Gabby Geathers, Class of 2025, was our guest speaker at Open Forum today. Gabby attends Horry-Georgetown Technical College where she is studying to become a radiology technician. She was nearing the end of her first semester and told us that she was enjoying the program.
Gabby said that the classes were pretty easy because she was well-prepared. One thing surprised her a lot: she is now the one helping all the other HGT students in math! Our students asked her if she had any advice. “Don’t get behind in your work,” she said. “You have to be your own parent!” Good luck with the spring semester, Gabby!
Today we welcomed Señora Yorky, who left our school after 13 years of service to go back to Chile and care for her aging father. Señora Yorky was in the States to visit her daughter Paolina and other family members.
Yorky enjoys a trip to Argentina.
“I’m so happy to be here!” Señora said. She told us about her life these days, caring for her father with her sisters and adjusting to life back in Chile. She shared lots of fact about Chile and the students began to ask a lot of questions, particularly about food. “In Chile, we eat a lot of meat,” she told us. “My favorite is empanadas or meat pies that you can buy from sellers on the street.” It was a bit of a culture shock for Señora Yorky to re-adjust to life in Chile after 30 years in the U.S. She told us that Americans are less affectionate and demonstrative than Chileans–the people of Chile are more open.
Señora Yorky spends most of her time with her family (especially her dad) but she has been able to do a little traveling, notably to Argentina. She decided to start classes to become a clown, just because it would allow her to try something totally different. “I love it!” she told us. We want to thank Señora Yorky for her visit and all the wonderful memories she left with us. We miss you!
We have many things to be thankful for and our annual Thanksgiving Feast gives us the chance to express our gratitude for each other and our school. We came together this year to enjoy an abundance of delicious food and good fellowship, starting with Dr. Gates’ two large turkeys and ending with desserts prepared by the high schoolers. The teachers served up everyone’s plates, starting with the senior class and ending with the sixth-graders. But the sixth-graders got their revenge! They were first in line for dessert!
On November 9, Coastal Expeditions invited our entire school to go paddling on the Black River in the Peninsula Tract of the Black River Cypress Preserve. This tract of protected property is located on the other side of Andrews. We packed our water bottles and lunches and headed out to our destination in teachers’ cars. It looked like it might rain but it never really did.
Our guides greeted us and told everyone to put on a life vest. Then they handed everyone a paddle. We got a quick lesson then headed down to the boat ramp, where about twenty colorful kayaks were waiting. We had to sit two by two in the kayaks as the guides adjusted the rudder to the length of the front person’s legs. Then they started pushing the kayaks into the water and we paddled across the river and hung on to low branches until everyone was out. Then the group headed up the river.
The paddle was very interesting. We saw a kingfisher and a bald eagle down close to the water, then stopped to admire an ancient cypress that the guides estimated was 800 years old. The current was not too strong and it was easy paddling up the river. The guides eventually told us to turn around and head back. Since we were a well-behaved group of strong paddlers, they let us do a race at the end!
Thanks to our strong and knowledgeable guides and to Coastal Expeditions for a memorable day!
On Sunday, November 9, friends of The Georgetown School gathered at Francis Marion Park for the twelfth annual Oyster Roast. The students, parents, and faculty had everything set up and Will Ness was warming up his amp and tuning his guitar when the first oyster lovers claimed their tables and turned their eyes towards the cooking area. Before long, high schoolers began carrying out the first steaming trays of McClellanville bivalves. The music went up, sweet and mellow for a Sunday afternoon and everyone started shucking.
At the raffle table, parents were enjoying the sun and watching all the goings-on. Middle school students were busy handing out soft drinks, water, and bowls of hot pileau. A steady stream of people came in all afternoon, lured by the oysters and the convivial atmosphere.
Our Oyster Roast is one of the highlights of the fall season and we look forward to it every year. Congratulations to all the Kingfishers and their families for pulling together and creating another magical event!
Halloween is fun at TGS because we get to come to school in costume. Student Council organizes a Trunk or Treat where the high-schoolers decorate their car trunks and pass out candy at break. This year there was even a smoke machine in the back of someone’s truck. A dinosaur, Anne Boleyn, Joan of Arc, a Roman emperor, a swamp creature, a pirate, the Godfather, a vampire, a referee, and several characters from YA fiction milled around the parking lot, collecting candy. At the end of lunch, there was a costume parade with prizes given for best costume. The Swamp Creature (Bryan) won handily for high school; Middle School gave the award to Anne Boleyn (Delaney).
Dr. Robert J. Willey was our guest today. Bob and his wife Carol have been retired in Georgetown for 11 years. They moved here from Massachusetts where he worked as professor and dean at Springfield College. After teaching philosophy and history for 42 years, he decided he wanted to do something different. He decided to help out the citizens of Georgetown in a special way by becoming a friend of our library here. The Georgetown Friends of the Library funds the free programs at the public library such as children’s reading group programs, adult arts and crafts, and many more free activities for the patrons. Bob was determined to get the Friends’ group going and he has succeeded!
Bob is very interested in Black history and in particular the story of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who worked to help other slaves find their freedom on the “Underground Railroad.” Bob and the FOGL were responsible for finding funds to bring Wesley Wofford’s Harriet Tubman: The Journey to Freedom sculpture Georgetown two years ago. The statue was on display at Lafayette Park where we as a school were able to walk down and visit it.
