Greenville County hasn’t seen a new high school in about 50 years, but that’ll change when Fountain Inn High School officially opens its doors on Aug. 17.
The original Fountain Inn High School, built in 1939, closed in 1957 after Hillcrest High School opened. For about 40 years, the facility served as Fountain Inn Elementary School until it became what’s known today as the Younts Center for Performing Arts.
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Planning for Fountain Inn High School has been years in the making. The completed project totaled about $84 million and the high school covers 229,000 square feet.
“The purpose for Fountain Inn High School was actually because both [Mauldin High School and Hillcrest High School] were over 2,000 capacity,” explained Fountain Inn High School principal Maureen Tiller. Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees wants each high school to have under 2,000 students.
Additionally, Tiller said, the surrounding area is developing pretty quickly. A new high school could be an incentive for some to move to Fountain Inn. “I think that the area itself is growing so much. I think that the high school is the icing on the cake for that,” she said.
Tiller has been heavily involved with planning the school since she was hired over a year ago. Besides helping select furniture and interior designs, she also worked with students who were going to be attending Fountain Inn High School on what they wanted in a high school.
“One of the things she did that I really loved is once we identified the boundaries, she went into those middle schools and looked at the kids who were in say, seventh grade, who were going to be the freshmen class,” said school district spokesperson Terri Brinkman. “[Maureen] worked with them on what the colors of the school were going to be and what the mascot was going to be.”
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Fountain Inn High School’s mascot will be the Furies. School colors will be navy, maroon and grey. The colors were selected from the city’s racially-segregated past.
“Back in the day, Fountain Inn had a white high school and a Black high school, and [students and Tiller] went and they pulled one color from each of those schools [to make the school colors],” said Brinkman.
The school features a variety of sports facilities for the school’s 13 sports that include football, baseball and softball, tennis and track & field.
Academically, the focus of the school is manufacturing and engineering. The high school will be home to the Institute of Automation and Engineering.
The school partnered with companies like Michelin, Bosch Rexroth and ZF to plan the programs that students can select to participate in. The programs can help prepare students for careers in the manufacturing and enrichment industries, so the companies assisted the school district in not only planning the programs but also ensuring the school was fitted with the correct machinery to teach students.
“We could make sure that we were current, and offering the programs that were needed,” said Tiller.
Teachers will have a unique setup. Instead of having a single classroom, each teacher will have a designated desk in a hub with other teachers. They’ll go teach several periods and then return to the hub for their planning period. Or, says Tiller, they can prep at one of the many common areas found throughout the school.
“That is more of a college-type atmosphere where teachers would be going into different spaces and use different spaces in the building how they might need to,” says Tiller.
The programs, which include music, art and non-manufacturing-related classes, are meant to help students connect with different opportunities.
“I do think that we will offer programs and opportunities for students to be able to connect to whatever it is that they decide to do after high school, whether it’s a career, college track, or both,” said Tiller.
Students can also change their interests throughout their time at Fountain Inn, so as they grow, so could their interests.
The class of 2025 will enter as the only class with an additional one joining each year.
“To be honest with you, the thing that I’m looking forward to absolutely the most is standing right here on the first day of school and welcoming students into our building and have it open and operating,” Tiller said.
When a Greenville County Schools official asked just how this school year and sports season will be for the high school, Tiller responded: “We’ll be furious.”
Fountain Inn High School fast facts
- Mascot: Fury
- Colors: Navy, maroon, grey – all colors from Fountain Inn’s segregation-era schools
- Principal: Maureen Tiller
- Cost: $84 million
- Square footage: 229,ooo
- Staff size: 30 teachers and administrative, 15 support
- Fountain Inn’s first high school since 1956
- Greenville County’s first new high school in a half-century
