Brashier Middle College Charter High School is helping all students develop the world class skills of the profile of the South Carolina graduate by providing a diverse curriculum, advanced resources, and rigorous performance expectations. Each of these develops the whole student and prepares him or her to excel in a college classroom or dynamic career field.
Classroom instruction is structured around tasks and questioning strategies that require students to apply their knowledge of the content standards and skills as required by the SC College and Career-Ready standards. Students learn to think critically, problem solve, collaborate as a team, and learn how they learn best. These skills are critical for all students to engage in our changing college landscape and excel in a diverse and emerging technical economy.
These tasks begin in the ninth grade with project based learning in content area classes and our freshman success course. In freshman success, students begin college and career exploration, engage in projects utilizing online research and data analysis, develop basic college and career readiness skills, and create a personal online portfolio. Each of these focus areas creates a college and career vision for the students and guides their development over the next three years.
In the sophomore and junior years, students engage in diverse course opportunities including college courses. Once a student has met the requirements for admission into classes at Greenville Technical College, we assist them in the registration process for courses of interest based on their career goals. Our school is located on the Brashier campus of GTC, and as a result, our students walk to the college classrooms and attend class with other college students. This environment is important in preparing them to manage the pace, rigor, requirements, and social skills needed to excel at the college level, since these courses are taught outside of the high school structure.
Finally, all seniors complete a capstone project. This senior project requires students to identify a project, establish a plan to complete the project (including a budget, schedule, and research questions), locate a mentor with experience in the project’s area and establish a meeting schedule. Another option for these seniors is a year-long internship. Throughout the year, students are documenting their process in a digital portfolio that includes documentation of their product development, personal reflection and planning, research data, and mentor meetings. The year culminates with each senior presenting his or her project to a panel of community judges.
Our parents continue to be very involved in the school from assisting with the lunch program, working on outreach projects for the school, serving on the Board of Directors, speaking to classes, and participating in our annual career fair. This partnership with our families supports our philosophy of providing a “whole team” of resources for each student in an effort to support them during difficulties and challenging them in times of success.
Our community supports our students by providing resources, serving as mentors, serving as BOD members, and evaluating senior project presentations. These connections allow our students, faculty, and staff to learn from these experts, provide more vision for our students’ college and career pathways, and create opportunities for employment or research in the future.
Brashier Middle College Charter High School is committed to providing each student with the skills and knowledge required to enter college, a career, or the military. By requiring students to master at least 80% of the course requirements in order to receive credit, students learn more and develop a work ethic of exceeding expectations. The world’s knowledge base changes quickly, career fields emerge daily, and the military constantly becomes more sophisticated and technical. We must prepare our students with the knowledge needed to enter these opportunities, the skills needed to learn and adapt to new situations, and a drive to constantly learn and achieve.
This year we celebrated our 2022 National Blue Ribbon Award. Brashier was excited to be one of five National Blue Ribbon schools in the state and the only South Carolina charter school to receive this prestigious award.
David Conley, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Catherine Freeman, Principal
