South Putnam continues 'exciting' time in buildings

Every time Dr. Corey Smith talks about the things taking place across the South Putnam district, he cannot help but smile. 

"It is a very exciting time at South Putnam," Smith told The Putnam County Post. 

The excitement stretches from every school across the district, according to the veteran superintendent. 

At South Putnam Middle School/High School, Smith notes the early college program has been a huge success for his students. 

"We are the only ones in the county to have that, and Mrs. Gardner and her team have worked really hard for that certification. With that comes all sorts of opportunities for our students, and one of those is our students can earn an associate's degree. That is huge, and we just need to shout that out," Smith said. 

In addition, there will be a student run business next year, according to Smith. 

"We want to have a student run business next year that has oversight from a facilitator, but it will be student run. All the marketing, all the production will be student run. We are working on getting some engravers, laser printers and 3D printers to provide services to whoever in the community or around the world to whoever would want to utilize our services. We are starting with small scale businesses right now and building it as we go. Students will have ideas and we will run with those as we go. We are looking at an entrepreneurship program as well. 

A team of us have visited student run businesses around the state. We want to have real life skills and real life jobs for our students," Smith said. 

The excitement stretches down to Central Elementary and Fillmore Elementary, as the district will be offering STEM classes to the district's early grades. 

"I am excited to bring STEM to our early grades. We did it as a pilot program this year, and it was amazing. We will be stepping it up to a full time position and it will be part of the rotation that elementary students have during the week. They will get STEM education every week. Also, it will be part of the curriculum as well," Smith said. 

Ann Pruitt has been approved as the STEM teacher for both buildings, and will transition to that role next school year. 

"I am so excited about it for our faculty and students," Smith acknowledged. 

Finally, the excitement stretches down to the youngest of Eagles, the district's pre-school students. 

"We are very excited we were able to bring pre-school to South Putnam. This school year was our first to do it. We had 20 slots available and it was so popular that within six weeks we had to open more slots and we have 40 available. We have a 3-4 year old and 4-5 year old program and the exciting thing for us was we did almost all of it through a grant and that is coming to an end. As a result, we had to find other funding mechanisms to keep it going and we are qualified as a highly qualified preschool program now. Through the On My Way Pre-K program, we have vouchers available for those who qualify for vouchers. For those who don't, we will have a cheap pre-school option. It is a full curriculum to get them ready for kindergarten. We are setting habits early, and it is a fun experience but, we are, absolutely, gearing them up," Smith