Our Story
Our school originated in 2009 through the vision of businessman William Brown, a lifelong advocate of education. Today Legacy Early College occupies the site of the historic Parker High School and the former Greenville County Fine Arts Center.
Legacy Early College (LEC) was formed to serve “The Legacy Zone,” an area consisting of three of Greenville County’s most historically under-served census tracts. The Legacy Zone encompasses neighborhoods of multi-generational poverty, persistent underemployment, and pockets of violent crime. By 2010, students from the Legacy Zone had the highest high school dropout rate in Greenville County, with graduation rates as low as 50 percent. College attendance represented an unattainable dream for more than 90 percent of West Greenville scholars.
To meet the Legacy Zone’s educational challenges, LEC serves more than 1700 under-served, college-bound scholars with a transformative educational model built upon Academic Excellence, Physical Education, and Superior Nutrition. Legacy is a school of mastery, serves only nutritious meals and is the only public school in SC that provides daily PE for every scholar. Scholars are also taught core social, relationship, and emotional skills. We believe in the education of the whole child.
Legacy Early College has four divisions on three campuses in West Greenville. Our 4K Center introduces scholars to an academic foundation. The Elementary School nurtures academic foundations for scholars in grades K5-4. The Middle School provides a seamless transition for scholars in grades 5-8. Our Legacy Early College High School completes the journey by preparing scholars for college and career via a customized learning approach that centers on scholars qualifying to take college courses at Greenville Technical College, Southern Wesleyan College or North Greenville University while in high school or in our College Center.
Our Mission
is to offer a quality, rigorous, and relevant educational program leading to college graduation and empowering under-resourced urban scholars to become productive, healthy, principled citizens in a changing society.
Our Vision
is simple. We are here to see
EVERY child
TO and THROUGH college.