Bob explained that Harriet Tubman saved her own family from being separated. Her grandnephew James Bowley ended up becoming a great free black man. “He was appointed to run Georgetown’s freedmen’s bureau,” Bob told us, “and he served in the Union Navy.”
Bob told us that the FOGL is working on an exciting new project. They commissioned a small statue from Wesley Wofford to be called Whispers of My Ancestor. It will show Harriet Tubman encouraging the young James Bowley to aspire to great things. The statue will be near the children’s section where anyone can go over and touch it and be inspired. The FOGL has already raised the $40,000 necessary to make the statue a reality.
Best of luck to the Friends of the Library and their awesome leader Bob Willey!
On November 12th, our school had the opportunity to hear from Kristi Kinslow, the Director of Pre-Professional Studies and Recruiting Manager from the University of South Carolina (USC) College of Pharmacy. She spoke with us about the process of becoming a pharmacist through the USC Pharm.D. Program. This program, which has been around for over 150 years, is the oldest and most established pharmacy college in South Carolina. Admissions are highly selective and competitive with only about 100 acceptees per year.
To become a pharmacist through USC, students must complete at least a total of 6 years of education. The first two consist of pre-requisite courses, which may be taken at another institution. After that, students enter the four-year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program. This program is a professional doctoral degree, and is one of the fastest paths to earning a doctoral degree. Kristi explained that there are over 30 different fields within pharmacy, and a single Pharm.D. degree qualifies graduates to work in any of them. “This degree allows you to constantly change your field,” Kristi said, “the sky is your limit.”
She also emphasized that a career in pharmacy offers flexibility, versatility, and a competitive salary. Additionally, the USC College of Pharmacy provides students with a strong network of engaged alumni, who can open doors to numerous professional opportunities. Kristi also noted that the role of pharmacists especially became visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they served on the front lines of healthcare. In reality, she reflected, “people didn’t even acknowledge how much pharmacists did until COVID.” We now better recognize the vital role of pharmacists in medicine.
Our guest today was Luke Gates. Luke is an architect who practices in Paris, France. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2014 with a BS in Architecture. Luke wanted to try working in France so he applied to a French firm and ended up moving to Paris for his first job. He now resides permanently in France.
“Everyone has preconceived notions about what architecture should be like,” Luke said. “School is where all those ideas get challenged.” He had us look around the Auditorium to focus on its features and on what makes it a beautiful and useful space.
Luke told us that architects spend the majority of their time behind the computer but sometimes they draw or build models. Architects communicate their vision in three ways: blueprints, sections, and elevations. Luke really enjoys his job because his firm does a lot of historic preservation and restoration.
“It’s an exciting time to be an architect,” Luke said. He has been using a new technology called PointCloud which is very powerful and cool. PointCloud is a laser meter that can measure and recreate 3D objects and spaces in a computer file.
Exterior view of the Tartarets Heat Plant showing the massive windows and smokestack.
Finally, Luke shared some of his current projects. His firm is renovating the Mame Pavilions by a famous French architect, Jean Prouvé (Prouvé is known for using moveable metal panels). Luke is also working on a turning a downtown parking garage into a commercial space while preserving the existing structure, such as the sloping floors. His firm recently won a nationwide competition to renovate the Tartarêts Heat Plant. The beautiful industrial structure was abandoned for many years but now will become a library and community center. Its main feature, a huge smokestack, will be redeployed as a solar chimney to keep the building cool without air conditioning.
A model built by Luke’s firm showing the proposed renovations.The old heat plant seen from inside.
We thank Luke for his visit and look forward to hearing about how all his projects turn out.
On the 22nd of October, we welcomed Marsh Deane to Open Forum. Marsh is accomplished photographer who owns his own business, MLNL Media. MLNL Media does all kinds of photography from real estate to nature to weddings. Marsh is also a teacher at TGS. He started out by teaching photography, then branched out to also teach Earth Science and Robotics. Marsh brings lots of knowledge and experience to the school through his job and personal knowledge of the local land and environment.
Marsh believes in the power of immersing yourself in nature and the necessity of preserving nature for future generations. He spoke to us about a wonderful experience he had in the Congaree National Park photographing the synchronous fireflies that appear there every spring. He went on the Congaree, traveling miles upriver on his kayak to reach the most secluded parts of the swamp. When he arrived, he went deep into the forest to find the fireflies, a twinkling array of beautiful lights in the night.
For Marsh, this experience put a deep focus on how we tend to skip over the little things we see every day, whether it be the trees, the wildlife, the river, or anything else. He reminded us that some other places, like big cities, can’t even see the stars in the night sky due to light pollution. Marsh’s journey into the Congaree Swamp gives us an example of exactly what he hopes people will have the courage to do—he went deep into the wild to capture nature in its purest form. Through this journey, he told us that he conquered his fears and truly “witnessed the Holy Spirit deep in the Carolina night.”
We thank Mr. Marsh for sharing his inspiring account of his journey in the Congaree National Park and his experience with the beautiful wildlife deep in the pristine forest.
The Georgetown School 
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