Principal of Cooper River Center for Advanced Studies
Vanessa President Brown is a resident of North Charleston. She is married to Tony Brown and they have 3 adult children. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of South Carolina, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Charleston Southern University and a second Masters in Education Supervision in 2007.
Vanessa taught social studies in Charleston County Schools for nine years before beginning her career as a secondary administrator. She served as an Assistant Principal at R.B. Stall and Garrett Academy of Technology from 2007 until her appointment of Baptist Hill Middle High School in 2015.
Under her leadership the school’s enrollment grew significantly. Her vision of transforming Baptist Hill into a comprehensive, high performing community school that nurtures students, supports educators and serves the community, helped to focus her efforts in promoting college and career readiness. The school made improvements to its facilities including the installation of an eight-lane track, fitness room, and a state of the art career and technology center.
After three years, the middle school moved from being an under-performing school to being rated as average by the state. As one of the smallest schools in the district, Baptist Hill had one of the highest percentages of students taking dual enrollment courses at Trident Technical College. The career and technology education department at the school expanded to include programs such as digital art and design, building construction, engineering, and biomedical science.
In January 2020 she was appointed Principal of the Cooper River Center of Advanced Studies, Charleston County School District’s only regional career center serving 4 comprehensive high schools in North Charleston. The center is a newly designed 84,0000 sq.ft. state of the art facility featuring 9 high demand, high-wage, technology career pathways and 11 programs. While Covid-19 impacted the opening of the Center, as the Instructional Leader, Vanessa and her team continued to move forward in the development of the mission and the vision to “develop highly trained professionals” dedicating themselves everyday to helping students “plan, prepare and pursue their goals”.
Students earn their OSHA-10 certification and a minimum of three additional industry certifications with the completion of each course. Students leave Cooper River Center as College and Career Ready students who are in a position to make a decision about what they want to do with their future.
Dr. Megan Manigault Founder/Executive Director. Meet Megan Manigault. She is a 6x Best-Selling Author, International Speaker, Mentor, Sexual Violence/Self Awareness Advocate. She is a Charleston native and has always been a forerunner, paving the way for others and showing her love for her community by sharing her talents and gifts.
In her teen years, Megan became a founding member of the Students Can Really Use Bedside Skills (S.C.R.U.B.S.) – a mentoring program at Roper St. Francis Healthcare. She continued to shine as a poet, being one of the first students to participate in “Gear Up” – Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. One of her poems (co-written with her mother) became the lyrics to a song entitled “STV”, used during the “Stop the Violence” month. Megan was the founding member of the “In the Spirit of Giving Fund” – a program started at Garrett Academy for students and family members experiencing traumatic life events. As an actress with the “Charleston Street Vendors”, she performed in plays and skits about the history of Charleston and its enslaved people. These performances included the Mojo Arts Festival and the North Charleston Arts Festival. Megan graduated from Trident Technical College and University of South Carolina, focusing on project management, healthcare, and psychology. She has worked in the medical field and information technology in various positions for over fifteen years. Through her studies of science, human culture/behavior, universe, and nature through the years; Megan has received a Honorary Doctorate Degree in Philosophy focused on the study of Metaphysics. She has spent countless hours volunteering at hospitals, nursing homes, and various faith-based organizations. Megan has started many outreach and mentor camps for girls. As a two-time survivor of childhood sexual abuse & human trafficking and other traumatic experiences, she founded I AM VOICES, Inc. in 2017- a non-for-profit organization located in North Charleston, SC and in 2018 her Lagos, Nigeria chapter; created to provide prevention tips to the youth. In 2021 through self-funding, Megan opened the first Blooming Flower Transitional Housing Program in the Tri County area of South Carolina for young women who has experienced trafficking, sexual violence, and aged out the foster care system, ages 18-24. The program organized and run by I AM VOICES, Inc. provided innovative, hands-on help with housing, life skills, job placement, education, transportation, social skills, financial literacy, therapy, education, job placement, and positive contraceptive choices to young women. Her program, Your Voice, Your Unique Power in Lagos, Nigeria created a unique way for young children to learn social emotional learning through learning the power in their voice, body safety, and boundaries.
In 2022, Megan started working with Lowcountry Youth Services; a nonprofit that focuses on mentorship in a way that Every Child Wins. She assisted with the creation of the new Girls On The Rise program; a 10-week school-based program to support young girls ages 11-14 develop self-awareness and social emotional skills.
Megan serves a Co-Chair to the Prevention/Education Committee of the Tri County human trafficking taskforce, a member of the state human trafficking taskforce, a member of the Sexual Assault Response Team for South Carolina, Member of the Housing Coalition for Charleston Chamber of Commerce and Ambassador for Shared Hope International. The State of South Carolina via City of North Charleston presented her with a Proclamation for her service, Named December 10th MEGAN MANIGAULT DAY.
She is known to change the dynamics of a room with her transparent talks, workshops, inspirational message, and love of people. Her presentations are mentally stimulating and inspire you to TAKE POSITIVE ACTION to change your thought process on life. She wants you to creatively, authentically, and genuinely LOVE YOU enough to Bloom. Her motto is “You had a purpose before folks had an opinion.” With a focus on self-love, self-respect, and self-awareness. Megan has an amazing drive to help humanity. Megan uses what she has learned as a survivor, to help others develop their strategy to overcome mental obstacles. She believes you must acknowledge where you’ve been to find where you are and where you are going.” Megan has appeared on several radio and news publications; even being a cover model for a few magazines; “of all my rewards in community work the biggest is seeing our participants bloom in life, seeing them succeed and overcome the trauma blocks they have faced is one of the GREATEST gifts of all.”
Join us as we celebrate the academic achievements of North Charleston High School students.
Jane Horetsky has made community service her lifelong mission. Originally from PA, Jane received her master’s degree in organizational leadership from Mercyhurst University. Jane’s foundation and passion has always been her writing, and she is working as the Grants and Fundraising Manager for the Humanities Foundation to secure funding for programs and collaborative community projects. Her latest project is funding the creation of a historical mural located at – Archer School Apartments, downtown Charleston.
Before working for the Humanities Foundation, Jane was writing grants for the Mount Pleasant Police Department which included government and private foundations funding. She also introduced the Law Enforcement Neighborhood Support (LENS) program to the Agency. It’s a community-wide initiative program that places law enforcement in a better light by working collaboratively with the Isle of Palms, the City of Charleston, and Mount Pleasant police departments and communities.
Jane is a recent member of the Rotary Club of Charleston. Jane has organized Habitat for Humanity building projects locally, received national recognition for Make a Difference Day, and served Rotary recently through the International Grants Committee (2022) and as a poll manager for the 2024 democratic primary.
Her hobbies include walking, going to the gym, attending live music & festivals, and traveling. Jane resides on Daniel Island. She has two daughters, Emma, who lives in Tampa, FL, and Becca who just moved from Orlando to Boston, MA. Becca and her husband are expecting their 1st baby in May.