Clinton is getting a new college.
It’s actually a long-time partner in the education opportunities of Laurens County residents. District 56 officials have announced officially that the University of South Carolina-Union, Laurens Location will come into the historic Bell Street campus this August.
Some signage and paving already has been done, and much more information will be forthcoming during July. USC-Union will open for classes in Clinton a couple weeks after District 56 schools open for students on August 1, in a modified year-around schedule.
Superintendent Dr. David O’Shields sees it as the fulfillment of a promise. “There was a committee for Bell Street Preservation and their request was this school not go the way of Martha Dendy - that we do something purposeful with the building,” said O’Shields, adding that some members of that original committee who were graduates of Bell Street High School now have passed away.
“They went there for high school,” he said, and brought a passion for the building and its heritage to O’Shields’ attention.
With the District 56 Board of Trustees, the administration made a commitment to keep the utilities active and do some maintenance at Bell Street. “Frankly,” O’Shields said, “we made a mistake at Martha Dendy” by not keeping the building alive.
O’Shields credited Dr. Brenda Schrantz, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and Lynn Lawson, finance director, with establishing the educational and operational connection with the state’s flagship university alive, and bringing Bell Street to USC-Union’s attention. “They thought we were coming to meet about instruction,” Lawson said, “and then we said, ‘We have a building for you.’”
The college administration was skeptical, not wanting to see a rundown structure. “We told them, ‘No, we have a campus,’” Lawson said.
USC-Union plans to bring its golf team to the new location, with a Par 3 in the back and a golf simulator inside, and have a home base for its bass fishing team. With no formal announcement, they are starting with an enrollment of 30-40, the District 56 team said.
“We will have an Early College there,” Schrantz said. “We will have a Palmetto College of the USC system right in our own backyard.”
“The City of Clinton has jumped at the chance to partner with us,” Lawson said, and local firms are being contracted to do the work that will bring instruction back to Bell Street for the first time since 2015.
