Girls-only charter school in Wilmington, N.C., set to build permanent campus

A girls-only charter school in Wilimington, N.C., is planning to break ground next week on a permanent campus.

Port City Daily reports that the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington, more commonly known as GLOW Academy, will break ground on April 24. The school opened in 2016, and eventually will enroll girls in grades six to 12.

“We set out to design and build a model of what a 21st-century education and school can be,” says Margee Herring, GLOW Academy’s spokesperson. “It’s expensive to do it differently, but we are seeking a different outcome.”

The campus will have four buildings—a middle school, high school, media center, and administrative facility—totaling more than 57,000 square feet, The Wilmington Star-News reports. It will accommodate 700 students. The school now has about 200 girls in grades six and seven, and plans to add a class of 100 in each of the next five years.

The Wilmington City Council approved a special use permit last month that clears the way for construction to begin.

The campus will be built on a 28-acre tract that was donated to GLOW last year. The site is adjacent to the city's Maides Park, which may create opportunities for program partnerships.

“Being contiguous to Maides Park, we also have a good opportunity there to support the city’s parks and rec. program,” Herring says.  “There’s a lot of good synergy and collaboration going with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.”

Most of the architects, the engineers, the support staff involved in the construction are women.

“They came into our school, got to know our girls, and really created something more than a school,”  Herring says. “They created a learning environment.”

Officials hope the new campus will be ready for students in fall 2019.

MORE: Video Animation of plans for GLOW Academy (Monteith Construction)