Headmaster puts mark on Pinewood

Summerville often is thought of as the kind of small town where everybody is related to, or at least knows, everybody else.

So in 1997, when the board of Pinewood Preparatory School stepped out on a limb and hired a -- gasp! -- Brit as its headmaster from the two dozen applicants for the job, it's no wonder some folks questioned the choice.

"I was a little suspect of the recommendation of the nominating committee, but it turned out to be the best thing to happen to Pinewood in, perhaps, forever," Steve Hutchinson, chairman of the board of trustees in 1996-97, says of the hiring of Headmaster Glyn Cowlishaw. Hutchinson is the nephew of Henrietta Allen, who founded the school in 1952.

George Milner, who was on the nominating committee and served as chairman of the board 1997-2002, acknowledges that Cowlishaw was an unusual choice.

"When you hire anybody, it's a risk, and hiring a Brit who's a world traveler is more of a risk," he says. "But we spent the day interviewing him, and that night took him to downtown Charleston, and by the end of the night, I was quite comfortable with him."

Cowlishaw, who will be 52 on Tuesday, is by no means a stuffy Englishman.

He carries a red plastic fire engine lunch box to school. He dresses up as a turkey to lead the school's annual Turkey Trot; is the ringmaster, complete with penciled-on handlebar mustache, in the annual circus; and last year presided over the wedding when the letter "Q" married "U."

"One time, I was at the school, and he came in off the soccer field covered in mud," says Milner. "All you could see were the whites of his eyes. He said, 'The field was too wet to practice soccer, so

we found a mud puddle and were running to see how far we could slide in it.' That's classic Cowlishaw."

But, Milner says, as much as Cowlishaw likes fun and adventure, he is also a hard worker. "He gives 110 percent of himself to whatever task he has, and quite frankly, he expects other people to give that much, too," Milner says. "He has a blue-collar family history and a fantastic work ethic. Those kinds of things speak to his character."

'Working-class family'

The son of a Welsh factory worker and an English coal miner, Cowlishaw grew up in a "traditional working-class family" in a neighborhood near Nottingham, England, where he spent much of his youth "kicking, throwing or catching a ball," he says.

His family, which also includes brother David, who is 11 years older, encouraged him to pursue an education.

To make a point, his father took then-16-year-old Glyn to work with him one day.

"I only had to be taken down in the mine once and my schoolwork improved rapidly thereafter," he says.

His high school "was not a school that was designed for people to go on in education, but two of us managed to get out from a class of around 100 and actually go to college, and I was the first in my family to go off to university."

Cowlishaw worked his way through school playing semi-professional soccer, but when he realized he wouldn't make it as a pro, he decided to go into education.

"I wanted to teach and coach, and that's all I wanted to do," he says.

He followed his heart to a couple of jobs in England but in 1986 was lured to Kuwait by a sense of adventure and the chance for a high-paying, tax-free job as assistant headmaster at a private school.

Nearly five years later, however, Saddam Hussein took over the country. Cowlishaw had friends who were held captive for months by Iraqis.

"I was incredibly fortunate that I had left to go play in a tennis tournament in another country," he says. "I never went back home again. Iraqi soldiers actually lived in my apartment. Our school was taken over. Our houses were taken over. Everything was taken, and once the allied forces came in, they (Iraqis) burned the whole country. That was a strange experience, to walk away from your home and all your possessions."

'Back into schools'

The people who owned the school in Kuwait opened another in Cairo, where Cowlishaw spent five years as headmaster before returning to England to work on a doctorate and teach at the University of Bath.

"I thought I wanted to teach at the university level, but I missed school terribly," he says. "To be honest, I could not wait to get back into schools."

He knew someone who knew someone who knew of a small independent school in South Carolina that was looking for a headmaster, so he applied.

"It was quite a leap for the board to bring in someone with a strange accent," he says. "I feel extremely lucky and fortunate."

At the time, Pinewood was at a watershed, he says, having a "wee bit of an identity crisis."

With 300 students on a 17-acre campus, it was "in need of attention," Cowlishaw says. "With hard work and determination, we now have more than 800 students (in preschool through the 12th grade), 46 acres and have opened a new building just about every year for a decade. We have managed to move forward despite tough economic times, thanks to the solid business model that was built by the people before me."

Staying put

The Class of 2009 was the biggest yet, with 90 students. In that school year, athletic teams won seven state titles and the school was awarded the President's Cup by the South Carolina Independent School Association for having the top athletic program.

But the biggest celebration was held when Nick Zuvia became the first Pinewood student accepted to Harvard University.

"Athletics are important, but so are academics and character education," Cowlishaw says.

The school stresses that importance by holding "academic signing" ceremonies in addition to the ones for athletic signings.

In the new high school building, visitors are greeted by photos and plaques commemorating academic achievement. The athletic awards are posted, too, but not as prominently.

Cowlishaw says the average tenure for private school headmasters is three or four years, but his work at Pinewood is not done. He has no plans to leave.

"I love it here, and when I say here, I really do mean Summerville, Charleston and the Lowcountry," he says.

Milner knows Cowlishaw stays at Pinewood by choice.

"I'm sure he has had other opportunities at some prestigious schools," Milner says. "He's well-thought of throughout the States and even internationally. He has a mission for Pinewood, and he has really put his Cowlishaw brand on it."

Reach Brenda Rindge at brindge@postandcourier.com.