City of Goose Creek

Andrea Salters has touched the lives of a generation of young people in Goose Creek – and judging by her passion for her job, she’s just getting started.

The daughter of two educators – including a father whose love of history made a lifelong impact – has made her professional home at Boulder Bluff Elementary School where she is the principal. For over two decades, her impact on the school and the City cannot be overstated. 

“This is home for me,” she said of the school she loves. “I consider us to be the hidden gem. My teachers deserve to be recognized for the wonderful things they do.”

After a brief stint in the military, she began her education career as a speech pathologist for the Berkeley County School District – a direct result of seeing firsthand the importance of the school system for her younger sister who is autistic: “Seeing the impact that educators had on my sister’s life made me realize that this is my calling. I decided that I didn’t want to do speech therapy in a clinical setting … I wanted to be in a school environment to make an impact on children.”

As a speech pathologist, she worked at schools across the district before becoming assistant principal at Boulder Bluff. By the time she became principal, her love affair with the school and community had blossomed. “I would not want to be anywhere else,” she said. “I love it here.”

The feeling of accomplishment that comes with meeting a former student who is excelling never gets old: “It warms my heart when I see (former students) and I remember them from elementary school. It gives me joy to see the impact that we made on the kids who grow up in this community.”

Her advice to anyone considering a career in education? “Just do it,” she said. “If education is where your heart is, and you have a passion for wanting to be impactful and making a difference in the community, what better way than to be an educator?”

Black History Month is a special time at the school – but the conversation about contributions made by African Americans is not limited to one month. “Black History is my history and is our history,” she said. “It has helped to build this country.”

The subject brings her back to her father, and his passion for history. “In our household, all we heard was the history of the United States and the history of the world,” she said with a smile. “He was so passionate. And we learned about Black History. Not just within our community, but in the state of South Carolina, and in the role that African Americans played in building this country.”

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