South Aiken High School, where All Means ALL, is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate through the fervent implementation of evidence-based core educational intervention strategies. Our intentional efforts to live up to our motto “Every Thoroughbred, Every Day, All Means ALL” is why we have placed continued emphasis on meeting the needs of all of our students to ensure they achieve success in their post-secondary lives.
As an Advanced Placement (AP) Academy, South Aiken currently offers 23 AP courses in a wide array of disciplines. We offer these AP courses to all of our students and encourage every student to take at least one AP course before they graduate in an area that interests them. This focus on students taking an AP course is rooted in the understanding that AP is not just for the student who is college bound, but rather AP courses serve as a vehicle for all students to enhance development of real world skills and characteristics.
South Aiken places an emphasis on AP courses, but we also know that productive citizens can sustain themselves and their families financially for a lifetime. This understanding is why we also encourage and celebrate our students’ pursuits in a Career & Technical Education (CTE) Completer Pathway in one of the 15 Career Clusters. All of the Career Clusters provide another avenue to build capacity in our students by appealing to student interests while nurturing Career Ready skills. The completion a CTE Completer Pathway is a verification for the student and future employers that the South Aiken graduate is ready to valuable asset in the workforce and community.
Lastly, the extracurricular opportunities available to South Aiken students are second to no other school in South Carolina and are continually expanding. These opportunities include but are far from limited to: CyberPatriot, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), 20 Varsity Athletic Teams, Navy JROTC Distinguished Unit, and Aiken County’s First Girls Go Cyber Team. South Aiken offers a plethora of activities to capitalize on student interests both within and outside of normal school hours. One thing we know is that students thrive and develop many competencies and skills outside the classroom when there are activities available that they can be passionate about.
At South Aiken we whole heartedly believe that embracing and educating the whole student is a research proven recipe for post-secondary success and career and college readiness. We know that post-secondary success is normally mentioned as college and career readiness but what we understand is that we want our students to be contributing members of society and that means occupying a successful career whether or not they attend college and thus we give career top billing. We end every announcement and communication with our motto of “All Means ALL” and in fulfilling our responsibility our students Achieve, Learn, and Lead!
