Mortgage Broker in Cane Bay, SC

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Students at Cane Bay High School are training to become EMTs.

It's a unique opportunity for kids to graduate high school, then be ready to take their national certification to be an EMT.

"It can be crazy at times. It's just like the real world. I got in that ambulance and I was like, 'this is cool, but there's no way it's real.' Then I go in a ride along [with Berkeley County EMS], and it's the same thing," said Corey Schauer, a senior.

RELATED: Improvements coming to U.S. 17 A/ North Main Street in Berkeley County

Corey Schauer is one of 11 students at Cane Bay High training to be an EMT.

"You learn a lot, I feel, in this class. We are not even halfway through, and I feel like I have learned more than I have in high school," said Schauer.

Seniors spend 90 minutes a day learning the ins and outs. It's everything from coursework and CPR to hands-on, real-world training.

"I love the adrenaline rush and helping people. Being able to say, 'yeah, I saved someone’s life' – that’s amazing," said senior Shelby Miyatki.

Students also get to go out on calls with Berkeley County EMS.

Four students who graduated from the program became Berkeley County EMTs and now help train students following in their footsteps.

"Going to school here, and getting a job here. It's a pride thing I suppose. This is where I've been. I was a student, now I get to be a provider," said Garrett Fanin, Berkeley County EMT and graduate of the Cane Bay EMT program.

"You get to serve your community. I love my job like meeting new people, helping them in their worst moment, and just comforting them. It's the best feeling," said Lindsay Thigpen, another current Berkeley County EMT and graduate of the Cane Bay EMT program.

EMTs like Fanin and Thigpen prove to the students that success in EMS may only be a few months away.

"[Thigpen] was here just four years ago, and now she's graduating from paramedic school. She's very much succeeding in the world. It's awesome to think that could be me one day," said Shelby Miyatki.

When the students at Cane Bay graduate and pass the test to be an EMT, they can make around $46,000 a year right out of school.

Then, they have the opportunity to further their career in EMS or move on to another career in the medical field.

"To see them out there and successfully complete what they set their goal – they set it and reach it. It’s a proud moment for me, but I know it's exciting for them," said Miguel Lucero, EMT instructor at Cane Bay High School.

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Last Tuesday, there was a meeting within the Berkeley County School District to discuss changing attendance lines within the county because of overcrowding in the Cane Bay area.

Although the measure was not voted on, the problem of overcrowding remains within the area.

Last Tuesday, there was a meeting within the Berkeley County School District to discuss changing attendance lines within the county because of overcrowding in the Cane Bay area. (WCIV)

Berkeley County as a whole has experienced a 34 percent increase in population over the last decade. That’s the second highest rate of any county in the state.

This is partially due to the popularity of the area’s school system and community. It’s why Cane Bay resident Ashley Hill moved to the area two years ago.

“The reason that I like it here so much is because we have a sense of community and how Cane Bay trails, I get to experience that and golf cars and stuff like that,” Hill said.

But the space has started to become crowded. Since 2010, the Cane Bay population has grown from 1,321 people to 12,362 residents.

Right now approximately 75 percent of the land is permitted for expected build-out.

“They are going up so quickly,” Hill said, “It has grown tremendously. The traffic around here has gotten a lot more aggressive. I believe that even with school days, I mean, just trying to figure out how to get into the elementary school or the middle school because they're so close to each other, it makes it difficult for the people who are trying to go to work.”

Cane Bay currently has 5,941 building permits issued and 510 are under construction.

That means the number of residents may grow even more than the current population of 12,000.

There are also 7,950 entitlements for expected build-out in the Cane Bay area.

So that begs the question: Are Berkeley County officials prepared to deal with the growth in the community?

I took that question straight to Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb and here was his response:

“In the last several years, there's not a whole lot that we've rezoned or approved, but it's really the entitlements that that are out there.”

Cribb says that he hasn’t approved many building permits during his three years in office. But despite that, there are still thousands of permitted builds that have yet to take place.

So I asked him what his plan for the future was.

“If you look at what's going on in the world right now, anybody pretends to know what's going to happen is they're playing make believe,” Cribb said.

He said that the current market place, partially due to the coronavirus pandemic, has made it hard to predict when build-outs will happen and what the area will look like in the future.

Not satisfied with the answer to my question, I went to other officials to get more answers.

I asked the Cane Bay representative of the Berkeley County Council Caldwell Pinckney about the growth in the community.

He said that council does realize the threat the growth in the area has and it will be dealt with eventually. However, he said it has “not gotten to the point where we have had to sit down and talk about it.”

“Even in the most aggressive scenario, [build-outs are] years away. So two or three years, there's no way you could build out all that out in two or three years,” Cribb said.

When asked if a building moratorium would be considered to slow down some of the developments in Berkeley County ,both Cribb and Pinckney said it wasn’t on the table at this time.

Cribb does say that he believes the main solution, and the focus for him right now, is the roadways around the Cane Bay area.

“You put $65 million to widen 176, $82 million for Nexton I-26 interchange, so people would have their own interchange and doing improvements in the community.” Cribb said, “The biggest thing is, for us, almost three years now I have been relentlessly pursuing what I can control. And it's any new things that come in, and frankly, how can we improve the quality of life for the people that have moved out there who are the ones that created the growth.”

Cribb also said he is working with water and sewer officials to prepare for the influx of houses coming in the area.

One question I did pose to Pinckney was if the county would consider utilizing impact fees to help fund the building of new schools in the Cane Bay area. Pinckney said that he does believe impact fees are in place to an extent, but are not covering the whole budget.

But for residents like Hill, they believe that there is a lot being overlooked which only adds to their concern about the future of Cane Bay.

“I'm concerned with the overpopulation. I do not feel like the county has taken any hasn't thought about with all these, you know, kids that are coming in. Where they're supposed to go.”

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Mobile learning units and more land for a future K-8 school made final approval at Tuesday’s Berkeley County School Board meeting.

A lease and purchase contract of a little over $2 million was approved for 16 mobile units to go to Cane Bay Elementary and Cane Bay Middle Schools. With the exponential growth in the county, the board says they needed this lease for at least five years. After those five years, the county will buy those units and can move them to whatever school in the district needs space for extra classrooms.

Berkeley County School District’s finance and capital planning committee also made headway on transferring COVID-19 funding, or ESSER II, to cover costs for virtual learning. Some of this now-approved money will cover salaries and benefits to teachers working with those virtual programs.

About $311,000 will come out of the purchase service account and technology and just over 100,000 will cover the cost of Lowcountry Virtual Academy. About $210,000 will cover virtual teacher salaries.

Superintendent Deon Jackson made an announcement that he has reached a land agreement with Brookfield Properties to bring a K-8 school to the Nexton area. This school will sit on 35 acres and the developer will pay voluntary impact fees of $1,850 per unit.

“This collaboration is a win for our students, a win for the taxpayers and a win for Berkeley County School District,” Jackson said. “We are excited to continue working with our area developers, builders and county government to ensure that the construction, expansion and updates of schools remains at the forefront of all plans.”

Jackson says this school is expected to break ground in 2025 if funding gets approved. He says this will depend on if the one cent sales tax is approved in November and if it’s not, this development will get pushed back.

Katie Tanner, the public information officer for BCSD, released a statement about the K-8 school:

“The plan to build a K-8 school, as opposed to a traditional elementary or middle school, is based largely on the ability to expeditiously and efficiently add capacity at both the elementary and middle school levels. Additionally, a K-8 model provides the District with more flexibility for conversion into a stand-alone elementary or middle school, if needed in the future as growth in the area is expected to continue.”

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Ira Owens could see this day coming for Alaina Nettles several years ago. As an eighth grader on the Cane Bay High School girls varsity team, Nettles poured in more than 20 points in a game. Flashes were there.

On Nov. 9, now one of the state’s best senior girls basketball players, Nettles signed with Charleston Southern, etching in stone a future in college basketball for the local Big South Conference program.

“It’s been great seeing her development as a player,” said Owens, the Cobras’ girls basketball coach. “You could see she had a lot of talent when she joined us an eighth grader. You knew there was something special about her. She was still developing as a freshman, had a good sophomore year and then had a tremendous year last season. If we can get the same type growth this year, there’s no reason she couldn’t average 20 to 21 points per game.”

That means it wouldn’t take very long for Nettles to reach an impressive scoring milestone. She enters the season needing just 21 points to reach 1,000 for her career. If not for the COVID-shortened slate two years ago, Nettles would have already eclipsed the milestone.

Last winter, Nettles led Cane Bay in scoring (18.1 PPG) steals (4.3 SPG) and assists (3.3 APG) as the Cobras won 23 games and advanced to the state quarterfinal round in the Class AAAAA playoffs, their best-ever production on the hardwood.

As for Nettles, she garnered Region 7-AAAAA player of the honors and an all-state selection by the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association.

