The Strom Thurmond High School administration and faculty seek to help all students reach their full potential by making each decision with all students in mind. Our purpose as a school is to create a safe, caring, and robust learning environment that will engage, empower, and enrich all students.
To reach these goals, our administration and staff continue to provide multiple programs and initiatives that promote success for our students including a modified master schedule, Saturday Academy, Freshman Academy, Career Academy, and our partnerships with VirtualSC and Piedmont Technical College. Through these programs, our students have additional opportunities to complete needed credits and get assistance. With the implementation of the wheel class, our freshman students are all exposed to fourteen career and technical education (CTE) offerings. Additionally, new classes have been added to provide students with flexibility in their schedules while gaining career skills and experiencing hands-on applications.
With the advancements of technology and our school now being a one-to-one school, where every student is issued a chromebook, we are promoting professional inquiry, communication, and collaboration skills. Our school-wide goal is for improvement in information literacy, specifically the student’s ability to gather, interpret, and apply necessary information. We plan to continue studying and utilizing the Profile of the South Carolina and the Edgefield County Graduate to ensure our students are prepared with college and workforce readiness skills.
In order to create a safe learning environment, new security measures have been put into place with the completion of construction on our campus. Updates have been completed inside and outside of our campus to ensure the safety of our students. The addition of the theater and new gym provide our students with new opportunities to express their talents and gifts outside of the classroom.
We will continue our systematic approach to gain an accurate picture of our school community’s strengths and weaknesses. This information will be used to improve student achievement and meet challenging academic standards in our state. Administrators and teachers will continue to use the Cognia accreditation process that collects and examines information about school wide issues. We will then utilize our data to determine priority goals, develop a plan, and allocate funds and resources. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other community members will be asked to participate in the data collection process through surveys and program studies. We will continue to utilize a professional development model that provides ongoing opportunities for our teachers to incorporate best practices in the classroom.
From the comprehensive instructional and extracurricular programs to the high standards for teaching and learning, Strom Thurmond High School strives to provide opportunities that parallel our values and beliefs. We believe these opportunities will improve the quality of instruction, teacher-student interactions, school climate, and safety. At Strom Thurmond High, we work daily to fulfill our mission, purpose, and direction.
