Organizers of a new Aiken charter school are holding two public meetings to answer questions and enroll students.
The Pivot Schools will merge social-emotional learning with career and technical education and be the first school in South Carolina to focus on Artificial Intelligence as a career and technical education pathway, said founder Anthony Bowden.
“Our goal is to build up students academically and emotionally,” Bowden said.
He said using Artificial Intelligence as the school’s main career and technical education pathway is a not necessarily about working in AI, but providing students with advanced tools and training to excel in emerging industries.
“We truly know that AI is the future. It’s what’s coming. So, whether it’s information technology or engineering, how is AI affecting all of these different, diverse fields and career fields and how can we better use that to prepare students?” Bowden said.
The meetings will be held Jan. 28 and Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. at Cumberland A.M.E. Church, 111 Kershaw St., S.E., in Aiken.
The tuition-free public middle and high school is authorized by the South Carolina Public Charter School District and will operate under its oversight to meet the state’s academic, operational and financial standards. Fox Creek High School in North Augusta, Tall Pines STEM Academy in Aiken and Bettis Preparatory Leadership Academy in Trenton also are part of the South Carolina Public Charter School District.
Bowden said the school, which has not yet announced a location, will begin with grades six and seven and add a grade each year, ultimately serving grades 6-12. He said his goal is to begin classes in August.
Bowden said the purpose of social-emotional learning is to develop “emotional intelligence.”
“We define it as learning who you are as a person, but also learning who you are as an academic savant. We want kids to know how they learn and what they like to learn, while also processing their feelings,” he said.
A daily social-emotional learning class and goal setting in other classes will foster students’ mental health and emotional intelligence, which are “two things that we know are needed to succeed in the real world,” Bowden said.
He said the middle school will function as a career academy, equipping students with foundational skills to explore and prepare for future career paths.
“Our main goal in middle school is to get students to really figure out what they’re really good at. What’s going to wake you up every single day? What do they want to learn? What are they passionate about learning? That way they don’t have to find out later on in life what their passion is,” he said.
The high school will be “preparing students who want to go out and create in a world of innovation. AI is kind of our career and technology education model for high school,” he said.