Bell Monument

The cornerstone monuments were put in sometime in the year 2001. The Board Member names listed on one of the cornerstone monuments are: H.W Tice, J.L Bodwell, R.L Theibaud dating back to 1915. On the other side of the monument there is a second cornerstone with names of the Board Members from 1953: Lorenzor R England, Wilbur W Power, J. Warren Fincher and Principal Mrs. Bertha M Vest.

The recorded names of those that attended the dedication ceremony in 1954 of building 200 are still kept in the district office. Three of the names that attended the ceremony are written on the 1953 cornerstone monument side where the bell sits. These names are Wilbur W Power, who was President of the School Board, J Warren Fincher (archives read, Jean Fincher) and Mrs. Bertha M Vest, who was one of the five Higley School teachers in 1954.

The Higley Traditional Academy has a motto that it follows, “honor the past and shape the future.” A tradition is followed every year by ringing the old black school bell at the beginning of the school year. The bell is rung again at the end of the school year as a remembrance of teachers and students that have moved on to a different journey, leaving their memories in the school for the many years to come.