Community Impact

Henderson Mill Elementary School is the heart of our community.

Front view of Henderson Mill School, with stairs leading up to entrance, plants on either side, and a covered walkway.

A Community That Cares

Generations of families have walked through the halls of HMES. Life-long friendships have been made and a love of learning discovered time and time again. We are a strong, thriving and supportive group of neighbors that take care of each other and invest in our children’s education and future.

During the 2025 federal government shutdown that temporarily suspended access to the SNAP program, Henderson Mill parents came together to raise over $5,000 to provide grocery cards for those in our community most affected.

As part of their PBL (project based learning), our 5th grade class is building a sustainable food pantry at Henderson Mill. Students focus on the United Nations goal of ending hunger by taking responsibility for managing food resources within their school community. They are responsible for purchasing, organizing supplies and developing a system to ensure the project carries on once they attend middle school through informational binders and the training of current fourth graders. 

A former student of HMES returned last summer to complete his Eagle Scout project: restoring our outdoor classroom. Over the course of a month, he and his friends came and cleared out all of the brush, replaced rotting boards on benches and platforms, and painted our whole outdoor classroom to create a safe, comfortable, and exciting alternative environment for our children to learn about nature.

An outdoor scene with tiered blue and green park benches on dirt ground, and a wooden platform with a small table and a whiteboard or sign at the back, surrounded by trees and bushes.

A school that invests in its community will have a community that invests back into that school.

Closing Henderson Mill Elementary risks eliminating the programs, partnerships and hands-on, intimate learning environment that can’t simply be replicated elsewhere.