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Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics Announces New Statewide Engineering Program at the 20th Annual Townes Award Dinner

The South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) proudly revealed Accelerate, South Carolina’s Engineering Launchpad, at the 20th Annual Townes Award Dinner on Wednesday, March 7, 2012, at the Columbia Marriott.

Accelerate is designed to cultivate the next generation of creative engineers and technical leaders by offering motivated high school students, in any SC high school, an innovative and accelerated path toward college engineering degrees.

This new initiative will accelerate completion of first-year college engineering courses while in 10th, 11th and 12th grades. It will include year-round, virtual instruction on high school campuses resulting in advanced completion of college curriculum requirements, as well as hands-on, team-based projects during weekends and summers.

“GSSM is passionately committed to retaining talent in the Palmetto state,” says Kim Bowman, CEO of the GSSM Foundation. “We’re committed to keeping our best and brightest here and to developing innovative opportunities that make that goal both seamless and attainable. We’re on a mission to reengineer engineering education in South Carolina and to provide top-level support to our four engineering colleges.”

Accelerate partners include the South Carolina Department of Education, Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, The Citadel and South Carolina State. So far, private partners include General Electric, SCE&G and Sonoco Products Company.

“The launch of this program introduces the next dimension of GSSM and the next stage of our ongoing success as one of the leading STEM schools in our nation,” says Bowman.

Other highlights of the Townes Award Dinner included the presentation of the 20h Townes Award to Ed Sellers, Chairman of BlueCross BlueShield of SC, and the keynote address given by Lawrence Wilkinson, Chairman of Heminge & Condell and cofounder of Oxygen Media.

For more information on Accelerate, visit www.scgssm.org.