Live violin music near the registration table helped set the stage for a record-shattering 2025 Anderson Community Schools Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday.
About 300 people gathered in the Anderson High School cafeteria to celebrate the 15 ACS alumni inducted during the ceremony organized by the Anderson Education Foundation.
Fourteen of the inductees attended the ceremony. The only exception was Will Carter, who was inducted posthumously and represented by his family.
Saturday’s ceremony tripled the attendance at the 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony, according to organizers.
Since 2010, the ACS Hall of Fame ceremony has been conducted every two years. It was announced Saturday that the ceremony will take place every year moving forward.
Attendees were offered a lunch provided by the AHS cafeteria staff. During the ceremony, videos about each inductee were played, and the inductees each received a plaque commemorating their ACS Hall of Fame status.
A total of 15 inductees were celebrated Saturday at the induction ceremony for the Anderson Community Schools Hall of Fame.
Kim Townsend, CEO and executive director of the Anderson Housing Authority, was one of the inductees Saturday afternoon.
“I’m so honored,” Townsend said. “I’m happy I was able to go to school in Anderson, work in Anderson, raise my family in Anderson, and just to be among all these prestigious inductees. I’m honored, and I’m blown away.”
Shirley Weatherly, another Saturday inductee, formed the AHA in the 1970s. She graduated from AHS in 1954. Townsend said it was special to be inducted in the ACS Hall of Fame at the same time as Weatherly.
“I’ve just followed in her footsteps,” Townsend said. “Just to be on any platform with Shirley Weatherly is an honor. … She’s a trailblazer, gone on to be the first woman, and Black woman, to serve on a board of works for the city of Anderson. She’s done a lot to open doors for people like me.”
The ceremony also acts as the AEF’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Maria Alexander, executive director of AEF, said the ceremony is important for several reasons.
“Not only are we doing it to honor our people in the past,” Alexander said, “but we are also raising funds at the same time to help pour back into the schools to create more for our students going forward. We can create a successful community at every age level.”
Alexander said that having the Hall of Fame helps give current students someone to look up to.
“There are so many students who sometimes don’t feel like they have a role model in the community,” she explained.
“We are trying to find ways here and there, whether it’s having hall of famers do art for the students or they can come in and talk to the classes. There are so many ways to help them see, ‘Hey, we have this culture of excellence, come rise to it with us.’”
As people entered the AHS cafeteria, they could see likenesses of each inductee that four elementary school students from ACS drew. Each student was given the photos and bios of three to four honorees and was asked to draw a picture based on the bio. Inductees took the pictures home after the ceremony.
Kirby Gilliam, owner and founder of Plainsong Music Services, was the youngest inductee at Saturday’s ceremony.
“I look at all the people that are being inducted that are older than me, and I look at that list and go, ‘Holy cow, how am I on this list?’ because everybody on that list is just incredible,” Gilliam said. “Maria, and AEF, have just gone above and beyond to make people feel special, so it’s really exciting.”
After the ceremony Saturday, everyone was invited to gather at the Hall of Fame wall inside Anderson High School to witness the unveiling of the inductees’ plaques.
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.