The TGS Quiz Bowl team won the SCISA Regional Quiz Bowl, handily defeating opponents Christian Academy, Pee Dee Academy and Lowcountry Prep by a combined score of 430-165. Team members Nathan Gates, Zach McKinley, Isabella Neubauer, Avery Rose Higgins and Chris Attias were then invited to the SCISA State Championship.

At the state tournament, held on November 17 at Wilson Hall in Sumter, the Kingfisher quizzers lost to Cardinal Newman by only five points.  Cardinal Newman went on to take second place overall, Augusta Christian first place.

Each quiz bowl round consists of two teams answering 25 toss-up questions on a variety of topics including history, literature, math, science, geography and modern culture.  The team that answers correctly has a shot at four additional bonus questions.

“I am very happy with the students’ performance,” said team coach and Head of TGS Dr. Gary Gates, “After dominating the regionals, we held our own against some of the oldest, largest private schools around.”

The historic Winyah Auditorium was a scene of pre-show jitters and triumphant curtain calls as drama teams from eight area schools competed at the South Carolina Independent School Association’s Regional Drama Festival on Wednesday, November 4. This is the third year that The Georgetown School has hosted the event.

The SCISA Drama Festival features one-act plays performed by high school and middle school teams.  Plays are rated by a panel of three judges.  Participating schools this year included: Cathedral Academy, Cross Schools, Florence Christian, Hilton Head Christian, Hilton Head Prep, St. Andrews (Savannah) and The Georgetown School.  The judges were Jim Calk, Jeremy Vause and Tracy Crane.

Cathedral Academy took first place for high school with Once Upon a Wolf and Cross Schools took first place for middle school with Spy TV. Second place for high school went to Hilton Head Prep for their excerpt from The Importance of Being Earnest, and to St. Andrews for middle school for their adaptation of The Giving Tree. Best Actors for high school are Avery Campbell and Logan Cherry from Hilton Head Prep; Best Actors for middle school are John Rosenblum and Mary Grace Swanson of Cross Schools.

First place middle and high school teams will advance to the State Drama Festival, to be held November 18 at the Sumter Opera House.

Sunday, November 8 dawned cold, wet and rainy—everyone’s definition of a perfect oyster-eating day!  With the fabulous music of Cruise out of Johnsonville, S.C. to warm them, scores of oyster-lovers, pileau fans and Low Country boil gourmets gathered under the big tent on serendipitous loan from Taste of the Town and proceeded to dig in.

Jeep Ford and Brad Payne kept the pots boiling in the parking lot of the Maritime Museum as students ran the freshly steamed oysters over to the waiting tables.  Other students and parents served drinks, hot dogs and bake sale items.  To the side, curious people checked out the silent auction items so graciously donated by TGS parents and local businesses.

When all was said and done (and consumed!), tired Kingfishers realized the event was a huge success.  Thank you to Lisa Haas, Liz Attias and Laura Tate for organizing the event and getting the band.  Many thanks to our oyster chefs Jeep Ford and Brad Payne, and to Joe Exum for managing everything.  Thank you Rhonda and Tim Morris for pileau and pressure washing!  We would also like to thank our sponsors and good friends: Better Brands, Taste of the Town, Grand Rentals, the Maritime Museum, the River Room and Hanser House.

The SCISA State Volleyball championship was held October 23-24 at the Star Center in Spartanburg.  TGS Kingfishers played two games on Friday, the first against Bible Baptist  and the second against Holly Hill. Savanna and Margaret said that the venue was very large and noisy, presenting a new challenge to the girls–there were sometimes 16 games going on simultaneously! Although we lost both games, we still made school history: this is the first play-off that The Georgetown School has ever competed in! Congratulations to the girls, to Coach Montgomery and to Rhonda Morris on a great season.  Many thanks also to all the parents who drove to games and helped our Kingfishers in so many ways.

In the past few weeks, TGS journalism students have been asking a lot of questions about cell phones of their fellow students and of the teachers. The , mini-interviews were part of a project to hone their interviewing, writing, photography and layout skills. Much to our surprise, the school-wide conversation about cell-phone use led to a change in school policy. Instead of being required to turn their phones off during the entire school day, students are now turning in their phones to the teacher at the beginning of each class. Phones can be used (but not misused) during break and lunch. Students and teachers alike are happier with this new policy.

Taylor Griffith, reporter for The Georgetown Times, visited Mme Gates’ fifth period journalism students to speak with them about her background, education and current job. She told students she has a lot of sympathy for kids who think they are too shy to conduct an interview.  “That was me in middle school,” she said, adding that she had to get over it in high school and college. Taylor attended the University of Maryland, majoring in journalism. She is 24 years old, and explained to students how being young is an advantage in the field now: like most young people nowadays, Taylor is expert at handling social media and her older colleagues are not!

Regular season Boys Soccer and Girls Volleyball is ending this week, with fingers crossed for some play-off games. Both teams have experienced much success this fall.  In a few short weeks, senior captains Nathan Gates and Zach McKinley pulled together a team of old stalwarts and new recruits. The highlight of the season was blanking Lowcountry on their home field 2-0.  It has been great to see our new goalie Tamir Brown boot the ball down the field and so many new players and young players out there working hard.

The third year has been the charm for Girls Volleyball! With Rebecca Montgomery leading the coaching, they are on a roll and have enough players for JV and Varsity.  On Tuesday, September 22, the girls took home a nice victory in straight sets over Lowcountry Prep. “The game was tied almost the entire time– it really kept us all on our feet,” Meredith said from the sidelines. The girls look forward to an away game against Conway Christian Tuesday September 29, and their last game of the regular season  on Thursday October 1.

“This is just what we do,” said Meredith to a new student as all of the Kingfishers poured out of the school’s front door and started walking down Highmarket Street. We were on our way to visit the Smithsonian exhibit “Hometown Sports” at the Georgetown County Museum. Museum volunteers welcomed us warmly, then docent Susie Shoman invited us in. The displays and memorabilia traced the history and importance of hometown sports in America. It wasn’t all baseball and football—there were some unusual sports represented too. “We need a Quidditch team at TGS!” said Ethan after he and his friends viewed some photos of less common sports.

      

On the second floor Muff Boyd shared a short history of Georgetown County and told us a little bit about the museum’s highlight: a hand-written letter by the “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion. We saw uniforms, trophies, photos, and yearbooks from teams years ago to present day teams. The students enjoyed the hands-on interactive displays. After about 45 minutes of looking around we journeyed back to school, arriving only a little late for fourth period. Are we getting too big for these types of field trips? No way! Many thanks to the Georgetown County Museum for a fun outing!

Wade Razzi and Melissa Bigner were united in holy matrimony in a service on July 25 at The Citadel’s Summerall Chapel.  Congratulations to the happy couple and our best wishes for a long and harmonious life together!

At lunch on the last day of classes (Friday, December 12), students gathered around our lovely Christmas tree in the hall to exchange Secret Santa gifts.  One by one, they stood up, jumped in the air, spun right, spun left and dropped to the ground.  Only then could they open their presents!  This year’s gifts were an amazing and thoughtful collection–everything from bow ties to camouflage Santa hats to candy to iTunes cards to Superman pajamas.  There was even a tee shirt that said “Santa, I can explain….”  Secret Santa cheered everyone up and got us all in the mood for the holidays!