Officials Break Ground on Innovative New Middle School

A group of dignitaries and Greenville County school officials broke ground Wednesday on Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School, which educators believe will be the state's most unique and cutting-edge public school.

Fisher, who served as the county's school superintendent for eight years, said naming the school after her was "a tremendous honor."

"I appreciate this day…I am humbled," she told a gathering of county school officials, educators, and dignitaries, which included Rep. Trey Gowdy. But more than that, she said, the school — set to open at the CUICAR/Millennium campus in 2014 — signified a major step in public education in the county and the state.

"This building will be what it was meant to be," she told the crowd. "It will be four walls — but inside it will be the future."

The new school, which will be constructed to serve up to 750 students, with possible expansion for up to 1,000 students, will relieve overcrowding at Mauldin, Hillcrest, Beck, Bryson, and Riverside middle schools.

But it also promises to be cutting edge, based on its design, its curriculum, and its intimate proximity to the various companies at the Millennium campus, as well as Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research.

"This school will be unlike any other school in the state, and maybe unlike any other middle school in the United States," said current District Superintendent W. Burke Royster.

The instructional program will encompass the four traditional areas of STEM-based curriculum: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  The arts, a strong focus of the Greenville community, will be the fifth area, establishing what may be the nation’s first "STEAM middle school," Royster said.

Additionally, the school’s project-based curriculum determined the unique design of the facility. 

The school will feature six learning communities of about 125 students each with eight different instructional spaces for each learning community. The school’s exterior will be modern and inviting, and will fit in with the other facilities at the CUICAR/Millennium campus.

The flexible instructional spaces will allow various equipment to be brought in during the school year for students to conduct research. By working with local industries and businesses, the school aims to establish an innovative learning environment to expand learning through hands-on applications that can then be duplicated in other schools, Royster said.

Furthermore, the 136,000 square-foot facility, which will pursue Green Globes and Energy Star certifications, will be equipped with a net-zero greenhouse facility, a wind harvest system for power, solar panels for hot-water production, and low-impact stormwater collection. The school also will be situated on the site to take best advantage of natural lighting and will be equipped with the latest LED lighting.

"We know that our students and our children must excel in science and math," Gowdy said. By 2014, two million jobs will be needed in STEM-related fields, he said. The number of new engineering degrees in the country is down 20 percent, and fewer students are graduating high school to pursue STEM-related fields, Gowdy said.

"Simply put, we have to do better," said Gowdy, whose wife is a primary school teacher. "And I can't think of any better place for that to start than right here in the Upstate, in Greenville, on the campus of CUICAR."