Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg visits Governor’s School in Greenville

Facebook entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday paid a surprise visit to the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville.

The billionaire social media guru spent about two hours at the school, enjoying a dance performance, taking a tour of the campus and chatting with a roundtable of students about their dreams for the future.

“He asked them about their experiences here, what it’s like to live in South Carolina, what he should do or see or eat before he leaves,” said Governor’s School spokeswoman Christina Vandiver.

“They talked about diversity and where that’s going in the state,” she said. “And he asked them about their plans for the future. They covered a good bit of ground.”

Zuckerberg took a tour of the residential arts campus nestled along the banks of the Reedy River near downtown Greenville.

The visit was a surprise for students: They were told only that a VIP would visit that day.

In January, Zuckerberg pledged to journey to all 50 states in 2017 to “talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future,” according to news sources.

Vandiver said Zuckerberg, while in South Carolina, visited only the Governor’s School and, earlier, Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church, the site of a 2015 shooting in which nine people were killed.

“It’s a part of his year of travel that he’s given himself,” Vandiver said. “He wants to spend a little time in each state that he hasn’t been to before.”

A visit to the Governor’s School was a way to hear the perspectives of young people from across South Carolina, Vandiver said.

The Governor’s School connected to Zuckerberg through a guidance counselor at the school whose son works at Facebook, Vandiver said.

Zuckerberg’s tour of the campus was led by the school’s president Cedric Adderley, vice president and dean Julie Allen, and director of guidance services Lela McKnight.

Zuckerberg arrived at the Governor’s School at 3:15 p.m. and left about 5 p.m., Vandiver said.

She said Zuckerberg’s next stop was in North Carolina.

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg visits Governor’s School in Greenville."