As the Inman community has continued to revitalize and grow, so has the size of the Chapman student body. 

Thirty years ago, anywhere between 700 and 800 students were enrolled at Chapman. Now, however, the student population is around 980 and counting.

“I think the growth is here, but we’re still kind of on the cusp of what it looks like, even more so in the next three to five years,” said Principal Andrew McMillan. 

English teacher Susan Hall, who is both a Chapman graduate and employee, has watched Chapman increase in size from her time as a student and faculty member.

“It’s unreal how much Chapman has grown,” Hall said. “I remember first touring (in the current Chapman building) when it was still just a shell of a building, and we never thought that we would outgrow it, but now it seems like maybe we are because our population keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

In addition to growing in numbers, Hall says that the school has become more diverse, an area of growth she believes is beneficial.

“Back in the 80s, there was absolutely no diversity at Chapman, and now we have so many different groups of people, so many different ethnicities,” Hall said. “I think that’s what makes our school so much better and more beautiful, that we have those more diverse groups.”

Of course, with the surge in growth comes its own challenges, particularly in terms of student transportation. 

“I’d say one challenge is our buses because we have the same amount of buses as we had 30 years ago, and we have probably double the number of bus riders,” McMillan said. “It’s good to have transportation for  students, but a lot of these buses are riding double or triple routes and they’re overcrowded, but the problem with that is there’s not any bus drivers.”

Hall has seen growth in both class sizes and reduced availability of certain courses, especially electives.

“My classes are a lot bigger than they used to be,” Hall said. “I used to have much smaller classes, and now that we have so many more kids, my class sizes are now large every semester, and I used to be able to teach something I really enjoyed, which was public speaking, but now that we have so many more students, I just teach English.”

On the flip side, however, the growth of Chapman and Spartanburg District One as a whole brings a level of excitement as well. More and more people are discovering the successful school district and bringing their children to be involved in the District One community.

“As someone who’s lived here my whole life, it’s exciting to see the growth,” McMillan said. “I can remember where I grew up, I’d probably see one car a week, and now where my parents are, their road is like a major road now, so that’s just been within the past 25 years. It’s exciting; people want to go to good schools, and our district has really great schools, so if there is affordable housing, they’re going to find a way to get over here and get their kids in our schools.”

Because of Inman’s continued growth, the Chapman population is not expected to decrease anytime soon. Hall hopes that the steady increase in size will allow for more academic and extracurricular options for students.

“Maybe (we’ll have) more AP classes,” Hall said. “Some schools with a bigger population have more opportunities, so perhaps more clubs or AP classes or dual credits, that would be interesting.”

McMillan predicts that even more drastic changes could come about by the end of the decade.

“I can see us adding another hallway; I can see us adding to our performing arts and athletic facilities to accommodate growth, and we have space already on campus to where we could build additional buildings if we needed to,” McMillan said. “It’s 2023; I think by 2029 or 2030, which seems like a long way away but it’s really not, that you could see some construction being built on campus, whether that be extra classrooms, or a performing arts space, another weight room, or things of that sort. I could definitely see some big changes here in 8 or 9 years.”