Sen. Tim Scott returning to his roots at Stall High

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott gave a rousing motivational to talk to hundreds of students at Stall High School in North Charleston today, encouraging them to dream even bigger dreams.

Scott said he returned to his alma mater to express his thanks for how its teachers and administrators helped put him on a path that led him to become South Carolina’s first African-American Senator.

Last month, Scott was Gov. Nikki Haley’s choice to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Jim DeMint. Scott is expected to run for the seat in 2014.

During previous campaigns, Scott often shared the story about how he struggled initially in high school, joking that failing both freshman English and Spanish didn’t make him bilingual but “bi-ignorant.”

But Scott also has talked about how he found support among Stall’s faculty and administration that helped him turn the corner academically.

After graduating from Stall in 1983, he went to Charleston Southern University, began a business career, and eventually got elected as the first black Republican in modern times to the South Carolina General Assembly. He also became South Carolina’s first black congressman since Reconstruction before becoming its only black senator in history.

Read more in tomorrow’s Post and Courier.