Going to the Capitol! Day Two of D.C. Trip
Page 27 of 32
Hog Heaven is the Best
On Sunday evening, March 30th, The Georgetown School’s friends and families came out for a wonderful casual event at Hog Heaven. The evening began with meeting and greeting friends new and old, then proceeded to eating mounds of food off the buffet. People sat around outside with their plates piled high, enjoying the music of local guitarist John Lammonds. “I always get the freshly fried chicken, stewed tomatoes, collard greens, and sweet potatoes–it’s all delicious!” said one hungry TGS supporter. Another supporter remarked, “I think Hog Heaven is becoming even more famous for their fried chicken than their barbecued pork.” The kids enjoyed different desserts including banana pudding, chocolate pudding, and apple cobbler. 
As the party went on, the grown-ups stood around listening to great music and chatting, while the students ran around in the back field surrounded by woods. About 65 people attended this Hog Heaven Family Fun Night. We want to thank the wonderful staff of Hog Heaven for their great service, the PTO and Lisa Haas for organizing the event, John Lammonds for the music, and Hog Heaven owner Greg Eaddy for his generosity in allowing us to use his restaurant and buffet for our school fund-raiser.
TGS Middle School Places in Lowcountry Regional Science and Engineering Fair
On Tuesday, April 1, several students from our school traveled to the College of Charleston to compete in the Lowcountry Regional Science and Engineering Fair. We set up at the TD Center in the early afternoon with about 40 other competitors. Students spent the day standing around, waiting and finally, answering the judges’ questions.
Academic Magnet and Porter Gaud swept most of the senior awards. “One of those kids was locating a black hole,” said Grayson, “but he was working with a lab at the College of Charleston.”
The Georgetown School had several winners in Junior 1 and Junior 2:
Ryleigh Neubauer: 1st place. Math and Computer Science–Junior 1; Isabella Neubauer: 2nd place. Earth and Environmental Science–Junior 2 (she also received awards from NOAA and the Charleston Soil and Water Conservation); Grayson Sossamon: 1st place. Math and Computer Science–Junior 2; Adara Grant: Honorable Mention–Physics and Astronomy.
Thank you, Dr. Neubauer and Mrs. Lee for your roles in implementing our participation in this event. We enjoyed the ice cream!
Students Help Library Make Video
Five TGS students answered a call for help from Shelia Sullivan and Heather Pelham at the Georgetown Library: they needed kids to star in a video which will air soon in the form of a public service announcement.
The theme of the day seemed to be explosions and fire. Librarian Amy King arrived and began to pull all sorts of unusual items out of her bag for the video.
Stay tuned! You will see money burning in alcohol (Brooke at the left with tongs), soda exploding out of a bottle when a Mento is dropped in (Nathan, Zach and Lochlyn sneaking up on unsuspecting bottle, left), and plastic bag “volcanoes” of baking soda and vinegar exploding over Library Park. These mysterious scenes will be used to promote summer programs at all the libraries in Georgetown County.
“I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag”
The Georgetown School was recently honored by a request from Cindy Thompson of City Hall on behalf of City Council: could TGS students come and open the March 20 meeting by leading the assembly in pledging allegiance to the flag? About ten students put on their uniforms and headed down to City Hall with some teachers and parents around 6:15.
The first thing we saw was workers dismantling the sixty-foot high water tower in the parking lot. When we entered the lobby of City Hall, we were greeted by Cindy Thompson and took time to admire all the portraits of the councilors displayed on the wall. City Councilor Carol Jayroe came over and met everyone as we waited to be called into the chamber.
After the invocation, it was our turn. We had to walk down the aisle to the front of the chamber. Mayor Jack Scoville welcomed us warmly then everyone stood as we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The mayor invited us to stay for the rest of the meeting! He said we could learn a lot, which is no doubt true. Thank you, Mayor Scoville, members of City Council and Cindy Thompson for giving us this opportunity to honor our country and flag and to be a part of the process of city governance.
Breakfast Comes to Taco Bell!
Taco Bell, the favorite after school snack place of many of our students, will start serving breakfast tomorrow, March 27. The seniors have been taking orders all day and will be stopping by Taco Bell on the way to school. So far they have many orders of waffle tacos, breakfast burritos, and cinnabons. The total count is well over 30 meals, so we are all hoping they are delicious. Dr. Razzi, the instigator of this Taco Bell revolution, fully supports all delicious breakfast noms, including those of the taco kind.
