Garrett Academy of Technology is located in North Charleston, South Carolina, and is a comprehensive Career and Technology magnet high school of 401 students, who represent all of the constituent districts within Charleston County School District. We are dedicated to rigorous and relevant instruction in both academics and technical courses of study. Students are afforded the opportunity to select from nine areas of career and technology-focused Career Pathways (CTE), as well as select Honors, Advanced Placement and Dual Credit Courses.
Our focus and purpose for every student is for each to graduate from Garrett Academy of Technology with the critical thinking and communication skills necessary to succeed in college and in the 21st Century global workforce as outlined by the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. We invite all of our stakeholders, including parents, alumni, business partners, and community members, to join us in supporting our students in attaining these necessary skills. To promote the success of all students, every student is assigned an advisor with whom to meet twice a month.
We provide all of our students with Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs), which are aligned with their chosen career pathways. Our successes can be found in the 91% of our students becoming CTE completers. The CTE Completer Rate is a strong indicator that Garrett students are provided with the opportunities to grow into critical thinkers and develop the creativity they need for career readiness. Additionally, Garrett provides many relevant work experiences for students through participation in School-to-Career shadowing and co-op placements, providing hands-on, work-based learning experiences in their chosen fields. We also have improved opportunities for our students in Advanced Placement and Dual Credit Courses. 28% of our 11th and 12th grade students were enrolled in Advanced Placement and Dual Credit Courses with 100% of the students achieving a grade of C or better in the course. We will continue to work on increasing the number of our students who perform at silver or above on WIN, which is a college and career readiness indicator. And, we continue to work on improving student success in the areas of literacy and numeracy.
Our students are able to develop strong communication and problem solving skills through planning, organizing and completing community service projects with various community agencies and organizations to include My Sister’s House, Water Missions International, Toys for Tots, Lowcountry Food Bank and Operations Clean Sweep. One hundred percent of our students participated in student organizations, such as Student Council, National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Jefferson’s Award Community Service Organization, and other community service projects and school clubs.
At Garrett Academy of Technology we champion our fundamental core belief that every student is unique, valuable, and capable of learning. By focusing on critical thinking and communication skills, we work to ensure our students will be competitive in college, their careers, and in a global world.
Charity Summers, Principal
Lucia Boinest, SIC Chair
