Denita Dowell-Reavis
“Lights, camera, action” echoed across the campus of Sugar Loaf Elementary School this weekend as a film crew with the North Carolina Education Lottery visited the school.
The lottery organization sent a production team to Sugar Loaf to create a promotional video highlighting the school’s new gymnasium and office space. The gym was funded through a $5.3 million competitive needs-based grant supported by lottery revenue. The grant was awarded in January 2023, and the crew cast Sugar Loaf teachers and students to appear in the promotion.
Principal Dawn Leary said the experience was memorable for the school community. “It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Sugar Loaf Elementary,” Leary said. “Four staff members and nine students were either interviewed or participated as part of the student talent pool. In what felt like no time at all, the school was transformed into a full film set.”
To qualify for the lottery funds, the state requires the county commission to contribute $265,000, or 5 percent of the project cost. The gym has been in use since fall 2024, while the school’s media center opened in October 2025.
Pinnacle Architecture of Matthews designed the project, and JM Cope of Rock Hill completed the construction. The design included new office space, a guest lobby and a secure entryway at Sugar Loaf.
At an October ribbon-cutting ceremony for the media center, Superintendent Dr. Bill Griffin said the district also used $700,000 from capital funds generated by the half-cent sales tax to complete the library design.
The construction project reached a celebratory moment March 7 when the lottery production team filmed scenes across campus. Longtime Sugar Loaf teacher and now instructional coach Liz Cronan was among those featured in the video.
“I was excited that our sweet school had the opportunity to showcase the amazing spaces we now have because of the lottery funds,” Cronan said. Both Cronan and Leary said the production crew transformed the campus during filming.
“We are grateful to have had the opportunity to showcase our school and students through this unique experience with the North Carolina Education Lottery,” Leary said.
In 2017, state legislators created a needs-based grant program to help fund school construction projects. Administered by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the program uses lottery dollars to help smaller counties address critical building needs, including constructing new schools and renovating older facilities.
According to the lottery website, more than $416.5 million raised by the lottery helped 16 counties meet school construction needs last year.
Sugar Loaf Elementary opened in 1958. Before the gym and media center project, the school was most recently updated in 2002 with the addition of six classrooms.