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Friday, January 7, 2011
Support Staff Employees of the Month
Ms. Jennifer Hix
(September)
Ms. Gwen Clark
(October)
Congratulations!
Sponsored by Big Willie's Grill!
(September)
Ms. Gwen Clark
(October)
Congratulations!
Sponsored by Big Willie's Grill!
Putting Whitmire on the Map!
Dr. Kim Neal recently presented at the South Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics held in Greenville. Her presentation, Using Projects In Statistics, focused on projects and interactive web-based links that can be used in a probability and statistics class. Dr. Neal is a regular presenter at the SCCTM conferences and is also active in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. She teaches AP Statistics for the SC Virtual School Program and MAT 120, Probability and Statistics, for both Whitmire Community School and Piedmont Technical College.
Junior Beta Holds Induction Ceremony
As part of the Middle School Success Assembly on Friday, November 5th, the Jr. Beta Club inducted nineteen seventh and eighth grade students on the basis of academic achievement and exemplary character.
Each new member received a certificate and a Jr. Beta pin to make his or her membership official. The Jr. Beta Club would like to welcome Tripp Alexander, Nathan Baxley, Whitney Berry, Madison Brock, Jarrett Bruce, Bradley Burleson, Austin Chick, Cseh Cranford, Cole Eison, Mark Ford, Darian Gilliam, Becca Glymph, Davonte Holmes, Yaunna Hunter, West Jenkins, Iyana Lewis, Bridgette Morris, Max Stewert, and Madison Willis.
A Day of Honor
In what has become a tradition at Whitmire Community School, the community celebrated Veteran’s Day with a program which took place on November 11, 2010 at 10:00 AM. Coach Haney gave the call to order, and the presentation of the Colors was performed by Whitmire’s Boy Scout Troop 200. Alex Cromer, WCS student body president, led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag, which was followed by the “Star Spangled Banner” beautifully performed by the WCS Concert Band, under the direction of Mr. Gunning. Coach Martin’s class informed us of the history of the American Flag, while Coach McGlohorn’s class informed us about the history and legacy of Veterans Day. In between these two informative pieces, the WCS Concert Band played “America the Beautiful.” The honorable Robert C. Lake, Jr. was the guest speaker. After his patriotic words, the American Legion presented Mr. Lake with a certificate of appreciation. This most humbling presentation was followed by a brief history of the five military branches of service, brought to us by Ms. Carwile’s classes. The program was appropriately ended with the WCS Concert Band’s rendition of the “Marches of the Armed Forces” and closing remarks by our principal, Mr. Joey Haney.
The Many Levels Of Success: The 2010 Marching Band Season
Success can be measured by any number of ways— through trophies, accolades, and praise. Though the Whitmire Community School Royal Regiment Marching Band has experienced many successes like these this year, they see success in a slightly different light.
The marching band season started as usual this year, a week of training with the rookies, Colorguard, and percussion, followed by a week of band camp and it’s grueling 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM schedule. There was another week and a half of “post-band camp” rehearsals, 6:30 – 9:00 PM, when school began. Then the regular after school schedule began, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 3:15 – 5:00 PM.
There was one unusual thing about this season, however. Of the 39 members in the marching band, 18 of them were first year members! That’s just a little over 45% of the membership that had never marched before, which includes one 5th grade and five 6th grade young ladies recruited just to give the band enough Colorguard members needed to help the show come together.
After nine weeks of long, hot, and challenging rehearsals, the first competition came. On Saturday, September 25, after a 10 AM rehearsal, the band boarded the bus and traveled to Boiling Springs High School near Spartanburg. “It is always challenging at competitions for our band,” states Band Director Rob Gunning. “Coming from the smallest public school in the state, every school has an advantage over us with a larger student population from which to build their band.”
“At the independent contests, marching in the 1-A Class doesn’t always mean the bands are from 1-A schools,” Gunning adds. Independent contests are events sponsored by school band programs as fund raising opportunities, but provide judges comments and criticisms that help bands learn and improve. Bands are placed into classes according to the size of their band, not the size of the school. Of the four bands in 1-A at the Boiling Springs contest, Whitmire and Landrum were true 1-A schools, while Liberty is a 2-A school, and Emerald is a 3-A school. But it was at the awards ceremony that night when the announcer announced that the first place trophy was awarded to Whitmire. Additionally, Whitmire was named the “Most Spirited Band” on the class.
