Laurens County

We are so proud of our 2025-2026 District Teacher of the Year! We look forward to more great things happening at Laurens Elementary School and our district. Congratulations, Jamie Flaniken!

Congratulations to our Raider Athletes for being nominated for various awards! Male Athlete of the Year - Dakota McCall Female Athlete of the Year - Zoe Young Team of the Year - LDHS wrestling Scholar Athlete of the Year - Logan Martin Best Performance of the Year - Zoe Young vs Wren Service Award - Ben Willis Courage Award - Zaine Kellett Coach of the Year - Lawson Jordan Football Player of the Year - Jamauri Williams Baseball Player of the Year - Bennett Edwards Wrestler of the Year - Dakota McCall, Michael Aiken Boys Tennis Player of the Year - Bates Turner, Price Turner Girls Tennis Player of the Year - Sara Beth Field, Ella Sanders Softball Player of the Year - Carly Edwards Boys Basketball Player of the Year - Tyj Jones Girls Basketball Player of the Year - Zoe Young Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year - Cody Patterson Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year - Mary Ellis Power Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year - Zakarion Simpson Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year - Audri Dixon Boys Soccer Player of the Year - Victor Diaz, Arlington Castro Girls Soccer Player of the Year - Kaylie Howard, Marlen Garcia Volleyball Player of the Year - Za’Khia Davenport Competitive Cheerleader of the Year - Mary Frances Kennedy, Nya Hunter Boys Golfer of the Year - Ashton Wilson, Michael Hamby Girls Golfer of the Year - Gracin Gilstrap, Nora Beth Storey People's Choice Award - Grayson Ledford, Avery Madden, Nyri Allen, Leyden Gentry, Peyton George, Ashlyn Messer, Dakota McCall

Please consider registering your child/student for the summer camps offered by our athletics and robotics teams. Your child/student is guaranteed to learn and have fun. These summer camps are opportunities for our teams to raise funds. Kindly support them by registering and or sharing this information. https://bit.ly/HotRodSTEMCamp2025 https://bit.ly/2025BasketballSummerCamp https://bit.ly/2025RaiderTennisSummerCamp

We are excited for the upcoming Class of 2025 Laurens District 55 High School Graduation on May 30, 2025. Please read the press release for very important information. https://bit.ly/2025GraduationInformation https://bit.ly/Spanish2025GraduationInformation

Laurens County School District 55 Hosts Luncheon Honoring Future Educators On May 13, 2025, Laurens County School District 55 administrators and parents joined students for a special luncheon celebrating their commitment to pursue careers in education through college or university pathways. Several of the honored students were part of the LDHS Teacher Cadet class, taught by Kimberly Martin. During the event, district administrators pledged their support to these aspiring educators as they embark on their journey to become future teachers.

Rotary Club of Laurens, a long-time community partner of Laurens County School District 55 (LCSD 55), partnered to hold a food drive that ran last week through May 16, 2025. The LCSD 55 District Office was the collection site for donated items. Ashley Smith, President of The Rotary Club of Laurens, picked up the donations on May 19, 2025. The Rotary Club of Laurens will donate the items collected to the South Carolina Empowerment Centre on Thursday, May 22, 2025. Thank you to all who donated items!

Congratulations, Jonathan Schwalbe! We are excited to have you as our 2025-2026 Sanders Middle School Principal. Please read our press release. https://bit.ly/SchwalbeandStarling

Congratulations, Emily Starling! We are excited to have you as our 2025-2026 Director of the Office of Special Education Services. Please read our press release. https://bit.ly/SchwalbeandStarling

We regret to inform you that we are experiencing technical difficulties with our livestream equipment. We will be unable to broadcast a livestream of the May 19, 2025, LCSD 55 Board of Trustees Work Session and Board Meeting on YouTube and Facebook. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We will share a link to the recordings tomorrow afternoon.

We celebrate Coach Lynne Todd for being named the 2024-2025 Region 1 AAAA Boys Tennis Coach of the Year. Coach Todd has taken our Boys Tennis Team to new heights and continues to aspire for greater things to happen for both the Girls and Boys Tennis Teams. This summer, the Raider Girls and Boys Tennis Teams will hold a Tennis Summer Camp. Please consider registering your child/student and or help spread the word to support our Tennis Teams. Participants are guaranteed to have fun and learn. Girls and Boys Raider Tennis Teams Camp, June 9 - 11, 8 AM -9:30 AM, Laurens District 55 High School Tennis Courts Registration Fee: $60.00 per camper For more information, contact Lynne Todd at lntodd@laurens55.org or 864-923-4038 Registration Form: https://bit.ly/2025TennisSummerCamp

We celebrate our speech therapists/speech-language pathologists!

During the week of May 5-9, 2025, we celebrated our teachers and staff with pizza lunches. We also drew winners for various items provided by our business partners. Thank you again to all our sponsors!

Please join the fun at Joe Adair Outdoor Education Center.

We are proud to announce that members of the Laurens District 55 High School Track Team have qualified to compete in the Region 1-AAAA State Track Meet! The meet will take place on Friday, May 16, 2025, at 5:00 PM at Richland Northeast High School. This is an exciting opportunity for our student-athletes to showcase their hard work, dedication, and talent on a major stage. We encourage our community to show their support for the team as they represent Laurens District 55 with pride. For more details and ticket information, please visit laurens55athletics.com. Best of luck to our Raiders at State!

We are proud to celebrate Coach Tori Patterson's graduation from the Tomorrow's 25 Inaugural Class. We look forward to seeing more great things happening with Raiders Baseball. Please read our press release. https://bit.ly/PattersonTomorrows25Graduate https://bit.ly/SpanishPattersonTomorrows25Graduate

Thank you to all our Laurens County School District 55 Physical Education teachers and athletics coaches! The guidance and support you give our students and athletes are greatly appreciated.

We are excited to celebrate our 2025-2026 Teachers of the Year. Thank you for helping our district build a 5-star culture of excellence! They will be celebrated on May 22, 2025. The district will announce the 2025-2026 District Teacher of the Year at the celebration.

We thank all the mothers in our district and community for the support you give our students. Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to all our school communicators for keeping our students, families, and stakeholders informed!

The Rotary Club of Laurens has been a partner of Laurens County School District 55 for many years. Last week, they honored our 2024-2025 Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors Top Ten Students. As part of our partnership, we are sharing information about the Rotary Club of Laurens Food Drive (now-May 16, 2025). We hope you can participate. Items Needed: peanut butter, jelly, canned fruit, instant grits packets, canned and boxed pasta Drop Donations at Laurens County School District 55 301 Hillcrest Drive, Laurens, SC Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM Now - May 16