| Wilson High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Florence, South Carolina |
|
| Information | |
| School type | Public (U.S.) |
| Founded | 1869 |
| Principal | Gerard Edwards |
| Enrollment | 1389 |
| School Color(s) | Royal Purple and Gold |
| Mascot | Tiger |
| Newspaper | The Purple and Gold |
Wilson High School is one of three high schools in Florence Public School District One in Florence, South Carolina. Wilson is the only high school in the Pee Dee region that offers the International Baccalaureate diploma.
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Wilson was founded in 1869 by Freedmen’s Bureau as a school for African-American children. The school opened on the corner of Palmetto and Dargan Streets in downtown Florence. There are several theories and rumors as to how Wilson got its name. Some say the school was named after future Vice-President Henry Wilson, then a Massachusetts congressman and sponsor of the Bureau. Others believe that a local educator, Josiah E. Wilson, lent his name to the school.
The school has existed in four different locations. Since 1982, Wilson has been on Old Marion Highway northeast of Florence, after having moved from a building on North Irby Street in downtown Florence.
In 1996 Wilson became the second International Baccalaureate school in South Carolina. The first IB class graduated in 1999, and a class has been graduated in each year since. The first class to complete both the Middle-Years Program and the IB program graduated in 2002.
Wilson's We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution debate team has won the annual state competition in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010. Wilson has won the Pee Dee Regional Academic Challenge AAA/AAAA championship eleven out of the past twelve years and the 2010 State Championship.
Wilson is the home of the final two years of the one Florence chapter of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP), which begins at Florence's Williams Middle School. Wilson is also home to the only Florence chapter of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). The International Baccalaureate helps students "think critically, synthesize knowledge, reflect on their own thought processes and get their feet wet in interdisciplinary thinking," said Howard Gardner, a professor of educational psychology at Harvard University.
Wilson competes in the AAA classification of the South Carolina High School League and is located in Lower State, Region VI.
In 2002, the varsity baseball team won the AAA state championship. The boys' basketball team and the varsity football team both won AAA state championships in 2007.