Greetings, First Baptist Community!
Welcome to First Baptist for those who are joining us for the first time this year. Welcome back to those of you who are returning. In either case, we are delighted that you have chosen to partner with us for the education of your children. The choices you make regarding your child’s education are among the most important decisions you will make in their lives. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve your family.
As a school, we remain steadfast in our commitment to providing Academic Excellence with a Christian Perspective. We look forward to seeing the things God will accomplish in our school and community this year. This year’s verse is Ephesians 3:20-21:
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
We are blessed to have many new faces on campus, including faculty, staff, and students. Our opening day enrollment for the 2022/2023 school year was 513 students. This is the highest enrollment our school has seen since the 1999/2000 school year. We have waiting lists in a number of grade levels due to space limitations, which is a good problem to have, as we look to our future and consider how we expand our footprint within our community. We continue to seek ways in which we can continue to provide excellent educational opportunities for our students. We thank you for sharing the great things that we are doing in our school and community.
At our Downtown Campus, we have undergone a significant transformation as the new building has been completed and we have been able to move in and get settled. We are grateful to First Baptist Church for providing us with this beautiful space for learning and growing. We also appreciate your patience as we established new pick-up and drop-off patterns for our students. Like all changes, there were challenges in the beginning, but now things seem to be going smoothly, so thank you for your flexibility as we worked through those procedural revisions. Our students Downtown are learning and thriving already, we look forward to seeing all that they will accomplish this year.
Our James Island Campus is also off to a great start this school year. As we continue to grow as a school community, we are continually working to expand our learning opportunities and course offerings. For example, this year in our high school, we are offering three new dual credit courses including Dual Credit: Physics, Technology, and US History. We are also offering a new AP European History course. Other courses we have offered in the past that we are currently offering include Dual Credit: Biology, English, Calculus, Pre-Calculus, and Statistics. Additionally, we have returned to including a community service component for our high school students, which is essential for our students to understand the importance of giving back to the community in which we live.
Our Fine Arts department is in full swing with classroom music, art, photography, choir, band, dance, and theatre. We are excited to have nearly 100 K-12 dancers this year, including 35 middle and high school students who are currently working on halftime performance material for our home football game against Porter-Gaud next month. Be on the lookout for our choir students singing the anthem at an athletic event or two this year! Our high school art students are busy brainstorming their giant greeting card contest entry at the James Island Holiday Festival of Lights and the lower school after-school theatre program, consisting of nearly 30 students, has begun rehearsals for their production of “Seussical” in November. Our Fine Arts students work hard to represent our school well on campus and in the community!
First Baptist Athletics is off to a fast start this season for our Fall Sports teams. The varsity football team saw their first game washed out in the first few minutes due to lightning storms but were not deterred in their first full game of the season as they defeated Bishop England 23-10. Our high school girl's tennis is back at First Baptist after a long hiatus, and they are filled with talent and in high hopes to make their presence known in SCISA. The cross-country team got off to a great start this past weekend at their first meet of the year. Eleven of our varsity swimmers made a state cut in their very first meet of the year this past weekend! Our youngest volleyball team in years has shown tremendous grit and determination early in the season and our volleyball participation is as strong as ever with high numbers from lower school to the varsity level. The varsity cheer squad is working hard and preparing for their first team competition in two years.
We are so excited for the things to come this school year. Thank you, families, for your commitment and the trust you have placed in us to serve your children. We look forward to serving your family this academic year!
We invite you to stay up to date with current events by following First Baptist School’s social media and our school webpage. #WeAreFB
Be Blessed!
Dr. Justin Mitchell
Head of School
Check out the September issue of the Hurricane Watch here!