the students to play.
“It is pretty cool that they let us do something like this with everything that’s been going on,” said Anna Mitchell-Clark.
Emily Aspden said that she “was just ready to get out of the house and see my friends.”
Most students stood in a long line to get their four tickets for family and friends to see them graduate. Stanhope’s graduation ceremony will be held on Monday, May 18th at 7 p.m. in the Foshee-Henderson Stadium.
Congratulations to the Senior Class of 2020!
