Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2020

38 www.BestOfMP.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com T hough small in stature, Lucy Garrett Beckham was larger than life. The impact she had on Mount Pleasant high schoolers over her tenure as Wando’s principal – and the resulting ripple effect on the town itself – is immeasurable. After all, people flock to areas known for good schools, and it’s evident that having her as a leader changed this town in many ways. This December marks five years since her unexpected passing, as Lucy Garrett Beckham High School closes out the first semester of its first year open. So, who was the namesake of Mount Pleasant’s newest high school? In short, she was a visionary, whose goal was to prepare her students for life. Beckham was born in Fountain Inn, South Carolina, the daughter of a math teacher and a state legislator. She was educated in Greenville County’s public schools, before moving on to Presbyterian College and graduating from College of Charleston with a bachelor’s in mathematics. Later, she also earned a master’s and specialist’s degrees from The Citadel. After 17 years teaching high school math, she moved into administration and leadership, where she spent the next 22 years. Beckham maintained high expectations but was easy- going and candid – traits that won the hearts of many. Awards over her lengthy service as an educator run the gamut from Stratford High School’s Teacher of the Year to 2010 MetLife / NASSP National High School Principal of the Year to the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto and Mount Pleasant’s Order of the Gavel. The majority of her administrative years were spent at Wando High School. “When I arrived on June 30, 1998, the school administrative leadership had all retired on July 1. Not because of me – they didn’t know I was coming,” Beckham grinned during her speech at Wando High School’s 2002 graduation ceremony. “The bookkeeper, Ms. Burlingham, started the same day I did. She had never kept school books before. The school had switched from a traditional schedule to a four-by-four that summer before I arrived. We had a new cafeteria manager who never worked in high schools and a new custodian.” It didn’t take Beckham long, working with her fresh team, to begin exponentially improving Wando. “She proved that a large, public, non-magnet high school serving a diverse student body could produce outstanding results and earn numerous state and national awards,” said Anna Dassing, current principal of Lucy Garrett Beckham High School and a mentee of Beckham’s. “She was always looking for a way to create more opportunities for her students and wanted to be sure they had a path and a vision for the future, whether it was college, a career BY ANNE SHULER TOOLE Lucy’s Legacy Remembering the Woman Who Shaped Education in Mount Pleasant