RICHLAND 1: Richland 1 recently received the United Way of the Midlands' Division Chairman's Award. During the fall 2011 campaign, district employees gave more than $74,000, up more than $7,000 from the previous year. Also, 81 percent of Richland 1 employees participated in the campaign, the highest participation rate of all school districts in the six-county region served by the United Way of the Midlands. Richland 1 was recognized for being one of two organizations having the biggest impact on $1.3 million donated by the public sector. The award was presented at the United Way’s Campaign Finale event Jan. 31 in Columbia. Shown here at the Richland 1 school board meeting Jan. 24, from left, United Way of the Midlands president and CEO Mac Bennett; campaign coordinator Carey Zawada and Principal Susan Childs from Crayton Middle School; campaign coordinator Yasha Jones, C.A. Johnson High School; campaign coordinator Yvonne Hall and Principal Dorothy Ham, Webber Elementary School; district campaign co-coordinator Rachel Phelps and building administrator Carlos Smith, Stevenson Administration Building; Tammy Moye Johnson, representing the Olympia administrative offices; school commissioner Rob Tyson; and Richland 1 Superintendent Percy Mack.
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RICHLAND 2: Catawba Trail Elementary second-graders present "Go Fish An 'Oceans of Fun' Adventure!" for family and friends at a recent PTO meeting.
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RICHLAND 2: Middle school students in Richland 2 will learn about the importance of healthy eating while honing their culinary skills in partnership with student nutrition provider Sodexo. Its "Future Chefs: Healthy Breakfast Challenge" will be held March 15 at Muller Road Middle School. The Future Chefs program, in its second year, was created to get students thinking about making healthy food choices in life while encouraging them to get active and creative in the kitchen. Richland 2 students are joining more than 1,000 other students in more than 90 school districts, in 28 states in this fun and educational challenge. Middle school students submitted healthy breakfast recipes, and the best from each school were selected to participate in the district-wide finals event. Finalists will prepare and present their creations before being judged on criteria like originality, taste, presentation and use of healthy ingredients. The winning student from each participating district will be considered for the national finals, which includes the public voting for its favorite recipe on a special Future Chefs YouTube channel. Shown here: E.L. Wright Middle students and Thanksgiving Culinary Throwdown preliminary winners Meleena Moss and and Dominique Duront.
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RICHLAND 2: The Richland Northeast High School Naval JROTC Drill Team beat out 15 teams from across the state to win first place at the South Carolina State Invitational Drill Meet held Feb. 5 at Chapin High School. Individual winners are Jonathan Tucker, second place NS-1 Squad; Carlos Ramos, second place Unarmed Fancy; Olivia Livingston, second place Armed Platoon; Carlos Ramos, second place Personal Inspection; Jessica Cornell, second place Academic Postal; Jessica Cornell, first place Academic Test; Justin Adorno, first place Armed Fancy; and Justin Adorno, first place PT. The cadets will advance to the Region 6 meet in Gray's Creek High School in Hope Mills, N.C., Feb. 24-25. Events include drill, academics, physical fitness and personnel inspection events. The team has participated in seven competitions since the start of the school year, always earning a top 3 spot.
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LEXINGTON 1: More than 300 Rocky Creek Elementary students attended Family Math Night to see how the skills they learn in school come in handy when grocery shopping. Students also enjoyed working with store associates to learn how to use the scanners and registers as they totaled their families’ purchases. Here, student Emily Benasutti and her mother work together on a math problem at the event, held at Publix.
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LEXINGTON 1: Lexington Technology Center students Nick Rhoney, Juan Andrew and Landon Duncan along with Lexington Technology instructor Gregory Hildebrand accept a donation of used firefighting turnout gear from Mark Lybrand, representing DAK Americas’ Columbia site. The Emergency and Fire Management Services program at Lexington Technology Center plans to use the gear for training in simulated fire conditions. The center received the donation through the coordinated efforts of DAK Americas employees including chief of hazmat and security safety technician and Lexington Technology Center advisory board member Lybrand, plant manager Matt Warrick, safety health and environmental manager Noushin Sprossel, and safety engineer Mike Knox. DAK Americas is one of the largest integrated producers of PET resins in the world and the main producer of polyester staple fibers in the Americas.
