School sells bricks to fund extracurricular activities - KMSP-TV

As school budgets decrease, school officials have to find ways to fund extracurricular activities. North Gwinnett High School is raising the money they need in a unique way.

When the high school opened in 1958 there were just over 300 students. Today, nearly 3000 walk the halls. So expansion became necessary. School officials came up with a way to use the bricks from the old building to help pay for projects on the new one.

The construction going on at the school saw part of its brick structure demolished to make room for the newer, bigger building. What did school officials do with all those bricks? They kept them.

"These are from the original building, which was 1958," said Grady York of North Gwinnett High School, as he stood next to a pile of the old bricks. "You think about all the thousands of people that have come through our school. The people that are now doctors and lawyers, moms and dads that live across the country, that live in Atlanta, that live outside,people that live right here," said Grady York of North Gwinnett High School.

School officials are now hoping to turn that nostalgia into cash. It's gotten tough to fund extracurricular activities, so they've come up with the idea of selling the bricks for $30 each. The money will go to needed projects around the athletic field, such as a storage shed for equipment.

"By putting the tractor, by putting the gator, by putting those things in the building, we might elongate three or four more years. When you look at the simplicity of that, is that we can now take the money we would spend on maintenance fees, tires, or all that stuff, we can put it towards our kids," said York.

In the school's weight room, they'd like to add lockers, make needed repairs to the ceiling, and get new weight racks. They hope to do it with the money raised by selling the bricks.

"We really, really want to make sure that people get an opportunity to continue to stay connected with us, to stay engaged with us and to stay in support of us. We literally believe that these brick built our future," said York.

North Gwinnett High School is also selling chairs used for years in the athletic department. The chairs have the North Gwinnett logo. They also are $30.  All the money will go directly into the capital fund. For information on how you can obtain a commemorative brick, click here!