Mobile Home Sales in New Zion, SC

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCIV) — All signs are pointing towards a new elementary school coming to Johns Island very soon.

On Monday night, the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees will finalize plans for the school.

As of right now, the district’s plan is to build the new elementary school near the intersection of Brownswood Road and River Road.

CCSD board could finalize plans for new Johns Island elementary school Monday. (WCIV)

Some of the items up for discussion tonight include possible changes to attendance lines, the future use of Mt. Zion Elementary School, and any possible traffic concerns.

The latter being one of the biggest items of discussion as the new school is expected to bring over 200 more cars to River Road per day and extend the current parent commute at Mt. Zion over eight miles.

But district officials said they believe new traffic modifications will help to ease residents’ concerns.

“Members of the community are very, very happy about getting this new school. They're more concerned about student achievement than distances,” CCSD District 9 Board Representative Dr. Helen Frazier said.

Details of the proposals were initially approved by the board on September 12 in a 7-1 vote. Those traffic concerns are expected to be addressed by extra roundabouts on River Road, among other traffic modifications.

“How do we make sure that traffic is not an issue with the location of the new school. And that study has been done and roundabouts have been put in place to try to offset that,” CCSD board chair Rev. Dr. Eric Mack said.

The district also held two community interests meeting over the month of September to residents of Johns Island, specifically, those who have children currently going to Mt. Zion and Angel Oak elementary schools-– which will be the two schools most affected.

Right now, the Swygert's Landing area, where the school will be built, falls under District 9.

Those students currently go to Mt. Zion Elementary School, but Mt. Zion could be out of commission once this new school is built.

If this happens, students from Head Start to first grade would attend Angel Oak elementary, while second through fifth grade would be at the new school. In this proposal, Mt. Zion Elementary School would be converted to a community center.

Members of the board say the biggest benefit to this plan is its impact on attendance lines, or lack thereof, as the new system would effectively take over mt. zion’s attendance lines

“By combining the two schools, we're in a situation where we don't have to draw lines, we don't have to rezone. If one school gets larger or smaller, we're in really good shape by going this route,” said Chief Operating Officer for CCSD Jeff Borowy.

The new elementary school would accommodate 700 students, however in community interest meetings there was also interest to keep Mt. Zion Elementary School open.

If the proposal is approved tonight, the elementary school is expected to be up and running by the 2024 -2025 school year with construction starting in 2023.

The official vote on this proposal will take place at the Board of Trustees meeting tonight at 4:15 p.m. at CCSD headquarters on Calhoun Street.

The school will be funded by the one-cent sales tax in the county with a budget of $4.1 million.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – Charleston County School District staff members presented new information and a possible plan to build a new elementary school on Johns Island Thursday night.

The district has allocated $41 million in taxpayer dollars to build the new campus, according to the school district’s 2023-2028 Capital Building Program.

The school will be built on River Road, between Brownswood and Murraywood roads. As it stands, the district says they will have to put in a roundabout at the River Road entrance of this new school near Swygert Boulevard.

Several parents say they are worried about the impact on traffic, but others were worried about equity. The district’s chief financial officer, Jeff Borowy, says the school will ease overcrowding at Angel Oak and Mount Zion elementary schools.

“We have multiple children that are in trailers,” Borowy said. “They’re still a good educational environment but certainly not as good as a permanent building, and so this project will give us the opportunity to bring kids in from the classroom trailers.”

As part of the new school, the district is looking to establish a single attendance zone for elementary students on the island and change the grade configurations.

Students in Head Start through first grade would go to Angel Oak Elementary, while students in second through fifth grades attend the new school. Mount Zion Elementary would be turned into a family center under this proposal.

“It would give every child on Johns Island an opportunity to be at the new school in grades 2 through 5,” Borowy said.”

A big talking point among parents was the potential impact the school will have on traffic.

“We do need a new school, especially our Mount Zion kids, but also, it’s just the location of where they’re going to have it,” Keiaunta Alexander said. “How are we going to fight this traffic when we already have more traffic?”

However, other parents were worried about how the school’s proposed change to grades will affect education.

“Having Mount Zion being a Title I school and all the extra resources that go to that Title I school, just want to make sure that when we combine schools and have those different age levels that our children who are living below the poverty line are still getting equal access and getting resources they still continue to need...,” Casey Thaler said.

Officials say they need to come back with recommendations on possible changes to the board of trustees in August.

The district says they expect construction to be completed on this new school in the summer of 2024.

In its 2023-2028 plan, the district has funded over $410 million consisting of several new buildings and expansions to current schools.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

FLORENCE, S.C. (WMBF) - From building bikes to now blessing others, a group of Florence School District 1 students are now playing Santa for other kids right before Christmas.