Taking the comments and scores from the judges at that contest, the band knew it had a lot of work ahead of them. Understanding this would be the case, the band scheduled to take the next Saturday off, away from the pressures of competition, to have two weeks to prepare for the remaining contests ahead.
On Saturday, October 9, the band again met at 10:00 AM for a short rehearsal before boarding the bus to Newberry High School for their next contest. Again, as is typical at independent contests, the competition was stacked against Whitmire, with one other true 1-A school, and two 2-A schools in the 1-A class. This time Whitmire was not as fortunate, receiving 2nd place.
With a greater determination, the band continued to work hard to prepare for the 3rd and final week of competing at independent contests. This time, after another 10:00 AM Saturday morning rehearsal, the band traveled to Palmetto High School, south of Greenville, on Saturday October 16. With only one other true 1-A school and two 3-A schools in the 1-A class, Whitmire found themselves in 3rd place, behind the two much larger 3-A schools.
About this time in the season, the band received word that they had been chosen by the SC Autism Society as their Community Group of the Year for 2010. One of the band’s members, Grayson Snelgrove, has Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism. The SC Autism Society was so impressed that the Whitmire Band was working with Grayson, allowing him to be a part of our band, that they bestowed this honor upon them.
“This is what true success is really about,” explains Gunning. “We started the year, as we always do, helping our students understand what it means to be on a team; that each one has something to contribute, and that all of us working together, despite our differences, is the only way we can be successful. This honor is far better than any awards we can win at a contest, because this one shows who we really are, and what we are really made of.”
The South Carolina Band Directors Association sponsors two weeks of marching events that determines the state’s marching band champions. On the third week of October, the state holds the Upper State and Lower State Preliminaries for Class 1-A through 4-A, where classes are determined by school size only. The top six from each contest will then meet head to head on the fourth Saturday in October to determine the 12 best marching bands in the state for each class.
“We were looking forward to getting to the state-sponsored events,” explains Gunning. “We knew we would only have to compete against schools of our same size. Actually, being the smallest school in the state, there really isn’t anyone that is the ‘same size’ as us!” The goal for the band was to at least make the top six at their Upper State competition, so they could move on to the state finals. On Saturday, October 23, at James F. Byrnes High School, the Whitmire Band placed 5th. “Looking at the other bands in this competition, we thought we had a good shot at third, but the judges thought differently.”
With spirits still high, the band decided to prove to the judges and the audience that they deserved to be placed in the top five in the state. “I guess I had a little something to do with that,” says Gunning. “I challenged the band that if they made fifth place or better, I would let the Senior band members shave my head during lunch one day at school.”
After a very early 7:30 AM rehearsal on Saturday, October 30, the band was off to Batesburg-Leesville High School to march in the SC State Marching Band Championships. The band gave a truly outstanding performance, full of energy, emotion, and precision. “The best part about our performance,” tells Gunning, “is that we knew we had done our best when we came off that field. We knew we were successful, regardless of what place we got.” Later that afternoon, the WCS Royal Regiment Marching Band was named the fifth best marching band in the state among 1-A schools! The WCS Band Seniors shaved Mr. Gunning head on Friday, November 5.
The band wishes to thank all the support they have received from the school’s administration, band parents, students, and community. Whether its trophies, awards, honors, or just knowing you did the best you could despite the size or inexperience, the band has learned a valuable lesson. Success is a feeling best shared with those around you. Through our band, we all are successful.
Career Fair By Mr. J. Floyd
On Monday, November 22, Whitmire Community School held its annual career fair. Despite a recession that has affected the economic climate, several area businesses and agencies took time to set up tables at our school and share career opportunities with students. In addition to booths in the multi-purpose room, there was an outside display which included fire engines, police cruiser, and trucks from Newberry Electric Co-op and USDA Forest Service. Several of the businesses and agencies represented included former Whitmire students. All students from PK – 12 were given an opportunity to visit the career fair.
