Lowcountry student examining the impact of recent Georgetown mill closures, looking for community feedback
January 14, 2026
Karen Owens, Publisher, Georgetown SC Gazette
I have a passion for helping young people and when this high school student contacted me about a research project he was conducting, I was intrigued and happy to help. My caveat – that once he compiled his information, I wanted to be able to share “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say, and he agreed to send me his findings. Let me introduce Ridge Jenkinson:
Ridge Jenkinson of Lucy Beckham High School.
Ridge Jenkinson is a student at Lucy Beckham High School in Mount Pleasant who is completing an academic research paper focused community and economic impacts in rural South Carolina.
He is studying how the recent steel and paper mill closures have impacted quality of life of residents in Georgetown, South Carolina. Using a short, anonymous survey, he hopes to gather input from adult Georgetown residents (age 18+) on topics such as job stability, financial stress, overall stress levels, quality of life, and outlook for the community’s future. The goal of the research is to better understand how large employer closures are experienced at the community level. Results will be used solely for a high school academic research paper.
Please complete the survey by January 31 at 5:00 pm. You can access the survey link: https://forms.gle/
And be on the lookout for his report and findings.
