River Day is a beloved tradition that lets Kingfishers start the school year start with a bang. There is nothing like quality play time on the Black River to bring students together, old and new. Dr. and Mrs. Crosby kindly host this annual event and make sure everyone has a great afternoon.
After lunch on August 18, teachers drove students out to Mrs. Crosby’s house on the river. The first order of business was safety: students donned their life jackets as Mrs. Crosby explained the rules. Then, students headed to the floating docks to go kayaking, paddle boarding, or swimming. The air was filled with shrieking, splashing, and sunshine. New students got to know others–it is easy to meet people when everyone is flailing around in the water!
“Get to know them by flipping their kayak more than everyone,” was Morgan’s advice.
Kids could also go out on motorboats to enjoy the scenic river or go knee boarding and tubing. Dr. Crosby and Mr. Jim Edwards drove their boats. A lot of people tried knee boarding, and many were successful. “I actually got up on my knees this time,” Elijah said. Tubing was also quite popular. Mr. Jim Edwards had fun putting kids in the “spin cycle,” where he would pull the tube in a circle and send everyone on the tube flying.
After a few hours on the river, people began heading back to the deck where Dr. Simmons and Mrs. Patrick were grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Kids also enjoyed many snacks, such as chips, watermelon, and plenty of desserts. After the cookout, everyone was then allowed to go back in the water for another hour or so. The day ended around 7:00 when parents arrived to collect their tired and happy children. River Day is always a blast–everyone has fun in or around the water and our school year starts off right. Thank you, Dr. and Mrs. Crosby!
Our first speaker of this school year was Dr. Dan Turner, Head of Programming and Outreach at the Georgetown County Library. Dr. Turner has been working at the Georgetown Library for five years now, and has put together many different programs for the library. The library is currently closed for renovations, so he and his colleague Trudy Bazemore have been using the Es’Dorn Room at our school for their office. “It’s the nicest place we’ve ever worked!” he laughed.
Before working at the library, Dr. Turner taught literature and writing for 20 years at USC, Vanderbilt, Siena College, and Coastal Carolina. Turner was born “up north” in Spartanburg, and has a lifelong love for reading and writing which he enjoys sharing with others. One of his favorite writers is William Shakespeare but his area of concentration is American Southern Gothic literature. He urged the students who love writing to keep writing every day and not put up obstacles. “You’ve got to get it going to keep it going,” he said. “You don’t want to stand in your own way.”
The library renovations are a massive project, made possible by a bequest from Mrs. Jean Flournoy Moody, who left $1,000,000 to support the library upon her death. A team that included Dr. Turner first had to remove 80,000 books and place them into storage before the construction workers even arrived. “Our library was in need of some love,” Dr. Turner told us.
Besides adding much needed space to the library, the renovations to the library will transform the public space into something much more than a place to quietly do homework and read books, but will feature a filmmaking space with video editing software and production equipment. None of this would have been possible without the diligent work of the library’s dedicated staff members. Dr. Turner invited us to volunteer to help reshelve those 80,000 volumes when the library reopens in the spring! Our relationship with the Georgetown Library benefits our students in countless ways, and we would like to thank Dr. Dan Turner for being our first guest speaker of the school year!
Spring is here and the high school decided to organize an egg hunt for the middle school, which took place April 19 during Open Forum and lunch. During third period, some high schoolers (Kelsi, Ella, Isaac, Annika, Emily, Morgan, and Bristol) hid most of the eggs outside, and hid the remainder in the downstairs hallway. There were several different-colored eggs, and they were color-coded. Most eggs contained candy, and there were even certain egg colors that were safe for kids with peanut allergies. The silver, golden, and bunny-shaped eggs had better prizes, like money, soda vouchers, and Hot Wheels cars. There was also a large clear egg containing a stuffed animal shaped like an ice cream cone.
After hiding all of the eggs, the high schoolers went into the Auditorium where the middle schoolers were waiting. They announced that the hunt was on. Everyone became very egg-cited when they found out what the prizes were. Baryck and Gracin tried to claim they were middle schoolers in hopes of being able to find the Hot Wheels. Students were then allowed to go upstairs to get their baskets, but some tried to search for the eggs before they were allowed to. After everyone got their baskets, the egg hunters stampeded down the stairs. “I was afraid the teachers would get trampled,” Mme Gates said. There was then a race to find all of the eggs hidden inside, before everyone headed outside. Students then began jumping and climbing up trees to try to get the eggs hidden in hard-to-reach places. It was pure pandemonium. After the hunt was finished, middle school students then got to enjoy and trade the things they found in their eggs. All in all, it was an egg-cellent event.
Branton reacts with extreme surprise when his name is called as high scorer for the Middle School Math Meet team.
The week after the school trip, on March 22 and 23, the High School and Middle School Math Meet Teams competed in the SCISA Math Meet. On March 22, the High School Math Team (Isaac, Ella, Kelsi, Annika, and Morgan) gathered at the school at 7:30 to head to the Sumter Civic Center. Once they arrived there, Dr. Gates took the team to Hardees for breakfast. The Middle School Math Team (Eleanor, Nathan, Sam, Nolan, and Branton) had a similar morning the next day with Mrs. Crosby, minus getting Hardees. Both of the meets began with the speed round. Students were given ten minutes to solve ten math problems. Then everyone was given one hour to answer 50 questions in the written test. While the participants ate lunch, the results were tallied.
TGS had some good results. For the high school, Morgan got the highest score on the team, and got eighth overall individually. For the middle school, Branton got the highest score out of the team, and the whole team got eighth overall. There are now some more trophies for our trophy case! Great job, Math Teams!
