New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School (NEMS) is an Arts in Basic Curriculum Certified School that is devoted to ensuring all students receive a high quality arts education. NEMS provides a safe, caring, and art-infused learning environment. Students are challenged to excel in a global society with the support of educational stakeholders. We are dedicated to maintaining a culture of high expectations by challenging students with instructional practices to reach their full potential and through the continuous professional development of teachers. Teachers utilize effective, research-based programs and strategies to support learning and instruction such as: art residencies, creative problem-solving, implementing the artistic design process, incorporating illustrations, using music, etc. To ensure that quality art instruction is a part of our culture of learning, teachers act as a team. Teachers work collaboratively in weekly Professional Learning Communities for interdisciplinary planning and addressing students’ academic needs. Teachers also collaborate to create school-wide project-based learning. Furthermore, students have multiple opportunities to work collaboratively in a flexible environment that enables them to engage in student-led learning experiences with their peers from different classes. At New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School, we are proud of the hard work, effort, and dedication put forth by faculty and staff members. New Ellenton earned an “Excellent” on its 2018, 2019, and 2022 South Carolina State Report Cards! One hundred percent of our faculty is highly qualified. Our English I and Algebra I instructors continues to have passing rates of 100% on the state End-of-Course Examination Program (EOCEP). In addition to having a highly qualified staff, our students have also excelled in academic and art curriculum opportunities. Our students have participated in Joye in Aiken Concert and Master Class sessions, choral, dance, and stained glass arts residencies, drama productions, fine arts enrichment field trips, state and local band competitions.

Howe Hall Arts Infused Magnet School (AIMS) opened in 2002 as the first magnet school in Berkeley County. The school quickly established its arts philosophy and became a model for arts infusion. AIMS serves 420 kindergarten through fifth grade students who are selected, not by audition, but by lottery from all over Berkeley County. Students participate weekly in classes for dance, drama, music, physical education and visual art. In addition, the fine arts and classroom teachers deliver arts infused lessons utilizing a team-teaching approach. Furthermore, students in grades 3-5 are treated to a myriad of exploratory classes from which they select one which they attend once a week. Howe Hall AIMS has distinguished itself as a model of arts infusion, winning the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award for Arts in Education, U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award, and the State and National Kennedy Center Creative Ticket School of Excellence Award. Countless educators have visited the school, meeting with arts teachers and administrators in their efforts to begin arts schools or replicate the arts infusion philosophy at Howe Hall. An ABC grant recipient since 2002, AIMS consistently offers children unparalleled instruction that addresses multiple intelligences by creating lessons that merge arts and academic standards. The true essence of its success as defined by student learning is due to the innovation and creativity of its arts infused lessons and the focus on academic achievement for every student.