Mrs. Montgomery’s fifth-graders have been staying busy! Once a quarter, they go visit their friends at Morningside Assisted Living.  There, the residents tell their stories as fifth-graders interview them. Everyone enjoys the conversations and the kids have a great opportunity to practice their listening and recording skills. “We are building friendships!” says Mrs. Montgomery.

 

On February 18, the class went to the Gaillard Center in Charleston to see the “Building With Boeing” exhibit. Students enjoyed the highly interactive displays, and even got to build a model of a supersonic jet and become a bird using virtual-reality technology. “It was amazing, incredible!” said Graham. “My dad enjoyed it a lot, too!” said Lucy. The students were able to view the latest flight technology, including a “robotic bee” used to collect information about pollen. Thank you Mrs. Montgomery and chaperons for an awesome day.

(interviews by Zachary Wesolowski)

Brian Williams, our newest senior, was named to the SCISA Regional All-Star basketball team. The “North” played the “South” on Saturday, March 5 at Wilson Hall in Sumter and won 93-76. Brian had an amazing game. He played 15 minutes 40 seconds and scored 16 points, besides making 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocked shots. We are so proud of Brian for a fantastic regular season and this post-season honor. Thank you, Coach Connell and Go Kingfishers!

Dr. Neubauer, Mr. Patrick and Mrs. Montgomery put in a lot of hard work to guide our young researchers with their projects. From studying sharks to testing Wi-Fi, our 2016 Science Fair had a little of everything.  The 2016 big event took place on February 25 in the downstairs front hall. Well-dressed students patiently stood by their projects all morning as a panel of judges circulated and asked questions. By lunchtime, they had chosen the winners and Dr. Neubauer announced them in a special ceremony at the end of lunch.

Science Fair trains students in the scientific method. Students must also learn to present their findings in a clear and compelling way on the boards. Finally, they must practice persuasive speaking when talking about their projects with the judges. Science Fair  allows development of these three valuable life skills. First place honors went to Isaac Shumard (4th-6^th grades), Margaret Buxton (7^th-8^th grades), and Lochlyn Hejl (9^th-12^th grades). All winners are looking forward to participating in the Lowcountry Science Fair at the College of Charleston on April 5.

 Many thanks to our distinguished panel of judges: Frank Johnson (meteorologist, Channel 13), Dr. Dan Hitchcock (Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology), Beth Thomas and Melissa Heinz (National Estuarine Reserve Reserve) and three senior students of Coastal Carolina marine biology professor Dr. Julie Harding.

The last week of the 2015-2016 Boys Basketball was a roller coaster. Nothing was taken for granted. Kingfishers narrowly defeated the LPS Marlins at home on February 17  56-50, leading the score for the entire game. Kingfisher fans were on their most sportsmanlike behavior, and we were triumphant, making us second in the region. On February 20, it was on the playoffs at Heathwood Hall to face the Anderson Christian Lions. Coach Jack and the boys were ready with a game plan of patience, smart work and no fouls.  The Kingfishers did a great job, playing their hearts out but the Lions prevailed 61-54. The Lions scorekeeper was amazed at our team, saying, “Y’all have so few subs, the boys had to play the whole game and still they played so hard! I was very impressed with them.”

No kidding! Who wouldn’t be, right? Thanks to everyone who made this a fantastic season, especially to Coach Jack Connell and his able assistant Sean Connell for working with our boys so skillfully, to Rockie Williams who was always there helping in every way and taking video, to the parents and families who lovingly supported the team whether they could be there or not, to Traci Kowalewski for awesome photography, to Georgetown County, First Baptist, Precious Blood and Georgetown Middle School for the use of their gyms, and a big thank you to the wonderful and accommodating staff of GMS. Go Kingfishers!

On the 300^th anniversary of his death, Shakespeare still managed to bring crowds to their feet and school children to an uproar at the historic Winyah Auditorium with help from the American Shakespeare Center.  More than 700 people participated in the second annual Shakespeare Festival, which our school organizes to bring high quality professional theater and scholarly talks to local students and the community.  “Shakespeare is timeless,” said Dr.Gates, who had in the past taken students to see the American Shakespeare Center company perform in Staunton, Virginia.  “It was such an amazing experience,” he said.  “I and the rest of the faculty decided it was time to bring the ASC here.”  So, with close cooperation from the Winyah Auditorium and our Board, the school launched the Georgetown Shakespeare Festival in 2015.

