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Superintendent Dr. Marcella Shaw smiles from the balcony of the newly renovated Williston-Elko High School auditorium.
Superintendent Dr. Marcella Shaw (center-left) cuts the ribbon to the new auditorium alongside board chair Ronnie Brown (center-right), Director of Operations David Corder, and GMC architect William Palladino (right).
Barnwell County Consolidated School District board members and administrators smile in front of the newly renovated high school auditorium. From left to right: Superintendent Dr. Marcella Shaw, Director of Operations David Corder, and board members Liana Orr, Teresa Hughes, Ronnie Brown, Tim Scott, Ken Beatty, and Ethel Faust.
The Williston-Elko High School auditorium has undergone a near total renovation.
The ribbon was cut on June 26 opening the newly remodeled auditorium at Williston-Elko High School (WEHS).
The $1.3 million project is nearly completed. The final touches include implementing audio-visual equipment and large ceiling fans.
“We are elated that the renovations to the Williston-Elko auditorium are mostly completed,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Marcella Shaw. “We still have the installation of the AV equipment before it will be totally finished.”
The flooring, walls, paint, air conditioning unit, stage curtains, lighting, audio-visual controls, acoustics, and more were all upgraded.
There are 360 seats on the ground floor and 140 on the upper level, totaling 500 seats.
The project was managed by William Palladino, an architect for the firm Goodwyn-Mills-Cawood Network (GMC) based in Augusta, Ga.
According to Palladino, this auditorium project was part of a larger series of renovation projects for the district beginning in the summer of 2022.
Other renovation projects included renovating the restrooms and replacing windows in the elementary and middle schools as well as building a handicap accessible covered path to the shared middle-high cafeteria.
“Due to lead times and material shortages, it took a good bit longer to get the materials on site than in years past, so we are just about complete now,” said Palladino.
The building is 75 years old, which caused Palladino and team to “build out undulating features in the side walls of the auditorium that served two roles.”
The first role was to improve the distribution of the air conditioning and the second was to break up a phenomenon that Palladino refers to as ‘flutter echo.’ This is where sound can bounce back and forth causing difficulty in clear hearing in regard to speeches.
“It is our hope and desire that the facility will allow for stellar fine arts performances showcasing our scholars' gifts and talents,” said Dr. Shaw. “We also hope that it can be utilized as a collaborative gathering space for our staff for events such as convocation, professional learning engagements, and school level assemblies and functions.”
The auditorium will be open for the 2023-24 school year.
