From staff reports
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center has announced that Beaufort High School senior Averie Tracewell has been selected as the third annual recipient of the Conroy Center’s Future Educator Scholarship, a $5,000 award.
“Averie is a perfect example of what can happen when talent is combined with hard work. She is truly an inspirational student and future teacher,” said scholarship committee member Celeste Prince-Brown, a Beaufort County School District teacher-mentor who was also a Beaufort High student of Pat Conroy’s. “Averie recognizes the real difference one teacher can make in the lives of students. Our schools need Averie’s talents, her ideas, and her leadership.”
Tracewell will begin her studies at the University of South Carolina Beaufort this fall, majoring in education. As a dual enrollment student at the Technical College of the Lowcountry, she has already completed many college courses during high school.
For three years, Tracewell has be part of the Beaufort High Swim Team, serving as co-captain for the last two. She has also been a member of Voices (Beaufort High’s auditioned choir) for four years and performed in Theater for two years. As a member of Beaufort High’s DECA for two years, Tracewell has been recognized as a State Winner, Regional Top Ten, and Internationally Competitor. She also volunteers with St. Peter’s Catholic School as a math tutor and now serves as a counselor in the Fripp Island Camp.
A Senior Scholar and Honors student, Tracewell is graduating ranked in the Top 10 of her class.
A multi-faceted artist with passions for reading, writing, art, photography, and music, Tracewell hopes to teach elementary education in Beaufort County.
A group of experienced educators and mentors serve as the Conroy Center’s scholarship selection committee. They were unanimous and enthusiastic in Tracewell’s selection as the 2025 scholarship awardee.
Retired educator and education administrator Tim Conroy said, “During Averie’s scholarship interview, I felt my brother Pat smiling down on her because she possesses such keen insight into the passion and creativity it takes to be an inspirational teacher. Averie has already begun to pass on those lessons she acquired from her teachers to students through her volunteer activities. The Conroy Center congratulates Averie as she embarks on her journey into the holiest profession, where one becomes a lifelong learner, mentor, and someone’s great teacher.”
Established to encourage and support Beaufort County high school seniors with a declared intent to pursue a career in education, the Pat Conroy Literary Center Future Educator Scholarship honors the teaching legacy of the late Pat Conroy (1945-2016), acclaimed bestselling author of “The Water Is Wide,” “The Great Santini,” “The Lords of Discipline,” “The Prince of Tides,” and more. The scholarship is funded through the generosity of former educators.
The scholarship’s inaugural recipient, Darby Kinsey, a 2023 graduate of Battery Creek High and the Technical College of the Lowcountry, has completed her education degree at Charleston Southern University. The 2024 scholarship winner, Beaufort High graduate Kierra Thompson, is a rising sophomore at UNC Wilmington, pursuing her studies in music education.
To learn more about the year-round educational mission of the nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.