The centerpieces of this year’s Festival were two performances by the ASC: an evening performance of Henry V for the general public and a sold-out matinee of Julius Caesar for area students.  This company performs Shakespeare’s plays in the original stage conditions of his day, which include universal lighting (stage and seating area are both lit), doubling (one actor playing multiple roles), interaction with spectators (including seating spectators on the stage) and cross-gender casting. The ASC’s eleven-member traveling troupe is on a 25-state tour this year and Georgetown was their only stop in South Carolina.

On February 8, about 270 students and teachers from Waccamaw Middle School, Myrtle Beach Middle School and Coastal Montessori Charter School joined TGS students and faculty for the performance of Julius Caesar.  Most of these area students had studied that play in class, and now were taking advantage of a rare opportunity to see it brought to life by professional actors.

The crowd of young people in the Winyah Auditorium on Monday appeared excited to be part of Julius Caesar.  As the different groups arrived and found their seats, actors were already on stage for a preshow, playing acoustic instruments and singing songs the kids knew.  When the play began, ten lucky students were seated on stage.  The ASC actors managed to involve every spectator in the drama.  For example, they made the whole audience part of the noisy crowd of Romans at Caesar’s funeral.  The students played along perfectly, first murmuring and shouting with the actors, then falling silent right on cue when Marc Antony cried, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!”  The packed house was amazed at the hand-held sound effects used by the ASC: thunder from shaking sheet metal, rain from drums and eerie music for Caesar’s ghost from an instrument called the “water-phone.”

The ASC’s evening performance of Henry V on February 6 drew theater-lovers from as far away as Charleston and Winston-Salem.  The English King Harry’s ambition played out against a simple backdrop of red and blue, featuring the French fleur-de-lys and the English lion.  This huge play calls for more than 50 characters, all of whom were played by the 11 members of the troupe.  The audience was visibly impressed by their lightning-quick costume and character changes.  Henry V ends on a comic note with the Harry wooing the French princess in broken French.  Laughter filled the air at the Winyah Auditorium for the final scene as the two murdered each other’s language, then the audience jumped to their feet for a standing ovation.

  The actors of the ASC also offered four hour-long workshops on costuming, special effects, stage movement and voice registers.  Participants got a first-hand, back-stage look at the different techniques professional actors use in their craft and at how to think like an actor/director.  “This was the best day ever!” said Margaret who saw Julius Caesar and attended the workshop on stage movement.  Margaret and the other 8th graders are learning scenes from Romeo and Juliet for Drama and English.

The Festival opened and closed with lectures by two Shakespeare scholars for the general public and the students of TGS.  Dr. Scott Lucas of The Citadel spoke on Shakespeare’s innovative adaptation of historical sources for Henry V and other plays. Laura Rose of Holy City Shakespeare addressed Shakespeare’s use of rhetoric in Julius Caesar.

The Georgetown Shakespeare Festival is made possible in part by the generosity of local patrons.  “We at TGS and all the area students who got to participate this year are very grateful to these generous and loyal sponsors,” said Dr. Gates, “Next year should be even better.”

 

The so-called “Nerd Herd” brought home gold from the SCISA State Math Meet, held in the Sumter Civic Center on January 12.  Chris got first place for the second year in a row in the individual round and the team advanced from seventh place last year to fifth place in the team round this year!  Congratulations, Chris, Tomas, Elizabeth, Nathan, Isabella and Joseph!

The day after we came back to school after Christmas break, grades 5-8 were on the road to Myrtle Beach to the Burroughs and Chapin Art Museum. They saw current exhibits featuring the works of Jim Arendt, Jonathan Green, David Shriver and Frank Lloyd Wright.  Patricia Goodwin, director of the museum, led the tour.

