Mrs. Patrick’s high school art students have been pushing themselves lately.  Nine of them completed individual projects to compete for entry in the Horry-Georgetown County High Schools 15^th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. Jurors viewed some 400 pieces at schools all over these two counties, judging them on craftsmanship, originality, and a clear understanding of the principles and elements of design.

Avery Rose’s 3-dimensional piece The End was selected for display at the Myrtle Beach Museum. The End, whose main colors are black, red and white, features three stages of a falling figure, black plastic filigree dolls atop an open book. “In just a brief moment, a life can end, like the ending of a book,” Avery Rose said. “Her story is never told.” Avery Rose also said that working on her piece was interesting: “I was just studying falling and then remaking it.”

The Annual Art Show will be held at Myrtle Beach Art Museum from April 17- May 22, 2016. The opening reception and awards ceremony will take place on April 17 from 1pm-3pm at the museum and everyone is invited. Jim Arendt, Coastal Carolina University Gallery Director, will be judging the art work. We are so proud of the hard work and artistic skills of our Kingfishers, and special congratulations to Avery Rose and Mrs. Patrick!

(by Meredith Owens and Laura Gates)

TGS math students celebrated a very special day in the history of the universe: March 14, 2016–otherwise known as 3.14.15. These are the first five digits of the mysterious and powerful number that ancient Greek mathematicians called “pi.” Students brought lots of delicious pies but Mrs. Crosby didn’t allow them to eat any until they successfully calculated the area and circumference of an 8″ pie. (In case you’ve forgotten, the circumference of a circle is pi times the diameter and the area is pi times the square of the  radius.)

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.