The SC Governor’s School for Agriculture at John de la Howe is pleased to announce that Tim Keown, president, has been named 2021 Administrator of the Year by the SC Association for Career and Technical Education.

The purpose of this award is to recognize full-time career and technical administrators, program specialists, coordinators, and all other career technical education (CTE) personnel and staff who have recently provided significant contributions to professional associations and career and technical education (CATE) programs for youth and/or adults in their fields, communities, and/or states. Recipients of this award must have made significant contributions toward innovative, unique, and novel programs; and/or improvement, promotion, research, or development of programs CATE.

Keown has led the charge to develop and turn the John de la Howe School into the SC Governor’s School for Agriculture, a residential high school for which students receive hands-on training in the fields of agriculture, agribusiness, forestry, land management, food science, and more. He has taken the facility, built in the 1800s, to a functioning educational farm for students to apply skills taught in the classroom and transition them into a realistic applied learning environment. His student population has doubled since its first year of existence, made up of 10th, 11th, and 12th-graders from South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. He has developed a team of instructors and leaders to develop a rigorous curriculum that includes honors academic courses, as well as the traditional agricultural classes. With his leadership, students have competed in state-level competitions and won numerous FFA and 4-H events as the nation’s first statewide residential program of its kind.  Keown is a decorated member of the agricultural education community and is very active in local and state government.

“I’m deeply humbled and honored to receive this recognition from the SCACTE,” said Keown, “Career and Technology Education has evolved over the years to include a demanding curriculum coupled with hands-on experience. It is my belief that our students are the future leaders of the agricultural and forestry industries of South Carolina and beyond. I am accepting this award on behalf of our amazing faculty, staff, and our awesome students.”