BY BECKY ANDREWS
Anticipation is building now that construction has started on the new Lebanon High School located on Hartmann Drive. The secondary school is set to open in the fall of 2012. For those of us who made that memorable walk to collect our diploma as Pomp and Circumstance played, news of this newer, shinier, bigger school is bittersweet.
To offset some of that melancholy, a group of individuals got together and came up with a fantastic idea that wouldn’t just help former students leave a legacy, but would also help give future graduates a head start on higher education.
That group, The Lebanon High School Alumni Committee, began selling memories in stone in 2011. The proceeds from the sale of personalized memorial bricks will benefit the Lebanon High School Endowment Scholarship Fund.
If you’re a LHS Alumni, you will not want to miss the opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the new school. More than 6,000 bricks, engraved with the alumni’s name and graduating class, will be a highlight in the new school’s three-story rotunda, aptly named Alumni Hall. 
Alumni Committee member, Terry Edwards is excited about giving alumni a new way to show their support. “It's great to go to ball games and art events and theater,” Edwards said. “This is another way to show your pride spirit and tradition of being a Blue Devil, by helping to contribute to an endowment fund that will help future graduates of Lebanon High School further their education,” said the former LHS Drama instructor.
“We want people to know that this is more than just buying a brick. It really is a major way to support the school with an endowment fund that will be there for a long time to come.” Each personalized brick – available with the tax-deductible donation of $100 – will help establish a scholarship fund designed to aid future LHS grads in obtaining post-secondary education. An idea that's been almost eight months in the making, Edwards said the almost 20-person core committee came together after seeing the personalized donor bricks at the Lebanon/Wilson County Chamber of Commerce.
“Director of Schools Mike Davis and I had talked about doing this … We thought 'Wouldn't it be a good way to start a scholarship'”, Edwards said. “I don't know that the alumni at Lebanon High School had ever done anything in that fashion.”
The new high school has been a long time coming. For years, talk of overcrowding plagued Lebanon High. And now with construction in full swing, the dream of a new school is becoming a reality. The new building gives promise of hope for the future. Not just for the youth who will walk through the halls but it will be a beacon to businesses and families who are considering a move to Lebanon. With a new state-of-the-art high school the choice will be easy. The new LHS is building a future for children AND Wilson County.
TO PURCHASE AN ALUMNI BRICK FOR A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION OF $100 VISIT www.lhsalumnihall.com for a printable order form or an online form. Or you can call 443-7895 or 449-4547.