COASTAL OBSERVER

This “little” school has expanded in big ways in a matter of 30 years.

It was Aug. 24, 1995 when Lawly Ford’s vision of the ideal learning environment came to fruition. The Lowcountry Day School opened the doors to the Pawleys Island Presbyterian Church’s educational building for 29 students in kindergarten through eighth grades. 

There, the standard of small classrooms began as students were put into classes of six to 10. Ford, who became the day school board chairman by 1996, said the purpose was, and continues to be, for students to learn how to trust each other and understand their differences.

“Providing a personalized academic program, character development, and an opportunity to do that in a spiritual setting was what they set out to do,” said Wes Wehunt, headmaster of Lowcountry Preparatory School. “The buildings have changed, some of the specific values may have been adjusted, but the heart of who we are still remains.”

Lowcountry Prep aims to be the premier college preparatory school in the area where students discover that who they are is just as important as what they know. By graduation a student should embody faith, character, service, leadership, lifelong learning and self-awareness.

The 30th anniversary of the school was nostalgic for many graduates who returned to the area. 

“We just wanted to come check out how things had changed since we’ve been here,” said Marguerite Barr, a 2015 graduate.

Barr was with her sister, Emory Bowen, who graduated in 2017. They spent their entire academic careers there, and after being away for a number of years they’ve made their way back to their roots in Pawleys Island.

“I loved the small school,” Bowen said. “It was a lot of fun to play all the sports, and  I learned a lot. I have a lot of really good friends because of it. We were always together.”

The sisters played on the tennis, soccer and basketball teams together. Although the gymnasium looked different than it did almost 10 years ago, they were happy to see, still hanging on the walls, the state championship flags of the teams they had a part in.

Rob Henry, a 2008 graduate, was a student when it was still called the “Lowcountry Day School.” The name changed in 2009 after the school trustees decided it didn’t represent its strategic goals. The new name told people that a graduate went to a private school with a college preparatory curriculum.

“It’s kind of nostalgic coming back and it feels the same, but I know a lot has changed,” Henry said.

His 4-year-old son, James, is also a Marlin – a full circle moment for Henry.

“I’m excited for what the next 30 years will be for the school,” he said.

There were 102 students enrolled and 40 on a waiting list from grades K-10 in 1997. That same year the planning commission approved plans for the school’s new campus that included a 50,000 square foot educational building, basketball courts, a softball field and a football field.

Up until 1999 when the first building opened, classes were held in portable units and the Pawleys Island Presbyterian Church. There were 84 students enrolled.

The school was constructing the second academic building in 2001 worth $2.8 million to house a lab, a gym and offices. At this point, Lowcountry Prep enrolled students starting at preschool to 12th grade and acquired 30 acres between Petigru and Blue Stem Drive.

In 2002, the school had 228 enrolled students and began to offer French, calculus and AP art.

“There are absolutely great public schools in the area, but this is just a wonderful option for kids and families who thrive in a smaller classroom setting,” Wehunt said.

In the two years McKellar Blair Cromartie has been a student at Lowcountry Prep she said she’s seen a lot of change as well. The portable classrooms weren’t removed from the campus until 2024 as the school continued to use them for art and music classes. McKellar Blair, a seventh grader on the tennis team, is one of the 145 enrolled students at the school who thrive in the small, close-knit community.

“I love how, with small classes, you get the close connection with your teachers,” she said.

Blair Cromartie, McKellar Blair’s mother, said she wanted to enroll her daughter at the school to have more opportunities to reach her potential.

“We were just looking for a more personalized approach,” Cromartie said. “They’re challenged more here. It just empowers them to do the best that they can.”