Spencer Pruitt is a member of the U.S. Navy, a proud graduate of BCECHS and loves to give back to his hometown community.

Pruitt was born and raised in Leland, North Carolina, and experienced a complicated childhood. He grew up with financial hardship, and the 2008 housing crisis did not make things any easier. Because of his childhood, he decided he wanted to give back to the community, and one way he has done that was through a Donor Choose project.

Journalism Teacher Laura Askue posted a Donors Choose project last March in the hopes of being able to start a podcasting program in the media club.  The next day, she was shocked to see that several Firebirds had responded, and one in particular had responded by funding the entire $600 program. “Spencer reminded me what it means when we say once a Firebird, always a Firebird.”

Principal Denise Absher agrees. “Whenever we can bring the network of Early College Alumni and current students together it’s a win-win for the Firebird Family! Alumni continue to give back by sharing their experiences and expertise which open doors for new connections and opportunities. The impact of these connections bring relevance and inspiration to our current students. The motto “Success is our Tradition” continues and is an important part of the legacy of Brunswick Early College High School members.”

After working with us on the Donors Choose project, he was told about the international trips that had been going on for a few years. He thought it was an amazing opportunity for students and decided to put in a helping hand.

Pruitt, along with fellow Firebird alum and business partner Megan Turner, created a GoFundMe page to raise some money and used those funds to send a student on an international trip of their choice. BCECHS has been doing this program for years, going all over the world to places like Japan, Greece, Australia, and New Zealand. This is the first year that Spencer has decided to pay for a student to go on one of the trips, and plans to do so for many years to come.

This year Sophomore, Jennifer Zheng was chosen. Zheng was ecstatic whenever she found out that she had been chosen. She has lived in North Carolina all her life and has always wanted to explore other countries, learn about their unique cultures, and basically just do something new for once. However, there’s more to the story than that.

She’s wanted to go on a trip for a while now but her family situation is complicated. Her brother is entering college and her parents are going to help pay for tuition if he doesn’t get any scholarships. On top of that, the family owns a home in New York, and is still paying the mortgage on the home. Combined with a recent loss in the family, she wasn’t going to be able to go until Spencer chose her as the lucky winner.

Zheng says, “Thank you so much for this opportunity; it made me really happy that my family wouldn’t have to pay for it because they are having a rough time with a family death and mortgage and my brother’s tuition”. She has chosen to go on the London and Dublin trip, which is a great choice since it will give an experience in both Britain and Ireland.

Pruitt also says that he had many teachers here at the Early College that shaped who he is today. Each one opened his eyes to something new, taught him to embrace something, or simply helped him through a hard time.

World History Teacher Albert Zay opened Pruitt’s eyes to just how much can be learned through history, and was a huge supporter of him when he went through some rough patches.

Askue, his English IV teacher, showed patience when he felt he didn’t deserve it, and gave him gentle corrections to make learning just a bit easier.

Tara Goodwin, his English II teacher, encouraged him to lean into his love for fantasy and science fiction novels, an activity he was once made fun of for.

Dr. Vicky Snyder, the principal, worked with him even though he “wasn’t the best student” (Pruitt’s words), and opened his eyes to just how much he can accomplish through this school.

A teacher he had at the time, Ms. Lorry Fitzpatrick, now known as Ms. Henry says, “Spencer was a really hard worker, he was always friendly to peers and teachers, and I remember him always having a grin on his face.”

But, the most interesting story was about Math Teacher Christine Schrode. He says that one day on a math test he was taking, there was an extremely complicated systems of equations problem. At the time, he had been taught how to enter the problem in the calculator and allow it to solve the problem for him. So, like most students would he did just that. Once they got the test back, he saw that he never got credit for answering the question correctly, and asked her why. She pulled out a sheet of other students work, and showed him the 1 ½ pages of work the students did in order to find the answer to the problem.

In response to hearing this story Schrode says, “I am so very happy to hear that Spencer saw past the math and saw how important it is to know the process of solving a problem and using your thinking skills. Just like in life, there is more than one way to solve a problem. I encouraged students to solve problems with whatever method worked for them, but no work no credit was my saying. I needed to see the though process students used to work through a problem. It was more about learning how to see a problem and find an approach that works, than just getting the answer. Everyone has a different perspective to solutions for problems. So proud of Spencer!”

This experience taught Spencer a valuable lesson, that doing the work, knowing the process, and being able to figure out complicated things, are more important than just knowing the answer.

After graduating, Pruitt felt that even with help from Dr. Snyder, his resume was just not good enough and decided to take the military enrollment test. This led to enter the military and becoming part of the Navy, specifically a submarine warfare officer/engineer manager for the Navy.

Eventually, he also decided to start a small business. Throughout the 10 years of being enrolled in the Navy, he rose in rank and moved around over 10 times to a variety of states including, Washington, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Washington D.C which is where he is currently stationed.

Also, throughout his time in the Navy, Spencer has had three deployments, Including a three-year service on a submarine. He became one of the few people who has access to the set of keys to the nuclear missiles owned by the United States, and manages their use, transportation and maintenance. All throughout this, he had started his small business and it

took off.

 It began as a meme page on Facebook, meant to bring laughter to those who followed the page. Gradually the page got even more popular starting at about 100 followers, quickly rising to 1,000 and reaching 50,000 by a year. He invited a few people to start working with him, and began making items to sell on that page as well including lanyards and coffee mugs. The business turned into a huge success and is still continued today. However, the name is just a bit strange and sometimes very hard to remember. It’s called, The Reactor is Critical.

 This name came from his experience as a trainee whenever he first entered the nuclear field. Most people when they hear, “The Reactor is Critical” they generally associate that as a bad thing, but its not. In truth, that saying simply means that a nuclear reactor is in stable condition, and the saying is often announced in areas or vessels such as nuclear submarines. As a trainee, Spencer thought that this was one of the coolest things he had ever heard and decided to name his business after that. Though he now regrets the decision since its such a complicated name.  

Pruitt has become a tremendous influence on the Early College community and plans to do so for years to come. When asked for what advice he has for students in this school he says, “Early college is a wonderful opportunity, make the most of it, lean into the challenge”. So, what can you do to help make an influence on your community? If this question is something that relatable to you, maybe you can learn a thing or two from Spencer on how to accomplish that.