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U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson to speak at the S.C. Governor's School for Science and Mathematics 20th Commencement Ceremony
May 26, 2009
The S.C. Governor's School for Science and Mathematics is pleased to announce that congressman Joe Wilson will serve as commencement speaker at the school's 20th Graduation Ceremony Saturday, May 30, 2009 at the Center Theatre in Hartsville."We are thrilled that Congressman Wilson, with so many important and pressing issues in Washington, is graciously taking the time to address our students this year," said Dr. Murray Brockman, GSSM president. "He has been actively engaged with GSSM since the late Gov. Carroll Campbell first proposed our special school and his support speaks volumes about the interest our state leaders have in creating an inspiring environment where South Carolina's next generation of big thinkers and change agents are cultivated."
The Governor's School serves a high-achieving segment of the state's high school juniors and seniors who are passionate about science, mathematics and technology and who are motivated to increase their knowledge in these subjects. One of only 14 public, residential high schools in the country that specialize in science and mathematics, GSSM offers an early college experience to its students and allows them to earn college credits for many of their math and science courses.
Of the 56 students graduating this year, 71 percent will attend South Carolina colleges and universities in the fall. Notable out-of-state schools attended by GSSM graduates of 2009 include Harvard, Yale, Brown, Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory and Georgia Tech.
A graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. and the University of South Carolina's law program, GSSM's commencement speaker Wilson was a founding partner of the West Columbia law firm Kirkland, Wilson, Moore, Taylor & Thomas. Before being elected to the U.S. Congress in 2001, Wilson served seventeen years in the South Carolina Senate where he was elected chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the first Republican chairman since Reconstruction.
Today, Wilson serves on the House Armed Services Committee - where he serves as ranking member on the Subcommittee on Military Personnel- the Committee on Education and Labor, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
He is married to Roxanne Dusenbury McCrory and together they are the parents of four sons --- all of whom serve in the U.S. military --- and the grandparents of four grandchildren.
