Trident Academy’s Mary Silgals and Lalla Boatwright have received the highest teaching designation in the state – both have become South Carolina Independent Schools Association (SCISA) Master Teachers.

SCISA Master Teachers willingly invest time and energy, motivate students toward goals, offer personal attention and demonstrate by being a role model.

Mary Silgals, MLIS, M. Ed in Technology, is the media specialist and instructional technologist at Trident Academy. Silgals received her bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Kentucky, her MLIS from the University of South Carolina, her M.Ed. in Technology from Lesley University and is currently an executive board member of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. She has taught at Trident Academy for the past nine years and says, “Knowing the caliber of teachers at Trident Academy who have earned this designation, I am deeply honored to be considered their colleague.”

Lalla Boatwright, MLIS, has taught at Trident Academy for 23 years and in addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is also the High School coordinator. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and history from Furman University and has taught both high and middle school students in both areas. She says, “I have truly enjoyed working with the teachers and students that have entered my life.  I can still see individual faces of students that I shared “aha” moments with when something finally made sense to them.  If it had only been one, that would have been enough, but I have been lucky and those moments keep you going.  Knowing that you have made a difference is worth the times when you struggle to get a student to try just one more time after that last failure.”  

Trident Academy is the only school in SCISA to have someone earn the Master Teacher designation every year since the program’s inception in 2005. Current Trident Academy teachers who have received the designation are Mary Alice Satterfield and Therese Kristiansen.

Trident Academy is a coeducational independent school for K-12th grade students with learning differences to include those diagnosed with the following learning disabilities: dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, central auditory processing disorder, non-verbal learning disabilities and ADHD/ADD. Students with learning differences benefit from our multi-sensory environment, which helps each child to develop skills that will prepare him or her to become independent learners and self-advocates throughout their entire education experience and into their lives.