Jim Arendt’s exhibit Indigo: Works in Denim featured representations of his family constructed of layers of different-colored denim.  Indigo was an important S. C. cash crop and its dye gives denim its blue color.  Each student brought an old pair of blue jeans to do a project inspired by Arendt’s work.  Ariel Fatuova, education specialist, instructed students to make a collage with cut-up blue jeans, layering them to use the different values of indigo.  Students created landscapes, dragons and faces. “Riley did a phenomenal eyeball!” said art teacher Kathy Patrick.

Middle School represented The Georgetown School very well that day. Ms. Goodwin and Ms. Fatuova were very impressed with how cooperative and helpful our students were.  They were quiet and attentive, and (unlike other groups) they cleaned up their classroom before heading back to Georgetown.  Great job, Middle School!  Thanks to Mrs. Patrick for arranging this trip and to our parents for driving.

 

 

TGS high school students visited the Columbia Museum of Art in downtown Columbia on December 1.  We saw an exhibit entitled Georgia O’Keeffe: Her Carolina Story, commemorating the artist’s 100^th anniversary of working in S. C. Afterwards, we did a studio project in the educational wing of the museum.

Our docent Cameron Vogt joined us in the lobby and gave a short introduction to the amazing life and career of Georgia O’Keeffe before leading us into the gallery. The show is an in-depth look at the five months O’Keeffe spent in Columbia, S.C. where she experienced an artistic awakening that would inform her work to the end of her life.  We saw a giant photo of O’Keeffe (taken by Alfred Steiglitz) and smaller abstract studies she did in in black and white. We learned that O’Keeffe began experimenting with abstraction while teaching at Columbia College and got affirmation from her friends in New York (including 291 Gallery owner Steiglitz) that she was on the right track. Ms. Vogt then let us look at 14 O’Keeffe works dating from 1915-1920 that illustrate the direction O’Keeffe took on the way to becoming one of the most important artists of the 20^th century.

After the gallery tour, docent Jean Prothro got our group settled at tables in the museum classroom, then started us on a Georgia O’Keeffe-style landscape subject using oil pastels.  She encouraged us to express how the place we chose to draw made us feel, using organic shapes and complementary colors. We were all sorry when it was time to head back to Georgetown. Thank you to Mrs. Patrick for organizing this field trip and to our chaperons Dr. Gates, Mrs. Parsley, Mrs. Kowalewski, Mme Gates!

On November 24, Kingfishers participated in the 22^nd Annual Bulldog Shootout, playing Andrews and Waccamaw and gaining some great experience. Ty’Shaun made TGS and tournament history, becoming the first-ever freshman to be inducted to tournament All-Star team. “It was a rush, seeing all the great players,” said his classmate Zachary, “Ty’Shaun is the best.” Congratulations to Ty’Shaun, to all the boys, and to Coach Jack Connell for a super performance.

When we do something here at TGS when always do it big! On Tuesday, November 24, 2015, Kingfishers all gathered in the downstairs hallway for our third annual Thanksgiving Feast. Along with the 60 Kingfishers, we had two 22-pound turkeys, one 14-pound rotisserie turkey, two smoked turkey breasts, and one tofurkey. Down the middle of the hallway we had tables lined up measuring 52 feet and to the side was an extra 12 foot table, all surrounded by 60 chairs for the Kingfishers to park on while feasting. All the food was served in the Foreign Language room for easy access when it was time to dig in. Besides stuffing, green beans, corn and rolls, there were two serving trays of Lizzy’s dad’s sweet potatoes, three crockpots of Mrs. Crosby’s mashed potatoes, one gallon of gravy, 15 or more desserts to choose from, 18 sticks of butter (more than we would ever use!), and to top it all off we had 5 gallons of lemonade and tea to keep everyone from getting parched. If you left hungry, it was definitely your fault.

Dr. Gates blessed the food before we began lining up to fix our plates. “We made a big snake,” said Mme Gates, “We started on one side of the table and snaked around until everybody had their plate made.” After an hour and a half of eating, we were all as stuffed as the turkeys were! Average per person weight gain that day: three pounds?

by Meredith Owens