Seventy-First Consolidated School

About this property

Seventy-First Classical Middle School (SFCMS) is a middle school within the Cumberland County district. It is located at 6830 Raeford Road in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It serves students from grades 6 through 8. The school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:40 p.m. The school's current principal is Christin Etchison. The main building was constructed in 1924 and expanded in 1938 and 1949. It is a two-story, modified H-shaped Collegiate Gothic-style brick building with a nine-bay main block flanked by two one-bay projecting wings. The Seventy-First School was formed by the consolidation of six schools in the Seventy-First township: the McPherson, Glendale, Raymount, Kornbow, Westover and Galatia schools. These six schools were staffed by one to three teachers each. The two story brick school originally had 13 classrooms, an auditorium, and a privately managed lunch room. Five classrooms were used for high school work. The first year, the school had an enrollment of 367 pupils. It served as a high school from 1924 until 1962, when it was then converted to an elementary school. The building now serves as a middle school, with the name Seventy-First Classical Middle School. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as the Seventy-First Consolidated School. The nomination also includes several contributing buildings: the gymnasium (1951), cafeteria / classroom building (1951–1952), portable classroom (1945), and athletic field (c. 1941). SFCMS requires all students to take math, English, science, and social studies each year. Of these subjects, the only ones assessed through standardized testing are English and math (as well as science in eighth grade only), in accordance with North Carolina's standardized testing policy. English and math classes last for two periods, twice as long as science and social studies classes. (The total number of periods in the day is eight: two for English, two for Math, one for Science, one for Social Studies, and one for each of the two Electives.) Below is a list of all the Elective classes, also known as Essential classes, that were offered at SFCMS during the 2024–25 school year. Students are required to choose two Elective courses to take every year. Below is a list of all the clubs and extracurricular activities offered at SFCMS during the 2024–25 school year. Classical Challenge Basketball Team (see Classical Challenge section) The Classical Challenge is an annual basketball game between SFCMS and its fellow middle school, Reid Ross Classical, held in the spring. As SFCMS is a school of choice, it does not maintain a traditional interscholastic athletic program. The Classical Challenge is the only sporting event of the year for the school. SFCMS currently has a three-year winning streak in this competition, having won in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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