SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — An Upstate principal is encouraging his students to set goals and keep promises.
“It’s the first time I’ve done it, so when they rolled that door open and it’s go time, you look at the door and you look down, you don’t really have time to think. And it’s like, ‘this is for real now,” said Abner Creek Academy Principal Shayne Daugherty.
Daugherty said he’s a man of his word, and this week, he kept a promise he made to students during the school’s boosterthon fundraiser for the parent-teacher organization.
“It was a pretty big challenge for them, a lot of money to raise, so I thought it was a great challenge to meet them with,” said Daugherty.
To raise money for some upgrades to the school’s outdoor classroom area, he set goals to encourage his students during the fundraiser.
“We set one at $20,000 and my assistant principals and myself agreed that if they reached $20,000, we’d slip and slide into a pool of slime,” said Daugherty.
He said his students hit this goal and he wanted to go bigger. So, he set a new goal of $30,000. He said if they met the goal, he’d go skydiving.
“And I said, ‘Oh, they’ll never really make $30,000 because the night before they were at like $22,000.” I was feeling pretty safe, I’m not going to jump out of this plane,” said Daugherty.
But he said he was in for a big surprise.
“I got up the next morning, and they were at 31, $32,000, so they had raised $10,000 in one night and so my heart sank just a little bit,” said Daugherty.
This week, he jumped out of a plane from 14,000 feet in the sky.
“They get really motivated by seeing their leaders do funny things or scary things or challenging things. To raise that kind of money is a huge challenge, especially in this economy that we’re in now, but we have a great support group in our community,” said Daugherty.
He said his students inspired him to take a leap of faith, and he hopes they take something positive away from this adventure too.
“Challenge yourself to reach things you don’t think you can, and also be a man of your word and a lady of your word. If you say you’re going to do something, you hold to it,” said Daugherty.
Daugherty also said he’s grateful for all the donations they received during the fundraiser. He said some of the money will fund upgrades to an outdoor classroom area. He said they plan to add bleachers and create more shade, so the area can be used for outdoor plays and performances.