Members of Red Bay High School and Community Spirit Bank gather around the school’s new flagpole.

By Brandi Miller for the FCT

At Red Bay High School, visitors will notice a nice addition in the front of the main school building. A new flagpole and the area surrounding it have recently been added to the campus, thanks to Community Spirit Bank.

The bank was made aware of the need by a couple of seniors, and it wasted no time in making the improvement to the school.

“Brooklyn Bolton and Katie Burks began organizing a group of students to meet at the flagpole on Tuesday morning to pray for each other, their classmates, teachers and the school in general,” said Brad Bolton, president and CEO of Community Spirit Bank. “After a few weeks of meeting, she mentioned that there was no flag on the pole. I then began questioning why, and she was told that a flag wouldn’t stay up there. I then emailed Mr. Sparks about why the flagpole couldn’t be repaired, and he told me the mechanism was broken at the top and it was an old “homemade” pole and not even a real standard flagpole.”

Once Bolton was made aware of the problem he suggested becoming involved in putting up a new pole. Sparks thought it was a great idea.

“I got our chairman of the board and my dad, Billy Bolton, involved with the project,” said Bolton.

The installation crew dug out the hillside and placed a brick wall that would allow students or anyone visiting the campus to sit around the flagpole. A light was also installed so the flag can stay up at night. Some shrubbery and grass was added to finish dressing up the area.

The flagpole project was completed in the last couple of weeks, and the students who are meeting for prayer each Tuesday morning now have a working flagpole to meet at and pray around.

“I would like to thank Community Spirit Bank, Billy Bolton and Brad Bolton for helping us maintain our campus the past few years,” said Sparks. “We could not keep our campus looking as good as it does without our community support.”

Bolton and Sparks said the flagpole will be a great addition for many years to come.