On April 27, 2018, the South Carolina Foundation for Educational Leadership honored the inaugural class of the South Carolina Educator Hall of Fame as well as distinguished South Carolina public school graduates who have excelled in their respective fields national and internationally. 

2018–19 South Carolina Educator Hall of Fame Inductees

Tom Ackerman (posthumous)
1945 graduate of Williston High School (Barnwell District 29), First Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators

Dr. Carlos Gibbons
1946 graduate of Salem Centralized High School (Clarendon County), former Executive Director of the South Carolina Education Association who oversaw the first school leaders’ affiliate

Dr. William B. (Bill) Royster (posthumous)
1941 graduate of Townville High School (Anderson County), only South Carolinian to serve as President of the American Association of School Administrators

 2018–19 Distinguished South Carolina Public School Graduates

Major General Charles Bolden
1964 graduate of C.A. Johnson High School (Richland District One), 2006 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Inductee, and Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 2009 to 2017

Leeza Gibbons
1975 graduate of Irmo High School (Lexington-Richland District Five), 1998 Hollywood Walk of Fame Inductee, 2013 Emmy Award Winner, and NY Times Best-Selling Author

Dr. Kary Mullis
1962 graduate of Dreher High School (Richland District One), 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1993 Japan Prize Award Winner, and 1998 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee