Garrett Academy of Technology is located in North Charleston, South Carolina, and is a comprehensive Career and Technology magnet high school of 299 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 eight 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 94% of our graduates becoming CTE completers. The CTE Completer Rate is a strong indicator that Garrett students are provided with the opportunity to grow as critical thinkers and develop the creativity they need for college and/or career readiness. Being a CTE Completer, coupled with an industry recognized certification allows a student to be classified as “College and/or Career Ready.” In 2018-2019 Garrett Academy had nearly 80% of the graduating seniors classified as College and/or Career Ready, which was an increase of over 39% from the previous year. 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 opportunities for our students in Advanced Placement and Dual Credit Courses, with 17% of our 11th and 12th grade students enrolled in Advanced Placement and Dual Credit Courses. We will continue to work on increasing the number of our students who perform at silver or above on WIN, which is another college and career readiness indicator. In 2018-2019, we retested all of our seniors on WIN and were able to raise the percentage of those who received Silver or better to 50%, an increase of 15.1%. And, we continue to utilize personalized learning and digital curricula to improve 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, Toys for Tots, Lowcountry Food Bank and Operations Clean Sweep. 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, with each grade-level being required to sponsor at least one school-wide service project.
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 competing in college, their careers, and in a global world.
Why fly, when you can SOAR!
Dale B. Metzger III, Principal
Lucia Boinest, SIC Chair