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I’m St. Andrew’s Born and St. Andrew’s Bred, and when I die I’ll be
St. Andrew’s Dead” – a cheer so familiar to all of us. What does it
really mean?
The roots of St. Andrew’s Parish High School are deep in the history
of Charleston, especially the West Ashley area. The name of the
school was taken from the St. Andrew’s Parish Episcopal Church,
which was founded in 1706.
The first public school West of the Ashley came into being in 1889,
using an old church building for grades 1-8. It was located on the
plantation of Edward T. Legare. A second school was established in
1898. The two schools merged in 1909 and moved to a location on
Savannah Highway, an area occupied by the VFW Hut. In 1918, the West
Ashley grammar school was moved to the geographic center of the
district, where the school now stands.
Originally, high school students from the West Ashley area had to
travel to the peninsula to attend school. The overcrowded conditions
and difficulties with transportation to Charleston High were factors
that helped to establish a new high school. In 1940, a wing for
older students was added to the elementary school; and so, with 8
classrooms, 8 teachers, and 153 students, St. Andrew’s Parish High
School was born. In 1943, the elementary grades were moved, and the
current location became the High School campus.
Mr. Lawrence Harper was the first principal of St. Andrew’s Parish
High School; however, he died three months after the school was
established. Miss Olga J. Johannas was elected acting principal. Mr.
C.E. Williams became principal in 1941. In 1943, the administrative
structure of the school was changed, and Mr. Williams became
superintendent of the school district. Mr. E. Bernard Hester,
affectionately known as “Fess,” a History and English teacher, was
named principal of St. Andrew’s Parish High School.
The decades of the fifties and sixties brought phenomenal growth to
St. Andrew’s Parish. For more than ten years St. Andrew’s Parish was
the fastest growing school district in South Carolina. To keep pace
with the ever-growing student body, the facilities of St. Andrew’s
Parish High School grew. In all, there have been forty additions or
renovations to the structure.
On Mrch 8, 1973, the untimely death of E. Bernard Hester, who was
principal of St. Andrew’s Parish High School for thirty-one years,
saddened the entire community. Neal Golden, Jr., who was serving as
assistant principal at the time, was appointed principal.
On December 21, 1978, a tragic fire destroyed the auditorium and
damaged the adjoining wings so much, the County Board of Education
authorized the building of the offices, classrooms, and library.
St. Andrews’ Parish High School, in over fifty years, has
experienced great changes as its student population had reflected
the movement from rural to small community to suburban, and to the
large commercial areas now encompassed in its district.
St. Andrew’s Parish High School is a school of racial, cultural, and
economic diversity. Five percent of its students come from rural
settings, 39 percent are from single parent families and some
students live on their own. Fourteen percent are from families whose
incomes are below the poverty level with 25 percent of the students
eligible for free lunches. About 50 percent of the graduates attend
colleges and universities with another 24 percent going to various
post secondary schools.
June of 2000 will be the last graduating class from St. Andrew’s
Parish High School. St. Andrew’s will combine with Middleton High
school to form the new West Ashley High School. The projected date
of the opening will be December 2000. The new high school is located
on 85 acres on Glen McConnell Blvd. The school will be entered using
a four-lane way named Wild Cat Way. Coincidentally, the West Ashley
teams will be called the “Wild Cats”. The colors of the West Ashley
High School will be purple, silver and black. The design of the
school will be a wonderful combination of the historic St. Andrew’s
Parish High School blended with the newer Middleton High School.
There will be a melding of the faculty from both schools. The
principal of the new West Ashley High School is Mr. Olson, who has
been the principal at St. Andrew’s Parish High School for seven
years. There are tours on Wednesday afternoon that can be arranged
in advance.
The facilities of the new school will be very much in keeping with
the new millennium. They will include tennis courts, weight rooms,
two practice fields, eight lanes of track, two gymnasiums, two
auditoriums, one of which will be used by Spoleto for cultural
events. It certainly sounds as if we are planning for the future. In
order to understand our future we must know from which we came and
we all know that we are:
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