SAINT HELENA ISLAND — Community ties and Gullah Geechee heritage will be major pillars of a new charter school coming to Saint Helena Island.
Sea Islands Heritage Academy was approved by the Public Charter School District Board of Trustees in April 2023 and recently announced its inaugural school year is planned to begin in August.
For Executive Director Alana Jenkins, the opening has been a years-long process.
Jenkins spent a decade at charter schools in New York City as a teacher, a dean of students and an assistant principal of humanities. She’s also a fellow at BES, a national nonprofit that “identifies and prepares leaders to transform education in their communities.”
She has family ties to Beaufort County and in 2020 began to lay the groundwork for a new charter school that would primarily serve students north of the Broad River. She was living in Beaufort County at the time and had recently experienced the death of a student.
“It really impacted me deeply,” Jenkins said. “(The student) really thrived in the school environment. There was kind of a sacred bubble of school, but like many people outside of that bubble, he really struggled.”
Jenkins set out to learn how that “sacred bubble” could be expanded into the students’ communities. Heritage Academy’s founders began interviews with Saint Helena Island residents.
“The things we heard over and over again was that we were not taking care of each other in (the) community very well because we’re not honoring where we’re from and embedding that in our students,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins and fellow Heritage Academy board members began to develop an education model they hope can change that narrative.
School mission and curriculum
In its first year, the Sea Islands Heritage Academy aims to enroll up to 150 sixth and seventh graders, with an additional grade added each year until the institute serves students through 12th grade.
The inaugural school year will likely be spent in a temporary location on Lady’s Island. A permanent site hasn’t been announced, but will be on Saint Helena Island, Jenkins said.
Heritage Academy will heavily feature place-based instruction with the aim to teach students how understanding ties to their Gullah Geechee heritage is relevant to their everyday experiences.
The main difference between the charter school and a traditional public school is autonomy, Jenkins said.
“We have a bit more autonomy in the way that we choose to use our budget, the way that we hire teachers, the innovative structures in which we choose to educate our students in,” Jenkins said.
All that autonomy creates opportunity for innovative approaches to education, Jenkins said. In some ways, it also raises the stakes. The school will have to operate in line with goals and metrics set by South Carolina Charter laws and could be shut down if those standards aren’t met, Jenkins said.
The school will partner with local businesses and organizations to allow students to shadow and explore different career pathways.
“What I’ve always seen as the lynchpin of successful schools are its ties to community,” Jenkins said.
Grant funding
The State of South Carolina Charter School District will provide an estimated $3 million over the school’s first three years. Heritage Academy has also been awarded grant funding through a number of local nonprofits, including the Coastal Community Foundation’s Catalyst Grant, which will give $800,000 over four years.
Catalyst Grants are meant to support bold, innovative and collaborative ideas that make a significant impact in the region, said Coastal Community Foundation President Darrin Goss Sr.
“This award to Sea Islands Heritage Academy is our largest Catalyst Grant yet and we believe its educational model emphasizing the close ties to culture and heritage will be transformational for students,” Goss said.
Chris Ophardt, a member of the Sea Islands Heritage Academy’s Board of Trustees, said the grant “marks a significant milestone.”
“This support is not just a financial contribution; it’s a profound affirmation of the importance of preserving and celebrating the rich Gullah Geechee heritage within our educational framework,” Ophardt said.
