Midlands native named SC teacher of the year, the first Black male to earn the award
A teacher from an Upstate charter school was named South Carolina teacher of the year for 2023 Wednesday night.
Deion Jamison, who teaches fifth grade and ninth grade English at Legacy Early College in Greenville, achieved two firsts. He is the first charter school teacher and first Black male to earn the honor.
He wins $25,000, a new BMW for a year and the opportunity to speak on behalf of the state’s 55,000 teachers. He will travel throughout the state as a mentor to other teachers, the state Department of Education said in a news release.
LeCheryl Smith, who leads Legacy Early College, said that is a role he fills at Legacy.
“He is committed to education, committed to being an advocate for our scholars,” she said Thursday.
Jamison, an Orangeburg native, graduated from Clemson University with a psychology degree and went into teaching through the Teach for America program. He is a Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar.
“Jamison believes that education is liberation and teaches his students skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving to address the world’s most pressing issues,” the state Department of Education said in a news release.
On Twitter, Jamison said, “I am over the moon! What a wonderful surprise!!!”
Legacy Early College was founded in 2010 by Greenville businessman William Brown, who graduated from The Citadel after serving four years in the military. He started a CPA firm in Greenville and later Family Legacy Inc. an investment advisory firm.
The school, which includes K4 through high school, is on the site of two abandoned Greenville County Schools sites: Parker High School, which closed, and the former Greenville County Fine Arts Center, which moved into a new school building adjacent to Wade Hampton High School.
It is in an area known as The Legacy Zone, where three of Greenville County’s most historically under-served census tracts meet.
“The Legacy Zone encompasses neighborhoods of multi-generational poverty, persistent underemployment, and pockets of violent crime,” the school’s website says. “By 2010, students from the Legacy Zone had the highest high school dropout rate in Greenville County, with graduation rates as low as 50 percent. College attendance represented an unattainable dream for more than 90 percent of West Greenville scholars.”
It has 1,700 students — 400 in high school — and the expectation is they will all go to college. The school offers college credit in 20 subjects.
The foundation is academic excellence, physical education and nutrition. Students take part in PE every day.
“Mr. Jamison shattered a lot of ceilings last night. I know he will continue to do so,” Smith said.