Page 56 - 2019 Sustainability Report

A DREAM COME TRUE

COMPANY DONATION DRIVES SCHOOL SPIRIT

FOR STUDENTS, STAFF AND PRINCIPAL

It took weeks, and not every day was better than the one “What we’ve done for this girl is just one way we really
before. But gradually, she felt a physical change sweep work to meet our families where they are,” says Peeples,
over the girl. Cone’s principal. “Living with anxiety isn’t my reality, but
that doesn’t mean that it’s a reality I can’t understand.”
On the one hand, it’s sad that anxiety has become so
common in children. On the other, that commonality has Peeples is among the rare few who never had a job or
meant a greater understanding of the condition than ever a career. She had a calling.
before. Neither point means much when a 7-year-old A military brat, she bounced around the country as a
overcome with emotion is resisting her siblings, her parents child, but always excelled in the classroom — the only
and her teachers because she can’t handle the stress of place, she says, that ever felt consistent. When it came
simply walking into school. time to attend university, she found a home in Greensboro,
“She was having a hard time even getting on the school where she earned degrees from Greensboro College and,
bus,” said Shannon Peeples, EdD. “We went to her home later, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She’s
because her family didn’t have a phone at that point, and since dedicated the past 23 years of her life to educating
we spoke with her parents. Then I asked the bus driver, the local community.
‘Will you pick me up in the morning so I can ride with For the past two years, Peeples’ calling has brought her to
you?’ For the better part of the next two months, I rode Cone Elementary, where nearly all 502 students are eligible
with her on my lap, assuring her that it was OK and that for free or reduced meals.
we would be all right.”
“When I first started, there were some in the community
Many months on, the 7-year-old still suffers with anxiety. who said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to work at Cone,’ but that’s
But she also rides the bus on her own each morning and, not how I see this place,” she said. “I see a home. I see
without a physical struggle, walks into Cone Elementary a welcoming community. We have great kids. We have a
School in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she thrives in great staff and a lot of things are going on here. We should
the second grade. Peeples, who is largely responsible for celebrate that.”
the girl’s growth, isn’t a miracle worker. What she is — who
she is — is an educator and what she’s achieved with her Peeples’ earliest goals as Cone’s principal centered on
student is just part of the job. improving the school environment. She took steps to foster
better working conditions for the staff, instituted policies
designed to keep the building cleaner, and encouraged all
“Living with anxiety isn’t my reality, ideas that would make the school a “brighter and more
but that doesn’t mean that it’s a reality child-focused” place.
I can’t understand.”

Employees from Central Rock Quarry, the local Martin Marietta operation, meet with staff
from Cone Elementary. From left: Leadman Billy Ashby, Yokeisha Colvin, Shannon Peeples
and Shane Hopson.

56 / MARTIN MARIETTA / SUSTAINABILITY REPORT / 2019