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LEXINGTON 2: Four Brookland-Cayce High School students participated in the S.C. District II Future Business Leaders of America Competition this month at Lexington Technology Center. Idalis Chestnut, Economics; Mary EmaniCrutcher, Word Processing II (2nd Place); Sammarra Wigfall, Networking Concepts (1st Place); and Khadesha Barnes, Job Interview.
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LEXINGTON 2: S.T.E.M. is alive at Pine Ridge Middle School. What is S.T.E.M.? And, what are PLTW and GTT? S.T.E.M. stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is the combination of these curriculums, geared to create a movement to interest and attract students back into the math and sciences. Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is the national nonprofit organization and the driving force for this movement in S.T.E.M. education. While Gateway to Technology (GTT) is the middle school version of the curriculum, both the high school and middle school versions of the PLTW curriculum are intended to be rigorous to challenge all students to be creative and disciplined in both math and science, as well as engineering and technology. Forty students from Pine Ridge Middle School recently attended the Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College Engineering Field Day in Orangeburg to celebrate Engineering Week. Accompanied by GTT teacher Kenneth Pace, science teacher Kevin Smoak, and Class Works teacher Tammy Lucas, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders participated in three competitions including robotics, bridge design and model construction, as well as the trebuchet. Many middle schools and high schools from around the state showed up to compete. When all was said and done, Pine Ridge Middle School had won the "Spirit Award" in the trebuchet competition and placed fourth with a total distance of 245 feet. Pine Ridge was also the only middle school in that competition, finishing ahead of six other high schools.
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LEXINGTON 3: The Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School Junior Beta Club inducted eight members into its ranks during an induction ceremony this month. Inductees included, from left, Rose Xiao, Chase Rikard, Brook Kornet, Zoe Jackson, Kayne Felkel, Hunter Eargle and Kamryn Buzhardt (absent, Andrea Carter). Batesburg-Leesville Elementary Jr. Beta Club president Kendall Ridge welcomed those in attendance, while representative James Schneider also told the audience the Junior Beta Club had raised $200 by selling candy-grams at school, and the money would be used to help purchase playground equipment.
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KERSHAW COUNTY: Doby's Mill Elementary held "We Love Books" Family Reading Night on Valentine's Day. Amy Schofield, director of Kershaw County Library, and Betsy Long, Doby's Mill Elementary media specialist, teamed up to deliver a love-themed story time for the participants. Attendees were also invited to make bookmarks (shown here). To show their love for the public library, Doby's Mill Elementary representatives presented Schofield with a $600 check to purchase materials for the children's section of the Elgin branch of the library. These funds were raised through the 7th Annual Race to Read earlier in the school year.
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KERSHAW COUNTY: Camden High recently held the Miss Gold and Black 2012 pageant. New this year was the naming of a Mr. Camden Bulldog. The pageant theme was “Then A Hero Came Along”. During the finale of both pageants, representatives from the military, law enforcement, education, medical services, emergency services, and community volunteer services joined the contestants on stage and were recognized as “heroes” in their respective professions. Here, Miss Gold and Black 2012, Emily Deal, with Mr. Camden Bulldog, Roderick Todd.
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KERSHAW COUNTY: Some fourth-graders at Pine Tree Hill Elementary used this Valentine's Day activity to review their data collecting and displaying skills. Here, Zyrese Hill, left, and Jacob Jordan are using the data they have gathered to calculate the mean, median, mode and range for the colors or messager hearts in their package.
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PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Cardinal Newman’s Junior High School Quiz Bowl Team won first place in the region in the SCISA (South Carolina Independent Schools Association) Middle School Quiz Bowl Tournament. The team went 3-0 defeating teams from Thomas Sumter, Timmerman, and the host school, W. W. King Academy. They will travel to Orangeburg Feb 28 for the SCISA state finals for the fourth straight year. Team members are: Lilly Heidari, Clover Robichaud, Lee Khoury (co-captain), Nick Miletello, Brian Maroney, Max DeMouy, McCarley Maddock (captain), Katie Dodds, and coach Tony Haughey, Cardinal Newman theology department chair.
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