Penderlea groundbreaking has community excited for the future

WILLARD, NC (WWAY) — Today was the groundbreaking of the new Penderlea K-8 School in Pender County.

“Well we went through the whole process back when they were talking about doing away with K-8 out here and we fought to save that. Penderlea is the heart of our community,” said Toni Giddeons.

Giddeons said that is precisely why it was so important to push for a better school for the kids.

“We also went through the bond process, putting out signs, going door to door everything we could to make sure our kids got a new school because they deserve it,” Giddeons said.

She said parents have been pushing for upgrades since the Pender County School Bond of 2014, now two years later, they are finally seeing the fruits of their labor.

“This is exciting seeing actual results now to what we did you know for the past couple of years,” Giddeons said.

Dylan Guzman is a sixth grader who has been going to Penderlea since kindergarten. He said he is most looking forward to more room in the school.

“Some rooms are really small and you have so many students. Like back when I was in fourth grade we had to take some fourth graders and put them in some third grade classrooms because they were so small,” Guzman said.