During the spring, Nettles is also one of the top jumpers in the state in track and field. After the 2021-22 sports seasons wound down, she earned the Best of Prep Sports Female Athlete of the Year by Summerville Communications in May.

“She’s an unbelievable person,” Cobras athletic director Brian Swiney said for a story about Nettles in the spring. “She has great parents. She has a great family. Her brother shows up and volunteers in track. Her family is invested in her athletics. She’s friendly. She gets along well with everybody, athletes or non-athletes. She’s why teachers teach and coaches coach. She’s also extremely hard working.”

Wright Bowl III highlights the Week 2 high school football slate for Berkeley County School District programs.

Cross coach Shaun Wright evened the score with his first cousin, Timberland coach Greg Wright, this past fall in St. Stephen. Cross running back Santory Jones, now at Newberry College, broke free on a 35-yard touchdown run off the left side to cap an 86-yard drive with 6:18 remaining and the Trojans’ defense held serve on the way in as Cross won in the series for the first time since 2001.

Cross came up with five turnovers and made three stands inside the red zone to win the defensive battle.

To Shaun Wright, it felt like two boxers slugging it out in a phone booth.

“No question it was as physical a game as I’ve seen by both teams,” he said. “We just happened to make one more play than they did down the stretch.”

Greg Wright’s Wolves won the inaugural Wright Bowl in 2020, blanking the Trojans 18-0. The shutout was the ninth in 14 meetings for the Wolves.

The squads were unable to line up across from one another in 2021 because Cross was in COVID-19 protocol.

The Friday, Sept. 1, game is at Cross High School.

In more Week 2 games involving BCSD teams, Berkeley heads to longtime rival Summerville, Goose Creek hosts Sumter, Cane Bay travels to West Ashley, Stratford welcomes Lexington to town and Philip Simmons goes to Georgetown.

Cane Bay fell 6-3 to West Ashley this past season and has lost six of 10 meetings between the two schools going back to 2012.

Philip Simmons and Georgetown have split four meetings, with the Iron Horses taking the past two encounters, 45-15 and 29-0, respectively.

In SCISA clashes, St. John’s Christian hosts Calhoun Academy and Northwood travels to Thomas Heyward.

Northwood has dropped three straight to Thomas Heyward by a combined scored of 129-3.

SUMMERVILLE — The streaks are still alive.

Winning for the eighth straight time in the series, Cane Bay fought back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to clip rival Stratford, 22-17, Oct. 7 on the Cobras’ homecoming. The win was also the fourth straight this season for the Cobras (5-1, 2-0 Region 6-AAAAA).

“It’s usually a fight to the end and that’s what this was,” Cane Bay coach Russell Zehr said. “They have a heck of a ball club. They did some things we weren’t ready for, but hats off to our kids and coaches for the adjustments. We got lucky and made a few plays at the end to win.”

One of the wrinkles Cane Bay had to deal with was Stratford’s regular quarterback, Jalen Barry, moving out to wide receiver. Jachin Davis, a young kid with a strong arm, saw all but one possession at quarterback for the Knights.

Davis’s second touchdown pass of the game, a 33-yarder to Barry, gave Stratford 17-9 lead with 7:54 remaining in the third quarter.

Cane Bay responded with a 70-yard scoring drive in just over four minutes. Cobras running back TJ Wright exploded through the right side on a 13-yard touchdown burst.

Stratford stuffed the 2-point conversion, though, and the Cobras had more work to do to keep their winning streaks intact.

Stratford moved inside Cane Bay’s 35 on its ensuing drive and quick-kicked on fourth and long to the Cane Bay 5 with under 11 minutes left in the game.

On third down, Cane Bay running back Bryson Johnson ripped through a hole up the middle and raced home for 89 yards and the go-ahead score. Lawson Thorn’s extra point made it 22-17 with 9:29 remaining.

Cane Bay’s defense picked off two passes on the way in, including the clincher on a fourth-and-short at Stratford’s 31 by Keaton Cooley to seal it. Defensive back Miles Singleton picked off the first one at midfield with under seven minutes left.

Stratford dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the region.

Each team made field goals on their first possessions, with Stratford’s Matt Haas making a 42-yard goal and Thorn answering on the other end with a 30-yarder in the first quarter.

Cane Bay defensive back Jordan Horlback snagged an interception and returned it 10 yards to make it 9-3 with 3:30 before halftime.

Davis responded by finding tight end Brett Marrs behind the defense along the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown just over a minute later. Haas’s extra point sent Stratford into the locker room with a 10-9 lead.

The Cobras travel to Goose Creek Oct. 14 while the Knights host Wando.