Pelion High School is helping all students develop the World-Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by developing in our students the wide variety of performance tasks, habits and ethics necessary to be successful. In academic, athletic, fine art and career/technical pursuits, our students hone their talents, content knowledge and work ethic to gain a competitive advantage after high school.
This year, our administrative focus has been to enhance the high school experience for all students. Half of our administrative team was new to PHS this year and together we made great strides in creating a student-centered environment that is conducive to social, academic, technological and pedagogical innovation. Our Erica Page was named the 2018 NASSP National Assistant Principal of the Year. This honor was advantageous for PHS as Ms. Page used her speaking opportunities to share the school’s initiatives and successes with district, state and national school leaders.
PHS students continued to improve their performance on AP exams and we have increased the number of dual enrollment course offerings. We continued offering college courses in the health sciences, agriculture, horticulture and fine arts. This year we added an additional five courses in English, history and humanities. For 2018–2019 our dual credit offerings continue to grow with the addition of four dual credit courses in our world language department. Along with these opportunities to receive college credit, our students continue to benefit from Advanced Placement classes in biology, U.S. history, English and calculus. With Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement combined, our students earned over 200 college credits during 2017–2018 and with current enrollment we anticipate that number increasing to 250 for the 2018–2019 school year.
Our students learn from work-based learning experiences and service projects across the curriculum. These activities are encouraged by all adults on campus and are supplemental to our students’ routine participation in extracurricular clubs, student government, fine arts, athletics and Army JROTC. These extended performance opportunities have increased our students’ awareness of the career preparation opportunities provided by Lexington District One and propelled students into fields of study such as our Center for Advanced Agribusiness Research and the many in-district programs offered at Lexington Technology Center.
The fine arts and athletic programs continue to thrive. This year, our students and instructors in fine arts were pleased to again receive the Outstanding Performance Award, the highest honor given to a high school music program in South Carolina.
The 2017–18 Pelion Athletics season was a success on many levels. Both our men and women won cross country and track Region 5-AAA championships. Our wrestling program earned the first playoff win in school history and had a record number qualify for the state individual tournament. Women’s basketball made the playoffs and surpassed their win total from the previous five years.
Our counseling department continues to focus on our goal of having 100 percent of our seniors accepted into a two- or four-year college, or enlisted in the United States Military.
With our solid base of strong academics enhanced by exciting career and technology offerings and an award-winning fine arts program, the stakeholders of our learning community are proud and have high future expectations. We will continue to build on our successes and strive to empower each Pelion Panther to design the future.
W. Bryan Hearn, Principal
Amy Miller, SIC Chair
