Palmetto Scholars Academy celebrates opening of new facility
“One person can make difference, and everyone should try.”
Palmetto Scholars Academy Board Chairman Stacey Lindbergh cited this quote from John F. Kennedy Jr. when making her remarks at the January 23 ribbon-cutting for PSA’s gleaming new Dorchester Road facility on the campus of Joint Base Charleston.
“This is the sentence that captures the spirit of Palmetto Scholars Academy,” said the Daniel Island resident, while addressing the crowd gathered for the momentous occasion. “Each step of the way that carried us along the journey brought us all together today. It started with one person daring to think they could make a difference, and acting on it.”
Seven years ago, Lindbergh was that person. Frustrated with the lack of attention and resources given to gifted and talented students in traditional school settings, Lindbergh began to dream of something better - a facility dedicated especially to these types of learners, starting in middle school, with a curriculum, programs and teachers that catered to their specific needs.
In 2010, Palmetto Scholars Academy became the very first gifted and talented public charter school in South Carolina. With help from a battalion of parents, community members and government leaders, such as Rep. Jim Merrill, Sen. Larry Grooms, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, the school opened its doors in August of that year in a former Head Start building on the old Navy Base in North Charleston. They had 185 students in grades 6-8 and about 15,000 square feet of space. A neighboring vacant building towered beside them, rundown and dilapidated. Still, after months of work to bring the school to fruition, the new PSA community was thrilled to have a home and a fresh start on what they hoped would be a bright and promising future.
But as the school grew (they added a new high school grade with each successive year), so did their need for more space and more funding. Things got especially difficult after the first year, recalled Lindbergh. At that time, the SC Public Charter School District was the poorest in the United States, receiving only $3000 per child annually. PSA began to feel squeezed.
“Every day was a struggle, with Board members digging in their own pockets and writing checks on the mornings of paydays, so the checks wouldn’t bounce that afternoon when teachers left work to deposit their payroll checks,” said Lindbergh. “Finally, we were tapped out. We were going to have to close the school.”
But, in the spirit once again of Kennedy’s quote, someone stepped up to make a difference. This time it was Lindbergh’s 70 year old mother, who took out a loan on her home to keep the school afloat.
“I went to potential donors asking for money,” Lindbergh said. “We did everything we could, but when it came right down to it, my mom saved us. It would not have opened that second year…But my mom wasn’t scared. She believed in it.”
The money bought PSA some time. Over the next several years, they would pay all the funds back and become debt-free, which set them up to get a bond to build a new, desperately needed facility to accommodate their growth.
“I knew we had to do it,” said Lindbergh, of the way the school family came together to push forward. “We had all those kids depending on us and their families. It was just one of those ‘failure is not an option’ times.”
Their success has gained widespread attention and recognition. The school has received “A” and “Excellent” ratings on their South Carolina Reports Cards each year since opening. Few see PSA’s value more clearly than Dr. Jean Chandler, a founding PSA Board Member and former teacher at Academic Magnet High School.
“Without Palmetto Scholars Academy, many gifted and talents students would languish in the regular classroom,” she said.
According to Chandler, PSA students are state leaders in robotics, cyber-security, National History Day, Beta Club and Odyssey of the Mind. They have also obtained state and national recognition in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program for having two teams chosen to send their experiments to the International Space Station. In addition, students can partake in dual-enrollment courses with College of Charleston and Trident Technical College, and also complete a Capstone Experiment their senior year that involves authentic research and leaning in the student’s chosen interest.
“Palmetto Scholars Academy may once have been like a dandelion growing from a crack in the sidewalk to bloom brightly amid diversity and little more than a lot of heart on a tiny shoestring,” added Chandler, who is also a board member for the South Carolina Consortium for Gifted Education. “Today, it represents a sense of pride for all its stakeholders. The early days bring back memories of seeing what weeds accomplish on what little they receive.”
About three weeks ago, all 417 students presently enrolled at PSA moved into what Chandler called their new “world class educational facility” at Joint Base Charleston. How did the PSA family of students, parents and staff handle getting all of their supplies and classroom materials from the old facility to the new one? The same way they tackle every challenge - together.
“It has gone incredibly smooth,” said current PSA Principal Tim Gott. “We did it ourselves, the kids and the parents and the community all stepped up.”
Gott happily showed off the new school last week for The Daniel Island News. With 45,000 square feet, the facility has tripled its original size.
“The first thing I noticed was how big it was!” said 11th grader Tatiyana Adkins.
“We have a gym now!” added Daniel Island resident Alex Trubey, also in 11th grade.
In addition to the gym/multi-purpose room, the facility has multiple science labs, a band room, a chorus room, 28 instructional classrooms, an expansive and engaging art room, real bathrooms, and more. Scoring supreme high marks from the kids are PSA’s first ever student lockers.
“We got the most that we could get for our bond money, $7.5 million,” added Gott. “And to be honest, we got a great building for that amount of money, when you look at a typical new school - which runs about $25 to $30 million.”
The aerial layout for the school resembles that of a turtle with four legs extended and features hallways named for things significant to PSA, such as “Avenue F,” its former street on the old Navy Base. There is also an administrative suite dedicated in honor of former Joint Base Commander Richard D. McComb, who was instrumental in helping PSA acquire the land for the site.
“He’s the one that said ‘yes’ to us,” added Lindbergh, who is thrilled that PSA is able to set aside space for children of active duty military thanks to a new S.C. Military Charter Law co-sponsored by Rep. Merrill. “…The Air Force and Naval Weapons side, we can give priority to them. They will bring so much to the culture, the PSA community. They are great families, very dedicated, very patriotic, and dedicated to their country. We can provide them with a great education and a place that cares about them.”
Lindbergh’s work on behalf of PSA, and commitment to serving military families, recently earned her a special award from current Joint Base Charleston Commander Col. Robert K. Lyman, who commended her outstanding public service by presenting her with a plaque at the building’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“I told them I didn’t think I’d get a better award in all my life,” gushed Lindbergh later. “It was the most meaningful thing to me, as a former Air Force kid.”
Lindbergh credits a big Daniel Island contingent for helping start and sustain PSA over the years, including Jim Garvey, who has served as the program manager on the new building, and Daniel Island Company CEO Frank Brumley, who provided the school’s very first donation. But perhaps their story is best summed up in their selection of “The Phoenix” as the school’s mascot. By definition, a phoenix is a mythological bird that rose up from the ashes, renewed in strength to become something uniquely remarkable. PSA’s journey is certainly comparable, accentuated by a number of people who believed they could make a difference in the life of a child.
“Let this building represent how many people in your community care about you,” Lindbergh told the PSA students in the crowd at the building’s dedication. “How important you are to us, and how much your education and betterment will impact us all.”