Congratulations to the following individuals, programs, and schools recognized for recent achievements. This is a live list, with new entries added as they are submitted by our schools.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
Congratulations to Saluda River Academy for the Arts dance teacher Kayla Jennings, who has been selected as the 2026 South Carolina Dance Association Dance Educator of the Year. She has been a teacher in Lexington Two for nearly 20 years.
Twenty-five students earned maximum scores on one or more SC READY assessments given last spring. The students and the subjects in which they achieved their maximum scores:
Busbee Creative Arts Academy: Layne Kay (math)
Cayce Elementary: Samuel Foster (math)
Congaree Elementary: Gabriel Moscoso Ortega (math), Mateo Moscoso Ortega (math)
Fulmer Middle: Gabrielle Chavis (science), Asa Ingram (math)
Northside Middle: Joshua Ellisor (math)
Pine Ridge Middle: Cayden Glover (math)
Riverbank Elementary: Genesis Barron-Hernandez (math), Lucas Collins (math), David Mejia Domingo (math), Ricky Phan (ELA), Max Schmutz (ELA)
Saluda River Academy for the Arts: Ellis Archie (math)
Springdale Elementary: Oliver Burgess (math, science), Ryland Altman (math), Bennett Ariail (math), Camilla Atkins (math), Ansley Buczkowski (math), Stella Creech (math), James Davis (math), Mark Gilmer (math), Sophie Kendall (ELA), James Murrell (math), Kyara Taliaferro (math)
Saluda River Academy for the Arts and Brookland-Cayce High School were two of only 11 schools in South Carolina that earned national banner Unified Champion School recognition. Special Olympics states on its website that “A Unified Champion School receiving national banner recognition is one that has demonstrated commitment to inclusion by meeting 10 national standards of excellence."
Springdale Elementary teacher Mary Creech has been selected as the SC Ag in the Classroom Ambassador. South Carolina's Ag in the Classroom program is a non-profit 501(C)3 education foundation created to promote awareness and recognition of the importance of the sources of our food and fiber.
Several members of our Lexington Two team presented at the SC Early Childhood Inclusion Conference. Among the sessions: "Better Together: Partnerships Promoting School Success for All" (Kimberly Scalise, Preschool Itinerant Teacher and former Lexington Two District Teacher of the Year, and Mary Brooks, Director of Parenting/Early Childhood Programs); "Intentional Instruction for Routines and Expectations" (Scalise); and "Creating Pathways to Belonging: Leadership, Partnership, and Inclusion in Practice" (Felicia Madden, Coordinator of Special Services, Early Childhood/Elementary).
Three Busbee Creative Arts Academy students auditioned for and appeared in an Off-Broadway theater production in late June in New York City. The three students auditioned for this production in spring of 2025 and were cast as two supporting roles and one lead role in the show "Homesquad", in which they performed four shows the weekend of June 28th. The students are Jinoah Huger (7th grade BCAA), Jacob McGuire (6th grade BCAA), and Gantry Smith (7th grade BCAA).
The Airport High School and Brookland-Cayce High School JROTC programs earned the Honor Unit With Distinction for the 2025-2026 school year, one of the highest honors an Army JROTC program can receive. The distinction is given in recognition of exceptional leadership, discipline, teamwork, and dedication displayed by cadets and their leaders. The recognition was given by the JROTC 4th Brigade.
Seven Cayce Elementary students were recognized at a recent Cayce City Council meeting as their school’s SOIL winners for August. Students are selected to receive the recognition for leading in helping others feel included, supported, valued, and encouraged to grow. August’s student winners are Claire Jacobs, Jana Aguilar, Zariah Jeter, Amelia Labarre, Jack Oglesby, Gisel Cerda, and Summer Jackson.
Pine Ridge Middle School and Springdale Elementary School have both been selected as 2026 Green Steps Schools. They were recognized as Working Toward First Award recipients. Green Steps supports K-12 environmental education with training, resources, mentor opportunities, and more.
Taryn Jett, a fifth-grade Cayce Elementary Gifted & Talented-LAUNCH teacher and the after-school theatre director, has been selected as a 2026 Teacher of the Game, presented by Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union in partnership with USC Gamecock Athletics to recognize outstanding SC educators. Winners receive in-game recognition as well as $1,000 from Palmetto Citizens and four game tickets. She was recognized at the season’s first game on September 5 at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Busbee Creative Arts Academy is celebrating 10 years of arts excellence in being recognized as one of the state’s Arts in Basic Curriculum schools. Saluda River Academy for the Arts is marking its 27th year with this prestigious ABC recognition. Both of these Destination Schools give students opportunities to create, perform, explore, and connect their learning in meaningful ways.
Busbee Creative Arts Academy teacher Sara Olenchak is the new president of the South Carolina Council on Social Studies. According to the council’s website, the South Carolina Council for the Social Studies is a professional organization open to any person who is interested in social studies instruction in the private or public schools and colleges of South Carolina. The objectives of this organization are to promote higher standards in social studies curriculum and instruction for the schools of South Carolina: to promote a closer professional relationship among the teachers of social studies in the state; and to represent the social studies profession in South Carolina.
Busbee Creative Arts Academy teacher Carol Cathou had a lesson plan published by the ABC Institute. It’s the third time she’s had a plan published.
Kimberly Plowden, Work-Based Learning Coordinator for Lexington Two, was recognized at the Association for Career & Technical Education Region II Conference for her selection as the 2025-2026 as the SC Counseling and Career Development Professional of the Year. Plowden connects students in Lexington Two with industry professionals in their career area of interest.
Airport High School English IV CP teacher Emily-Rose Cockerham was granted a fellowship, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, to join The Dickens Project at the University of California-Santa Cruz in July. She joined educators from across the country for an in-depth student of Great Expectations and how it has been adapted over time and across geography by filmmakers, novelists, and artists worldwide.
Lexington Two students posted gains in several core subject areas in statewide report card testing results released in August by the SC Department of Education, achieving scores at the highest level in more than five years. Among test results from SC READY, given this past spring to the state’s third- through eighth-graders this past spring, students posted year over year achievement gains in a majority of grade levels in English/Language Arts, math and science, and our district test takers outpaced those of statewide test takers in several areas: fourth- and fifth-graders outpaced statewide test takers in English/Language Arts; fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and eighth-graders outpaced statewide testers in math; and all test takers outpaced statewide in science.