Editor’s Note: 
Fountain Inn Mayor GP McLeer graciously accepted our invitation
to present his Mayoral Minutes as a dedication to the Fountain Inn High School opening. 

As of August 17 of this year Fountain Inn has its own high school again, a dream over 60 years in the making. 

In 1957, Hillcrest High School opened and all of Fountain Inn’s high school-aged children stopped being Fountain Inn Blue Devils (white school) or Fountain Inn Hurricanes (African American school), and became Hillcrest Rams. This year, they’ll join the Fountain Inn Fury.

This historic milestone for our community didn’t happen on its own. Former Mayor Gary Long, and our late City Administrator Eddie Case led the charge and began showing up to school board meetings over a decade ago, advocating that it was time for Fountain Inn to get its own high school again. Paired with the positive energy and growth that Fountain Inn began to experience in the late 2000s that continues today, the hard work of our community paid off.

In the early 2010s, the Greenville County School District voted to plan for a new high school - Fountain Inn High School. The school was originally set to open in 2017, but kept getting pushed back until, finally, in 2018 the district committed to opening the school in August of 2021 - the first completely brand new high school in over 50 years for the district.

There’s no denying that your local schools are a huge source of community pride, unity, and excitement. Maybe it’s the lifelong, local, friendships that get to experience the first day of kindergarten all the way to graduation day; maybe it’s the Friday night lights (on a field or on a stage); maybe it’s the local jobs filled by our young leaders; or maybe it’s the ability for families to connect over their children’s education and friendships -- local schools are a huge part of a community’s identity. 

For decades now, Hillcrest High School’s legacy in the Golden Strip has given Fountain Inn all of these things. Our students have won state championships, become valedictorians, received scholarships, landed jobs, performed on stages - all proudly as Rams. We’ll never forget or diminish the role Hillcrest has played in Fountain Inn’s history. But, like an old high school reunion, there’s nothing like going back to where it all started, back to your hometown.

If you haven’t at least driven by the new Fountain Inn High School, I highly recommend it. If you’re able to attend an event at the school and get a look inside, I recommend that even more. The facility is a magnificent modern high school that provides a high quality environment for learning, professionalism, athleticism, and creativity - it’ll make you want to go back to high school, at least for a day. 

I made a promise to Principal Maureen Tiller when we met shortly after she was selected for the role - I promised her that the Fountain Inn community would embrace this school unlike any other community in the state, let alone the district. And let me tell you, we are following through on that promise. Our local coffee shop has a sandwich named for our new team; a local store is selling handmade knitted blankets with the school’s logo; our local t-shirt company has FIHS gear to sell; we’ve got banners up on our Main Street light poles; we’ve got a parade planned already --- Fountain Inn is ready. We’re ready to learn with our children, watch them grow, cheer them on, and rally behind our home team. We’re ready to welcome back, after over 60 years, our high school.

Go Fury!

Principal Tiller added these comments, “It gives that whole community a school as a hub for ball games, music events and robotic competitions. It will give this small town back the pride of having their own High School again.”

As a historical moment in Fountain Inn’s and Greenville’s history, it truly is an exciting time to see the impact it will have on the town’s future. Principal Tiller reveals she is determined to make it successful, “To start from scratch and build it the right way. It’s really wonderful.” Community members have no doubt it will re-define the heartbeat of their hometown. ♦