TGS Student’s Art Chosen For Juried Art Show
Over the last few weeks all of Mrs. Patrick’s art classes prepared pieces to enter in the Horry-Georgetown County High School 13th Annual Art Exhibition. In total, our school entered eight pieces into the competition. Out of those, Sarah Green’s work was actually put on display during the exhibition! Sarah’s drawing, entitled My Thoughts, is a collection of things that go through her mind everyday displayed on paper. Sarah told the reporter from the Georgetown Times that “seeing my work hanging in this gallery inspires to be a better artist.” Her medium is colored pencil on paper. The show opened on Sunday, March 23, at the Burroughs and Chapin Museum in Myrtle Beach and featured a lovely reception for teachers, students and parents. All of the chosen pieces will be on display until April 20th, so go and check out Sarah’s beautiful work!
Standardized Testing at TGS
Wednesday, March 26, was standardized testing day for TGS students. Students in grades 6-8 took the ACT: EXPLORE and students in grades 9 and 10 took the ACT: PLAN (students in grades 11 and 12 have taken the PSAT, the SAT or both). Students spent the day alternating between testing and attending the Wonderful Wednesday workshop classes and labs. Head of School Dr. Gary Gates said, “The purpose of standardized testing in this our first year is to establish a baseline against which we can compare future scores for the purposes of evaluating our teaching and curriculum. It is not the philosophy of TGS to ‘teach to’ any particular test or to place undue emphasis on standardized testing.” He added that the ACT: EXPLORE and ACT: PLAN are grade-based and nationally normed, plus they have new questions every year that measure students’ competence in Math, Science, English and Social Studies.
The news about the TGS students’ SAT scores in 2013-2014 is overwhelmingly good: our juniors and seniors have scores that surpass 2013 local, state and national averages. The average score for TGS is 1737 while Georgetown County averaged 1379, South Carolina averaged 1436 and the national average was 1498 (source: Sun News, Dec. 26, 2013). Amazing job, TGS students!!
CPR Training with Firefighters
On Wednesday, March 12, nine TGS students, faculty and staff attended a CPR training class at 
the Georgetown Fire Department. They learned how to perform CPR and choking intervention on adults, children, and infants. The class was led by Lt. Ken Taylor, a mustachioed firefighter who works for the Georgetown Fire Department, and who incidentally tells lots of funny jokes. He was assisted by Senior Firefighter Kevin Ettenger, who also kept us laughing. As we sat down for our class, a call came in to the fire station, indicating an emergency at 1200 Highmarket Street (the address of our school). Luckily, we found out that it was only a test and the school was not on fire. Throughout the afternoon, we worked in stages, with video training preceding practice on dummies. The dummies represented the head and chest of adults, children, and infants, but they looked pretty creepy. Most of the dummies were a grayish-white color with a blue chest, and the babies had “skin” instead of eyes. We had to kneel on the floor and push on the chest of the dummies, give them breaths (through a mask), and, with the babies, stop them from choking. 
The class concluded with a practical test. Ken proposed a scenario involving a “granny” who had collapsed in the supermarket aisle. When it was Joe’s turn, he ran over to the dummy, crying out, “Grandma, you’re a man!” Everyone passed the practical test, and on our way out we got a tour of the fire station, complete with Ken sliding down the fire pole for us. Top said, “This was a valuable and positive experience,” and Mrs. Sweitzer said, “Those guys were so nice-they made it fun for everyone.” Thank you to the Georgetown Fire Department and thank you to P.T.O. president Laura Lee for arranging the training.
Middle School Visits Yawkey Wildlife Center
Thursday, March 13, was cold and clear, perfect for a day trip to the nearby Yawkey Wildlife Center. Dr. Neubauer, Mrs. Crosby and Mrs. Sweitzer drove the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students to the end of South Island Road, where they met D.N.R. agent Jim Lee to take the boat over to Cat and South Island. There was a lot of wind and the ride was pretty exciting.
The group then boarded a bus and had a look around Cat Island. They spotted some turkey vultures and several alligators. Grayson and Wilfredo were convinced that one alligator was chasing them as they were running down a trail. “I heard it plop in the water when we went by, so we just started to run faster!” Wilfredo said. The group stopped to view North Island and the lighthouse from across the creek. Jim Lee told them that Mr. Yawkey’s preference was to keep visitors away from North Island in order to preserve its pristine nature. The lighthouse, one of the oldest left on the East Coast, worked until someone came and stole the light.
Back at Mr. Yawkey’s game room, the students really enjoyed looking at the “dead animals,” including an elk and a beaver, and Mr. Yawkey’s memorabilia. Grayson explained, “Mr. Yawkey owned the Red Sox and he had lots of stuff. There was a World Series ticket that only cost $6. It was pretty cool.” The kids were very positive about this field trip. Thanks to to Jim Lee and Dr. Michelle Neubauer for arranging it.
The Georgetown School 
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