On January 24th our community build studio ventured out to Wadmalaw Island for a look at the site for the semester project: Edith L. Frierson Elementary School. Edith L. Frierson, the woman for whom the school is named, was a
prominent community leader and educator on Wadmalaw Island for 48 years. The school serves all of Charleston County School District 9 which encompasses Wadmalaw Island, John’s Island, Kiawah Island and Seabrook Island.
Our team had the chance to meet with some of the faculty of the school including the current Principle, Dr. Cummings, who shared a bit of the history behind the school. Initially constructed in 1954, during a time plagued with segregation, the school served the black community of this area of Charleston. Remnants of this past were present as we walked around: the ceiling heights were low and there
was not a proper gymnasium included in the school, rather a small classroom space. These are design issues that the school is still dealing with today: Dr. Cummings hopes that the funding for a gymnasium and auditorium for her students will fall into place sometime soon.
Despite this, Dr. Cummings has been working to grow the program at Frierson Elementary by introducing the Montessori program back in 2018. This program has resulted in a wonderful amount of growth for the school and an
increase in funding from the district in order to support the program. The classrooms were open and spacious, with children sitting in different ways and learning through engagement with tactile objects. All of these aspects of the Montessori curriculum sparked ideas for the team as we begin to enter the research and precedent phase of the project. How can we begin to introduce aspects of the Montessori program into an outdoor classroom that is effective and functional for Edith L. Frierson Elementary?
We are excited to find out what the end product is.