Conway, SC – Atlantic Collegiate Academy principal Mike Lorenz is happy to announce the addition of Sarah Eddy to the Armada faculty for the 2024-25 school year.
Eddy, a native of Nashville, Tenn., comes to ACA after taking a year away from teaching to focus on the business she and her husband, Harold, own in Hendersonville, NC. She has served as a high school math teacher since 2004, with her most recent posting at Ashville Christian Academy in Swannanoa, NC, where she taught Algebra 1, Geometry and Honors Geometry.
Eddy said she was attracted to ACA by the schools' dedication to academics and athletics as part of a complete education.
"My daughter, Sofia, does competitive cheerleading and stays exhausted because of going to school full-time, attending practices for hours after school, and then spending weekends out of town at competitions," Eddy said. "ACA offers rigorous academics and the ability for elite athletes to have time during the day to practice their sport and still be home at night with family. I am also excited that ACA offers students the opportunity to earn two years of college credit by the time they graduate."
A 1980 graduate of the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Eddy hasn't always been a teacher. She spent the first 17 years of her professional career as a state and federal environmental compliance officer, occupational safety and insurance coordinator for Ambrose Printing in Nashville. She focused her efforts on tracking hazardous waste as well as air and water pollution in addition to creating and administering safety compliance educational programs.
"We are extremely excited to have Sarah with us, she has amazing life experience to bring to the classroom," Principal Mike Lorez said. "I know she is going to be an inspiration to our students at ACA."
It was during that time when she also earned her Juris Doctor in 1992 from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Calif. She was admitted to the Bar in both Tennessee and Connecticut, earning a promotion to General Counsel for Ambrose Printing while also managing the positions of Treasurer, Director of Human Resources, Corporate Secretary and member of the Board of Directors for Ambrose, which ranked among the top 400 commercial printing companies in the United States.
Eddy moved to the Atlanta area where she worked for First Baptist Church before taking on her first teaching position at Morrow High in Jonesboro, Ga., in 2004. After two years there, she moved to Duluth High where, in addition to teaching Algebra and Geometry, she was also the sponsor of the Key Club, directed the annual Talent Show and was the coach for the Mock Trial team.
Following the birth of her daughter, Eddy took a break from teaching to be a stay-at-home mom, but she returned to the classroom at Flowery Branch High in 2014, teaching Language Arts, including World Literature, while also founding the school's first Mock Trial Team.
She and her family moved to Hendersonville, NC in 2016, founding their own business,
Premier Homes of the Carolinas. In addition to handling the companies' business operations, human resources and insurance, she has also designed and decorated model homes for the company, roles she continues to fill in her time away from school.
She returned to the classroom in 2020 during the pandemic at Veritas Christian Academy in Fletcher, NC, and then spent the 21-22 academic year at Imago Dei Classical Academy in Mills River, NC.
Eddy's parents were politically active in the turbulent 1960s, raising five children during the time of political assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. They led their children by example to stand up for the things you believe in, without causing violence or destruction.
"My parents were products of the Great Depression, so they were very frugal and conservative their entire lives," Eddy said. "My mother grew up on a ranch in Texas and was a barrel racer and my father grew up in Nashville and went to Vanderbilt where he graduated second in his class in chemical engineering.
"They were strict, but loving, parents who allowed each of us the freedom to play hard, receive good educations and become whoever God designed us to be. Four of the five – two older sisters and two younger brothers – are entrepreneurs who have started their own businesses and the fifth is a nurse who has four Masters' degrees."
As a teen, Eddy played basketball, softball, soccer and field hockey. She was a member of the French Club, the Foreign Student Exchange Club and the Yearbook Club.
"I loved school from the moment I started kindergarten," Eddy said. "I loved being in a classroom learning new things and sharing the day with others. Being a teacher allows me the opportunity to continue in a learning environment, to watch students experience the joy of being exposed to something for the first time, and to share life with a new group of people each year."
Eddy and her husband Harold, who is a Partner in the Hall, Booth and Smith Law Firm, and their daughter Sofia have three dogs – Peanut (Great Pyrenees), Nellie (Beagle), and Coco-Chanel (Cockapoo) along with a cat, Samantha and a freshwater aquarium. She has always enjoyed watching sports and reading. Her favorite authors include Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Lisa See and she is a fan of various fiction and non-fiction works. She also enjoys Contemporary Christian and Classic 70's music, scrap booking, sewing and travelling.
About Atlantic Collegiate Academy: Atlantic Collegiate Academy (ACA), located in Conway, S.C., serves high school students in a safe, small and family-centered setting. Our students seek the opportunity and challenge of rigorous curriculum, high academic standards and elite athletics while also earning up to two years of college credit. ACA serves students in grades 9-12 using an honors curriculum in 9th and 10 grades with a dual enrollment curriculum in 11th and 12th grades.
Learn more about ACA by visiting our website at AtlanticCollegiate.Academy and by following us on social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