For students like Javauntrea Quick, a fifth-grade student at North Vista Elementary, lessons that start at home are now showing up in the classroom and impacting others.

“Thank you, mom,” he said. “She taught me well, so thanks to my mom. If she didn’t teach me how I was today, I wouldn’t be building bikes for other people.”

After a semester-long project involving students enrolled in STEM and Automation Robotics Classes, students across the district built 48 bikes from scratch.

Program director Chris Rogers said the BMX bike build allows students to get the full scope of the STEM curriculum.

“We have presented them with bicycle kits where they’ve learned the engineering behind building a bike, the math that goes into, that they learned about bike safety and everything involved in a bike,” said Rogers. “And then they get to learn the greatest gift of all, after they’ve built these bikes and put them together, of giving them away to others.”

Across the Pee Dee, the handy boys and girls have now donated the bikes to their peers and other organizations like the Hope Village community, which helps women and children get back on their feet.

“There may be children that come in here that don’t even know how to ride a bike,” said Casea David, Director of Hope Village. “So having this opportunity for them, having the ability for their moms to be here and for them to share that special moment with them to teach them how to ride a bike; like that is what it’s about, That’s beautiful.”

Other community partners included Mount Zion AME Church, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and My Brother’s Keeper. The groups all expressed how much the bikes would help.

“The kids are our future and so those are future engineers those are future that’s going to contribute back to society,” said Teresa Moses, Chapter President-Elect of the Epsilon Chi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

“To see these young people in the spirit of giving and wanting to share, it means that they have been taught that there’s more important to give than to receive,” said Merritt Graves, pastor of Mount Zion AME Church.

“It’s fun where you can see that immediate impact of a family who actually is in need of a bike and watching kids’ face light up for Christmas, It gets no better than that,” said Shawn Ellerbe, Chapter President of the Chi Iota Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.

The STEM program will continue in the spring semester, which means more bikes will be built to allow more students to learn a new skill and continue giving back to others.

Copyright 2022 WMBF. All rights reserved.

Zion Williamson remembers the last time he was in the Spectrum Center.

March 16, 2019. There were balloons and backward hats and snipped nets. The Duke phenom led his team to a 73-63 win over Florida State to win that year’s ACC Championship game — the end of a gritty, three-game run and a milestone in an emotional few weeks for the Duke star, who was coming back from a knee injury that caused him to miss six games thanks to a shoe breakage that resides in Carolina basketball lore.

Seated in the Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte nearly four years later at Friday morning’s shootaround before the Pelicans-Hornets game, many of those emotions came back.

“Emotions were high,” the 6-foot-6, 284-pound Pelicans forward told The Charlotte Observer. He smiled, “I remember I was very emotional because my mom helped me a lot during those six games that I missed. So I’m looking through the crowd, like, ‘Dang, where’s my mom at?’ ”

He added: “The arena, the aura of the gym, it brings back a lot of good memories.”

Friday’s shootaround was the first time in Williamson’s NBA career that he was preparing for a game in Charlotte. The No. 1 overall pick in 2019 has missed a few Hornets matchups because of injuries. The only time he has played against Charlotte, in fact, was in January 2020, when he scored 26 points in 34 minutes in a 118-110 loss — but that contest was in New Orleans.

Williamson is one of the many players with ties to the Carolinas in the contest. Brandon Ingram, the Pelicans’ smooth-scoring star, is from Kinston, N.C., and played at Duke. Dereon Seabron played at N.C. State. Trey Murphy III grew up in Durham. Devonté Graham is a Raleigh native and spent a bulk of his NBA career as a Hornet.

“To see guys from North Carolina and South Carolina, it just tells you how much talent there is around the area,” Ingram said on Friday morning, as North Carolina rapper J. Cole’s “KOD” hummed in the background. “What we really breathe is basketball.”

Carolina ties run deep for the home team, too.

Big men Mason Plumlee and Mark Williams are former Blue Devils. Cody Martin is from Winston-Salem and played at N.C. State. Bryce McGowens is from Pendleton, S.C.

And Dennis Smith Jr. is from Fayetteville and played at N.C. State — playing his own way into North Carolina basketball lore when he slammed home a fastbreak dunk that punctuated one of the program’s most thrilling upsets over Duke in January 2017.

“To be here, playing for a North Carolina team, in North Carolina, that’s exciting for me,” Smith told The Observer on Friday, a few hours before the team’s home opener. The guard is fresh off an impressive performance against San Antonio on Wednesday, where he scored 12 points to go with four assists, two rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Smith said he’s particularly excited to play against Murphy. The two have known each other since they were young. Smith scrolled through Instagram on Friday to find a picture the two took after a workout in 2014 — Smith, then in high school, towering over his 5-foot-5 mentee. (“I was taller than him back then,” Smith said of his now 6-foot-8 friend. “It ain’t close now, but back then I was taller than dude.”)

