Students at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture returned from holiday break on Monday, reuniting with their friends and embarking on the homestretch toward graduation for the Class of 2025.
Mr. Greg Thompson, our school principal, said he saw lots of happy faces around campus on the morning after the two-week hiatus.
“They were looking forward to spending time with their own families, but now they’re looking forward to reuniting with their John de la Howe family. So I’ve seen nothing but smiles this morning,” Mr. Thompson said, noting that these Aggies are “a group of young folks that were anxious to come back and looking forward to seeing their friends."
The start of the second semester saw several new courses, including some dual-enrollment agricultural courses as part of the ongoing partnership with Piedmont Technical College.
“In the past, the only classes that we offered dual enrollment here on our campus have been through our English Department and our Math Department,” Mr. Thompson said. “So now it’s expanded through our ag teachers as well. All of our ag teachers have the credentials to teach dual enrollment on that level here on our campus. So it’s very exciting to be able to offer that."
While creating new challenges for teachers who are leading the school’s first dual-enrollment ag classes, the addition of these classes will give our Aggies a jumpstart on their post-secondary education if they choose to attend college after graduation.
“Some of these kids that want to pursue degrees once they leave here, there’s a strong possibility they could have pretty much most of their freshman year – in some cases all of their freshman year of college – out of the way, and some even further,” Mr. Thompson said.
Welcome back to the farm, Aggies, and have a tremendous second semester!