SC Whitmore School Announces 2020-2021 Students of the Year

Press Releases

Congratulations Kiersten Boulden, a senior from Port Royal, SC. Kiersten is one of our 2020 – 2021 Students of the Year. This is Kiersten’s first year at SC Whitmore School (SCWS) and she has been an excellent student during her time here.

Kiersten chose to enroll at the SC Whitmore School during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the flexibility and the opportunity to graduate early.

“When the schools started to go online due to COVID, we started to look for a school that specializes in online learning,” said Kiersten. “My bonus mom Kimberley found SC Whitmore School and it was a perfect fit! We watched the alumni stories on the school’s website and I was excited to find that SCWS had all of its classes self-paced.”

Kiersten has really enjoyed her experience at SCWS.

“I absolutely love all of the different opportunities that SCWS has to offer,” said Kiersten. “I took full advantage of everything being self-paced and got ahead with all of my classes. I also had a lot more freedom with SCWS that I wouldn’t have had if I went to school face-to-face. I could take breaks (without procrastinating), go out to lunch, go shopping, hang out with friends, or go to work.”

Mr. McIsaac, Kiersten’s science teacher, is seeing how hard she is working.

“She does excellent work and works hard,” said McIsaac.

One challenge Kiersten faced was not asking for help when she needed it.

“If I was struggling to understand a concept, I would go into rabbit holes trying to figure it out on my own, ” said Kiersten. “Once I recognized that I made this a habit, I started communicating more with my teachers, meeting with them, and simply asking more questions. This was super helpful and saved me a lot of time and energy.”

Her English teacher, Mrs. Jones also sees how hard Kiersten is working.

“Not only is she a fantastic student who puts forth her best effort with every assignment, she has been extensively working with me in the Pilot Pioneers program to help answer my questions about student view, auto grade, general feedback, etc, ” said Jones. “She has been a wonderful asset to our school!.”

Kiersten plans to continue to be an honor roll student and have a career where she can be creative.

“I am thinking about being a civil engineer or an architect after I graduate from college. I love learning how things work and doing creative projects.”

In her free time, Kiersten also loves cooking, working out with her dad, refinishing furniture, and hanging out with friends.

“My advice to new students to SCWS is to not be afraid to go out of your comfort zone and set big goals. I would not be graduating a year earlier if I did not set big goals for myself and went outside the box to achieve them. I would also say to never just do what is just “required.” By using this as a base for yourself, I believe you can have more opportunities and accomplish so much more.”

“I would like to thank my dad, my adopted grandfather CJ, and my bonus mom Kimberley for giving me so much love and support with everything,” said Kiersten. “I am also very grateful for my teachers for giving such motivating and kind feedback to help me improve my work.” 

Kiersten, we are very proud of your accomplishments! We look forward to your future success with  “School Your Way!”