Agencies and businesses that participated this year included Whitmire Fire Department, USC Union, US Air Force, US Air Force Reserves, Family Connections, Newberry Police Department, Newberry DJJ, First Citizens Bank, USDA Forest Service, Newberry County Memorial Hospital, Newberry Hospital Wellness Center, Optometric Eye Care, Newberry County DHEC, Newberry Electric Co-op, Newberry County Sheriff’s Department, Piedmont Technical College, Remington College, and Wyotech.
2010 Teen Read Week the Best Yet!
Although Teen Read Week officially began on Monday October 8, 2010, students and teachers were busy the weeks before gearing up for all the activities. Middle and High School Language Arts teachers kept ongoing records of student reading and those results were displayed through the hallways on race cars and hot air balloons to reflect their “Reading Takes You Places” theme. Doorways were decorated to reflect the overall “Teen Reading” theme in preparation for the Door Judging contest on Monday. There were so many great ideas that the judges had a hard time choosing! Winners for the contest were Mrs. Brown’s, Mrs. Doolittle and Ms. Wood’s classes.
Monday was also Game Day in the media center. In addition to the regular chess games, students played new games for the media center including Uno, Battleship, Connect 4, and Clue. Tuesday was Graphics Arts Design Day and Library Fine Amnesty Day. Zac Hall and Amy Ross turned in winning graphic arts designs and students were allowed to return overdue books and have their fines waived.
On Wednesday, members were announced for the new Teen Advisory Board which will assist Ms. Hagen with book reviews and library programming ideas. The highlight of the week was the Poetry Slam. Mrs. Brown was the star of the day, engaging students from high school and middle school classes in “freestylin”!
On Thursday there was a Middle and High School school-wide Read-in. Students and teachers lined the halls for 30 minutes of silent reading. Principals Joey Haney, Martha Suber, and Lindsay Arrington demonstrated their support by joining in with the students to enjoy a few quiet moments of reading.
Friday was Reading Buddy day. Students from language arts classes were chosen by their teachers to come to the media center and read to the elementary students during Mrs. Shirley Suber’s library classes. They prepared their stories before they came and shared their love of books and reading with the younger students.
Students were excited all week and enjoyed all the activities. Many commented that they loved Teen Read Week and couldn’t wait for next year! Having the positive support and participation of teachers and administrators shows that WCS loves to read!
From The Principal's Desk
Scoring BIG
On behalf of the WCS Staff, I would like to wish all of you the best during this holiday season of thankfulness and giving. I hope that everyone will find the time to focus on the true meaning of the season and be able to spend some joyous time with their family and friends.
WCS has some celebrations to report as we have received our Spring HSAP results and the 2009-2010 school report cards. Whitmire Community School continued to lead the district in 2010 HSAP results based on first-attempt passage rate. We actually increased our passage rate from 80% to 86.1% in comparison to 2009. The HSAP formally known as the Exit Exam is initially given in the 10th grade. The HSAP assesses students on standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Students are required to pass both parts of the examination in order to receive a South Carolina high school diploma. Congratulations Class of 2012!!!!
We proudly announced earlier in the year that all of our schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the 2009-2010 school year. Recently, the school report cards were released by the State Department of Education. This is another measuring tool to provide us with information on the progress of our school. Our elementary and middle schools have received an Absolute Rating of Below Average for several years. For the 2009-2010 school year, both schools have received an Absolute Rating of Average and a Growth Rating of Average. The high school report card won’t be available until at least January. This is definitely another celebration for WCS as we continue to improve and meet state standards. The school report cards are available through our school website and Facebook page.
All of these celebrations are made possible by the hard work and efforts of the WCS staff and students supported by our community. Let everyone know that we are Wolverines Committed to Success!!!
WCS Teachers of the Month
Ms. Beverly Wood
September Secondary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Kim Neal
October Secondary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Sabrina Martin
September Elementary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Paige Cromer
October Elementary
Teacher of the Month
Congratulations to our Teachers of the Month!
September Secondary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Kim Neal
October Secondary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Sabrina Martin
September Elementary
Teacher of the Month
Mrs. Paige Cromer
October Elementary
Teacher of the Month
Congratulations to our Teachers of the Month!
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