Who better to create an arts high school in Greenville than a woman who sang opera, taught music for decades, mentored young artists, and started the Singing Christmas Tree?

Dr. Virginia Uldrick was a pioneer in local education and the founder of the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities + the Fine Arts Center. She passed away in November 2017, but her legacy is as timeless as a Monet. 👏

Her work in GVL spanned decades: in the 1960s, she started the Singing Christmas Tree (still a tradition today); in 1974, she created the Fine Arts Center, which offers intensive pre-professional arts classes to high school students five days a week; in 1981, the summer Governor’s School launched.

In 1999 (when Dr. Uldrick was 70), the residential arts high school opened its doors.

She was the Governor’s School’s first president, watching as her students became award-winning actors (see: Patina Miller + Danielle Brooks) and published writers, joined ballet companies or music conservatories, earned millions in scholarships, and attended schools like Juilliard and RISD.

Dr. Uldrick advocated for a school like SCGSAH for 14 years before it opened, strongly believing that arts education could lead to better futures and success for S.C. students. 🎨

Now she’s memorialized outside the school as the first woman to have a statue built for her in GVL. Underneath, it reads: “Vissi D'Arte.” Translation: “I Lived For Art.”