Standing outside Franklin Academy on Wednesday, almost 50 years after attending, Vince Britton felt like he had come full circle.
“Coming back to a place like this and being able to provide this service … it’s kind of hard to put words to it,” said Britton, a Tennessee Valley Authority foreman.
Britton was one of 17 TVA representatives who upgraded 60 light fixtures at Franklin Academy on Wednesday at no cost to the Columbus Municipal School District. The project was one of TVA’s regular “days of service,” said Lloyd Perrigin, a TVA transmission service manager and the lead organizer for the project.
“We’re just trying to let everyone know that TVA is engaged and we want to give back to the community,” he said.
Six of them — Britton, Perrigin, Jonathan Desmidt, Jason Honnoll, Brad Stapp and Larry Tate — attended CMSD schools in their youth. Perrigin, Britton and Tate visited Franklin in January to determine the scope of the lighting upgrade project.
Perrigin and Britton attended Franklin in the 1970s and later played high school football under Robert Smith — now the mayor of Columbus, but the two former students still call him “Coach.”
A project for CMSD was Perrigin’s first thought when he was tasked with a community engagement project, he said, so he went directly to Smith with the request.
“The connections to the district made the experience personal,” CMSD Superintendent Cherie Labat told The Dispatch. “Listening to the nostalgia of stories about the Magnolia Bowl was priceless.”
The lighting upgrade came right in time for the school’s 200th anniversary on Feb. 12: Franklin is Mississippi’s first and oldest institution of public education.
Almost half of the new lights were in the Franklin library, with 25 there and the rest in classrooms, Perrigin said. The conversion from fluorescent to LED bulbs not only saves power and provides more visibility, he said, but they also last eight to 10 years while fluorescent lights only last a year at a time.
Librarian Dena Bradford said the difference between the old and new lights was “amazing.”
“Some days I have to keep the blinds closed while the children are in here because the sun comes right through (and gets in their eyes),” she said. “It’s really bright, especially in the spring and early summer months, so this is going to be a tremendous help.”
CMSD Board President Jason Spears said more energy-efficient lighting benefits the entire district long-term.
“If there’s less dollars that go toward keeping the lights on and changing the equipment, there’s more dollars that go toward the children sitting in the seats,” Spears said.
CMSD is currently working on a capital improvement program for the Franklin building with the goal of “modernizing it and providing a more conducive environment for learning,” Spears said.
Labat and Spears both said they hope to continue the district’s engagement with TVA, such as consulting for future electrical projects and having TVA employees speak to Columbus High School seniors about their career options.
Tate, a TVA community representative, said he looks forward to talking to students.
“(We’ll be) telling them where we came from and where we’ve been,” he said. “We didn’t have much growing up, and now look at everyone working at TVA being successful, and TVA doing a lot for the school system.”
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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