Building a nationally recognized musical powerhouse at the high school level doesnât happen overnight. The accolades are numerous for the award-winning Wando High School band, but, with arts funding limitations, it has taken a combination of strong feeder middle schools, dynamic leadership, dedicated community support and vigorous fundraising to help create and maintain a … [Read more...]
Wando Warriors Basketball: Come See the High-Five Season
The night before my interview with Wando basketball head coach Chris Warzynski, I had my basketball shoes, Elite Nike socks, gym shorts, compression shorts and a sleek, long-sleeved fitness shirt all lined up on my bed. For the past couple of weeks, I had been bragging to my friends and family about how I was going to insert myself into the threads of a Wando basketball … [Read more...]
A Model Student: Wando Student Helped Bring Town Hall to Life
If a picture really is worth a thousand words, imagine how many words are conveyed from an intricately designed 3-D model. One talented Wando High School graduate was given the opportunity to make such a model of the new Mount Pleasant Town Hall â and she did not disappoint. Harrison Novak, a junior at Clemson when the new building was completed, was double majoring in her … [Read more...]
Pruning Wando’s Garden of Ideas – The 2017 Issue of âThe Outletâ
The 2016-17 staff of âThe Outlet,â Wando High School's annual literary journal, just collectively learned an important truth: not every great work of art is the result of solitude. This year's issue, a beautiful, thematic piece filled with passionately-crafted visual and written artwork, could not have happened without the team of dedicated students behind it. Made up of … [Read more...]
The Cut of Their Jib: Wando High’s Sailors Compete at a National Level
In April, parents of the Wando High Sailing Club drove to Lake Norman to watch their teenage sailors compete in the South Atlantic Championship Regatta. "Lake Norman is famous for its fickle wind," said Wendy Ando, mother of Wando skipper Austin Ando. "The race committee wanted them to sail for as long as possible that first day. So they had them race for 12 hours. That's a … [Read more...]
In Perfect Harmony: Wandoâs Award-winning Band
In his first year at the helm of the Wando High School band, Bobby Lambert has done his best to make his own kind of music without changing the direction of the schoolâs award-winning band program. Lambert arrived at Wando in July 2014, replacing Scott Rush, who held the position for 15 years before moving on to another district. The schoolâs marching band was already on the … [Read more...]
Y’all Ready for Some (Wando) Football?
Six years ago, Jimmy Noonan accepted the head coaching position at Wando high school. He'd come from Spring Valley High School in the midlands, where the football culture is ingrained into kidsâ minds at an early age. Noonan accepted the challenge of bringing his own brand of football philosophy to a community that was not necessarily a football town. Yet Mount Pleasant is a … [Read more...]
Real World Lessons: Students Learn at the Warrior Store
The Warrior Store at Wando High School helps students hone the skills they need to excel in the real world. They learn about inventory and merchandising, and why customer service is a crucial aspect of a successful business. Most important, according to Wando marketing teacher and Distributive Education Clubs of America advisor Kirk Beilke, they are exposed to the lessons of … [Read more...]
Brains and Beauty: Brooke Mosteller â Miss South Carolina
The Miss America Pageant doesnât take slackers. When Mount Pleasant native Brooke Mosteller earned the Miss South  Carolina crown in 2013, she already had more than a few achievements under her belt, many of them fostered right here in East Cooper during her years at Wando High School. In addition to earning the title of Miss Senior Wando, she also  graduated as salutatorian of … [Read more...]
Pop Art and Progress: Shepard Fairey in the Lowcountry
A progressive art movement is gaining traction here in the Lowcountry, around the country and even hundreds of miles above the Earth aboard the International Space Station. Elizabeth Willingham, a senior Studio Arts major at the College of Charleston and an intern at the school's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, said she has noticed that the appeal of politically and … [Read more...]