“In North Carolina, the guys do a really good job about reaching back and giving advice,” Smith said. “You know, there’s nobody hating on nobody, as far as I know. When I was young, Chris Paul would reach out to me and try to lend advice, and I was always receptive to that. Steph Curry would do the same thing. John Wall did the same thing for me, he was definitely major for me. ...

“I feel like, whenever you’re confident with yourself, you don’t hate on anybody. And North Carolina has a lot of confident hoopers, so you know we’re always showing love to each other.”

Same goes for the South Carolina side.

“These past couple years, it has shown that South Carolina has been on the come-up,” said Bryce McGowens, a second-round draft pick in 2022 who played at Wrenn High School before rising to one of the best players in S.C. at Legacy Early College in Greenville. “A lot of talent. A lot of great players coming out of South Carolina.”

McGowens then laughed: “Hopefully, we’ll take over the league one day. It’s just been amazing to see guys from the Carolinas come out and show out.”

Williamson, as well as other Pelicans players, presumably, invited a lot of family and friends to the Spectrum Center on Friday.

The Carolinas are home for him, he said.

“We were in Brooklyn, I had just played against Nicolas Claxton, and I was telling him, ‘Man, it’s great competing against you,’ ” Williamson said. “That S.C. pride thing, knowing where we came from, to see each other on this NBA stage.”

He added: “I remember getting off the plane yesterday, and I was like, ‘Man, this is home.’ ”

This story was originally published October 21, 2022, 2:49 PM.

Latest numbers from the American Immigration Council shows one in 20 South Carolinians is an immigrant. And there’s a new thrift store doing more than just selling items.

Numbers from the American Immigration Council show one in 20 South Carolinians is an immigrant.

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Growth continues in the Upstate. Latest numbers from the American Immigration Council shows one in 20 South Carolinians is an immigrant. And immigrants play a crucial role in state growth. But becoming a naturalized citizen is a transition that takes time. And there’s a new thrift store doing more than just selling items.

Bianka Amaro swears by Zion World Wide Mission Thrift Store prices.

“Sure, it’s good stuff. Good prices,” she said.

And in less than a week, she’s made two trips and brought a friend to sift through health and wellness products, and even items for the pet.

“I plan to come back and recommend my friends, too,” she said.

But variety for immigrants, the low-income, the no-income and the greater public goes beyond the shelves. Just walk through the front door and look to your right.

“The thing that I looked for the most (when moving to South Carolina) was friendship, job opportunities and acceptance,” said Helena Arita, Zion World Wide Mission Thrift Store job counselor and supervisor.

Arita moved from Lebanon to the Upstate two years ago and says today 90% of the people who walk through these doors for assistance are immigrants.

“You want to arrive at the point that America feels like home,” she said.

And she remains busy inside Zion’s Job Connection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Citizenship Corner, both located in the store’s administration section.

“There is someone next to them, they’re not alone,” Arita said.

Rev. Delinx Meralus the regional director for Zion World Wide Mission Inc. who overseas the 20,000 square foot operation and site, the largest Zion thrift store and wraparound services office in South Carolina helping 1,000 families a month.

“Where we sit right now it’s non-stop,” Rev. Meralus said. “We have a network of over 360 different companies in the U.S. that supports what we do.”

Rev. Meralus says the facility is strategically situated in a part of the county that provides easy access to immigrant families, and the site fills a role that is not by happenstance.

“(We give people) hope. They can rent their own apartment, they can buy a home one day,” Rev. Meralus said. “And that’s the American dream, and if they’re here they deserve it. Everybody deserves it.”

Nothing sold in the thrift store is used. Everything is brand new at a reduced rate with all sales benefitting the long list of Zion’s services.

“They have no voice, they’re struggling, but they exist,” Rev. Meralus said.

He’s talking about the growing number of immigrants Zion is assisting. But Rev. Meralus adds a region that’s catered to foreign companies should be more in tune with the needs of the everyday foreigner.

“From corporations, ministries, churches, nonprofits, retailers and individuals – I know we can do more. and we need to do more,” he said.

In addition to helping people navigate American citizenship, the job hunt and disaster assistance, Rev. Meralus says more immigrants are also impacted by the rising cost of living.

“In order to give you have to have, you cannot give if you don’t have,” he said.

But don’t expect he or his team to slow down in 2023, Rev. Meralus says as long as there’s a need, the doors are open.

“How do we keep this beautiful city safe? This beautiful community strong and healthy? And it’s by catering to everybody,” Rev. Meralus said. “Regardless.”

To learn more or to support the efforts of Zion World Wide Mission’s thrift store located at 3229 West Blue Ridge Drive, Greenville, SC visit here: http://www.zworldmission.org/

Copyright 2022 WHNS. All rights reserved.