Local students enroll at USC Upstate
The following students have enrolled at USC Upstate for fall semester: Khadijah Badger, Javasia Brown, Tiara Cooper, James Duke, Jordan Field, Jacilyn Frazier, Samuel Green, Amanda Holley, Sydni McDonald, Matthew Morgan, Walicia Patterson, Paris Smith, Sarah Wilson and Chelsea Witter, all of Beaufort; Tatiana Barber, of Okatie; and Aqeela Aiken, Sasha-Gaye Brown, Tess Brown, Victoria Brown, Selice Daley, Dominique Lindsey, Jaquille Mosley, Bobbie Sanchez, James Tisdale and Terryann Tracey, all of Bluffton.
Two additional schools earn STEM certification
Two additional Beaufort County School district schools have earned prestigious certifications in science, technology, engineering and mathematics instruction following on-site visits by outside review teams.
Okatie Elementary School and River Ridge Academy are the newest district schools to earn STEM Certification from AdvancED, a nonprofit organization that provides on-site external reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems around the world.
Four district schools earned AdvancED STEM certification in 2015: Beaufort Elementary, Michael C. Riley Elementary and Pritchardville Elementary schools and Lady’s Island Middle School.
“This latest news means that the district’s perfect record is intact,” said Superintendent Jeff Moss. “All six schools that have sought STEM certification have achieved it, and that’s a powerful affirmation of the quality of their instruction and the dedication of their staffs.”
Darrell Barringer, AdvancED’s state director, said that six of South Carolina’s 17 current STEM-certified schools are in Beaufort County, twice the number of schools in any other district.
“We’re very pleased with Beaufort County’s commitment to quality STEM instruction,” Barringer said.
AdvancED touts its STEM Certification as “the first internationally recognized mark of quality for STEM schools and programs, signaling the growing emphasis placed on STEM education by educators, politicians and business leaders around the world.”
AdvancED requires applying schools to meet its STEM Certification standards as reflected by their performance across 11 rigorous indicators.
AdvancED reviewers examine each school’s evidence of quality STEM education that the schools provided to the review team beforehand, and on-site classroom observations then focus on identifying student engagement and collaboration in the
learning process.
Holy Trinity raises $650,000 in campaign
Administrators, faculty, staff and parents at Holy Trinity Classical Christian School are celebrating after the school’s first annual fundraising campaign ended in a blaze of glory.
The 2015-2016 campaign, “Love to Learn, Learn to Love,” raised more than $650,000 to continue the school’s mission of providing a classical Christian education to elementary, middle and high school students.
The annual fund campaign is the tangible manifestation of a decision made by the Holy Trinity board of trustees to support families by adopting a faith-based
tuition policy.
While other private schools typically rely on tuition to cover a significant percentage of their operating costs, Holy Trinity chose another path. Under its 40/60 model, tuition covers 60 percent of all operating costs, and donors contribute the remaining 40 percent to help sustain the school’s viability.
The term “faith-based” refers to the board’s belief that God will provide to enable the school to continue doing His work.
In late May, after receiving a $100,000 disbursement from the Farrell & Elizabeth Runyan endowment, the school was still shy of reaching its goal of $651,500. This caused the leadership of the school to press into God through prayer. And then an unexpected gift of $50,000 arrived the last week of school, pushing the grand total to $652,768.84.
“We at Holy Trinity continue to be amazed at how God continues to provide for our school,” said the Rev. Chad E. Lawrence, the school headmaster. “We are so grateful for the support we have received from generous individuals, many of whom don’t even have a child in the school.”
The school has recently commenced its 2016-2017 annual fund campaign with an even larger goal of $791,600 to accommodate for the school’s rapid growth.
Holy Trinity’s 275 students in grades preschool through nine study Latin, the great works of poetry, literature, art, music, history, phonics and mathematics, all within the framework of a Christ-centered learning environment.
“When we started the school, I knew it would have an impact on the students,” said Lawrence. “What I didn’t realize is how it would change entire families. This is precisely why it’s so important that we keep tuition within reach for those who passionately desire a classical Christian education for their children.”
