October 13 was Health Issues Day for the Leadership Florence class of 2019. The day was filled with scenarios, information and tours of some of our local healthcare facilities.
The class visited and learned about McLeod Health, Florence Family YMCA, HopeHealth, Carolinas Hospital System and The Manor.
By: Staff Reports
FLORENCE, S.C. – The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Kickin’ Chicken and Chili Festival was held Oct. 19 and drew residents from Florence and even tourists from Indiana to downtown Florence.
Part of the event included online voting for a People’s Choice award. Voting for that closed on Oct. 20 with more than 300 votes cast.
Winners of those contests are Jay Phillips of Clayton Homes, who was the Best Wing winner, and David Gowdy with Vivid Network Solutions. He was the Best Chili winner.
By: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — David Lowe Insurance joined ambassadors from the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday to celebrate the business’s new chamber membership with a ribbon cutting.
David Lowe Insurance, at 507 W. Cheves St., has been in Florence for more than 40 years and at its current location for more than 30 years.
“Florence is home,” Lowe said. “It’s a great atmosphere to raise a family and a good business climate.”
Lowe said the company, which was established in 1979, primarily focuses on health insurance, but also does several other types of insurance for both individuals and groups.
Lowe said he has enjoyed getting to work with his son, Derek, for the past four years at the agency.
“He’s doing a great job,” Lowe said. “His first year, he was a top 20 producer of BlueCross BlueShield individually for the state. I’m very proud of him.”
Lowe said joining the chamber will give the business a chance to meet more businesses and gain more exposure.
“Derek was point man on that,” Lowe said. “It gives us a chance to get more exposure and to work with other businesses around the area. The Florence Chamber is primarily geared toward businesses and that’s a big part of our business, as well.”
For more information, contact David Lowe Insurance at 843-667-1315 or visit the agency’s website at loweins.com.
By: Andrew Boardwine
FLORENCE, S.C. — Heaven’s Hope joined ambassadors from the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to celebrate the organization’s new chamber membership with a ribbon cutting.
Heaven’s Hope, a Pee Dee based nonprofit organization, is looking to construct a home that specializes in the treatment of medically fragile children, which would be the first of its kind in the state of South Carolina.
Rachel Lee, executive director of the organization, said families with medically fragile children in South Carolina are forced to make a decision: Either learn to operate all the intricate equipment that their child needs to live or let their child live in a hospital.
Heaven’s Hope wants to give families an alternative option.
“I would love it for children to have a safe place,” Lee said. “These children are exposed to so much pain and so many unknowns. I would love to create this home where this is their happy spot. It’s a place where they can blow bubbles and put stuff on the walls of their room. A place where they can just be a kid.”
The mission for Heaven’s Hope is “to provide a loving place for medically fragile children to call home that meets their emotional, spiritual, medical, physical, social and educational needs.”
Lee said being a part of the chamber will help the organization network with other businesses and organizations in the Pee Dee.
“In the past, we have seen the chamber of commerce do some events and we’ve seen the benefit of what the chamber has to offer to local businesses and even small nonprofits like us,” Lee said. “We made the decision that this was something we wanted to be a part of. It’s something bigger than ourselves.”
The organization will host a fund-raising event on Saturday, Nov. 17, called the “Swamp Fox Highland Games and Celtic Festival.” The festival will take place at The Columns Plantation and all funds will go toward the initial start of the home.
Lee said the festival is a celebration of Celtic culture and history. There will be kid’s activities, vendors, cultural demonstrations and athletic events.
For more information, visit heavenshopesc.com or follow them on social media.
https://www.scnow.com/news/local/article_b2af0d0a-e22d-11e8-a7a8-53f05cdd7f90.html
Students in Junior Leadership Florence visited GE, Honda and Otis on Tuesday, Nov. 6, as part of their Business & Industry Day. We would like to thank these businesses for their hospitality and educating the students. We would also like to thank JLFC Advisory Board member, Lauren Stanton, for coordinating the day.
By: Briana Rivas
(WPDE) — South Carolina students surpassed the national average on SAT and Advanced Placement exams, according to the College Board.
The results were released Thursday, showing that South Carolina students scored 15 points above the national average on the SAT and “exceeded the nation” on eight out of the top 10 tested subjects of Advanced Placement exams.
“These results illustrate the importance of an education system that is based off multiple measures, said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. “While there is still work to be done in other areas, the data from these two rigorous national assessments prove that South Carolina students can surpass their peers nationally and that our schools are moving in the right direction.”
Keep reading for more specific statistics from the College Board:
• The number of students taking exams increased 5.7% to 32,641.
• The number of exams increased 6.6% to 52,115 exams.
• The number of AP exams with scores of three or higher increased 10.1% to 30,427 exams.
Click here for all South Carolina test results.
By: Lauren Owens
FLORENCE, S.C. – Leaders of three educational institutions told a breakfast audience Wednesday that they are moving forward with initiatives to improve education in the Pee Dee.
Francis Marion University President Fred Carter, Florence-Darlington Technical College Interim President Ed Bethea and Florence One Schools Superintendent Richard O’Malley spoke on the status of education in Florence at the 2018 Greater Florence Legislative Breakfast.
With just under 4,000 students enrolled at Francis Marion and the addition of multiple programs in the past year, the university is serving the Pee Dee region as it was created to do, Carter said.
Carter talked about new programs the university has started in the past few years, such as a master’s of teaching in education, sports management, sports marketing and a doctoral degree in nursing.
Carter also talked about a 154-acre land donation that will be announced in the next six months that will house a fresh water ecology center for the university
The center will give ecology and environmental sciences a chance to start looking at real water issues with in the Pee Dee River Basin, according to Carter.
Carter said the growth of the university has been made possible by partnerships within the community, such as the university’s partnership with the city of Florence and the Doctors Bruce & Lee Foundation for the downtown portions of campus. He also said local legislative representatives have played a part in this growth as well.
Bethea, who has worked for Florence-Darlington Technical College for nearly 30 years, said he wanted to be an action-oriented interim president.
“I’ve spent most of my life and work at Florence-Darlington Technical College,” Bethea said. “Because of that I was uninterested in house-sitting the president’s job. I just didn’t want to merely try to keep the seat warm for the next guy.”
Bethea said he brought the college back to focusing on fiscal responsibility, strategic planning and being a workforce-development and technical-education institution.
Florence-Darlington Technical College is looking at ways to ensure students have all of the training they need to succeed after college and a mentoring program to improve student retention.
The college is actively working on grants to help fund programs to further educational programs, Bethea said.
Florence-Darlington Technical College also is working on partnerships with companies, such as Wyman Gordon for internships and Clemson University for a virtual reality simulation that could decrease the use of pain medications.
O’Malley, who has been in Florence One Schools for just a few months, talked about the growth of the district and the new initiatives this year.
“As we begin to set this path of where we want to go as a district, we see our future is bright as well,” O’Malley said.
O’Malley said that moving forward the district has set its vision to improve on communication, student achievement, security and better pay for faculty and staff.
The district has already started moving toward this vision, O’Malley said.
Recently, the district announced a grant for $3 million for art education, as well as an inclusive model for special education. The district also hired Doug Nunnally as the director of school safety and security, to ensure the schools are adequately secured.
On Nov. 12, the district will launch Imagine Forward, the 1-to-1 technology initiative that will give each student access to a personal technology device. O’Malley said the initiative will be complete in the next three years.
O’Malley said Florence One School will be the first district to do a comprehensive pre-K-12 1-to-1 initiative. He said the initiative won’t be just putting a device in the student’s hands, but changing the way students are taught.