The morning was dark and cold when the students arrived with their pillows and blankets to stow their gear in the charter bus. Dr. Gates said good morning to everyone with a short speech and collected all phones, then students said good-bye to their parents and grandparents. Theories about where the bus was heading had been swirling around the school for weeks—students came up with Florida, Tennessee, New York, Washington, and Virginia as possible destinations. The bus headed northwest.
We travelled through S.C. and N.C. and in the afternoon the bus stopped at a rest stop in Virginia. Students were sure they were in Virginia from the signs but were still in the dark about the final destination, wondering if this was just another rest stop and if we were doing something similar to last year’s trip. Soon we had our answer.
In the late afternoon, the bus pulled into Bear Creek Lake State Park in Cumberland County, Virginia, a well-appointed getaway spot along a road with a beautiful dam and waterfall. Students took their gear to their rooms in various cabins and a lodge, then headed out for their first activities: archery and beach volleyball and hiking. (Since Celsi’s Cuddly Coalas, Kelsi’s group, had won the first challenge, they got to try their hand at archery first). The other two teams headed down to play beach volleyball near the lake and hiked to see a beaver dam. After this, the CCC and the United Goobers, Ella’s group, switched, and Ella’s group got to try archery, while Kelsi’s group got to participate in the volleyball championship. The finale of the tournament took place between the CCC and the United Goobers, while Isaac’s group, the Sugar Mamas, got a short archery session. The CCC won the tournament, since the volleyball got hit into the lake. Students enjoyed these activities despite the cold temperatures. Gracin shot nine bullseyes on the archery course so now Dr. Simmons has to give him nine quiz passes. “Here’s a lesson on why you should never gamble,” said Dr. Simmons.
On Wednesday morning, we went to Staunton, Virginia, to see Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, performed by the American Shakespeare Center at Blackfriars Theater. The ASC has been performing the works of Shakespeare and other playwrights for 35 years. Normally, they put on four or five simultaneous productions in a nine-month season. Until the pandemic struck, they also travelled to dozens of theaters all over the United States, including the Winyah Auditorium. They use Shakespeare’s performance conditions, including universal lighting and seating the public on the stage. This way, actors can interact with the audience. The actors put a modern twist to As You Like It, dressing in contemporary clothes and using cell phones. As always, at the beginning of the play, they sang songs and danced. Many students were pleased to see that Topher and Constance are still part of the troupe and remembered us! The ASC gave us an amazing experience and we hope to welcome them back to our school next year.
After seeing As You Like It, Kingfishers took the short walk to the restaurant, Taste of India, for lunch. Once everyone arrived, Dr. Gates encouraged students to branch out and try new foods while they were there. Most students were under the impression that the food would be spicy, and several people could be heard wondering about it. Once everyone was inside, the food was served in a buffet style. There was a small selection of food varying from tandoori chicken to a vegetable dish. “I went up there to get some more of the chicken but they were out,” Branton said. “So when they had more chicken, Mrs. Crosby sent the guy to my table with a whole tray of tandoori chicken!” Most students got to try something they wouldn’t normally try and we also got to see one of the ASC actors come in to get take-out for the cast.
After lunch, we appropriately took a tour of the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson designed and which has been greatly influenced by his writings and legacy ever since. Our student guide took us around the Grounds and to the original dormitories of the Lawn and explained a lot about the history of this institution which dates back almost to the founding of our country. The students got to see a monument to all the enslaved people who built and worked at UVA, which was very moving and informative.
Thursday morning, we left our cabins at the state park and headed to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s house. We arrived, and were ushered up to the house by bus. Our tour guide, Elizabeth, first showed us Thomas Jefferson’s museum. “He wanted people to know about the history of America,” she said. “That’s why he had the museum right when you walked in.” Then she showed us his office, which was full of bookshelves. “Thomas Jefferson liked to read,” Elizabeth shared with us. Then she showed us his bedroom with its French inspiration.“ Thomas Jefferson loved the design of the house in France he stayed in so much that he completely changed his original design plans” she told us. From there, we went into the dining room. “Thomas Jefferson brought a French chef back with him who cooked two meals a day here at Monticello, breakfast and an early dinner at four o’clock,” Elizabeth told us. “Jefferson would host many people, so the chef had to cook a lot of food.”
After we toured the house, we ventured out onto the lawn. We got a group picture in front of the house! We also got to go to the gift shops, which were filled with all sorts of things, like books, hats, and even a scroll of the Declaration of Independence. Our history lesson did not end with a tour of the house, however. We walked down and observed the slave quarters, which had a very informative video playing when you walked in. From there, we ended the history part of the trip by exploring the horse stables.
After a wonderful tour of Monticello, we stopped by the gift shops scattered around the grounds. Underneath Monticello is a store selling all sorts of foods made out of ingredients grown on the property. About half of the school walked out with a bottle of root beer. Other items popular among our students were strawberry preserves, flower seeds, and maple syrup. After we finished our tour, we made our way to the front gift shop, which had an even broader selection of Jefferson-themed items. Every wall featured shirts and books with his face on it, surrounded by his famous quotes. Multiple notable purchases were made. After about an hour of imploring, Nolan and Jack were finally able to convince Kipper to loan them the money for a pocket watch. “I told that boy not to buy that pocket watch,” complained Ella. Caleb added to his notorious coin collection. The seniors even found a kingfisher plush that they excitedly bought for Dr. Gates. It is now perched on his bookshelf. Monticello was a very successful history and shopping destination for our students.
Randolph Macon College was our next destination. RMC is a small private institution with a student body of 1500 students and it was interesting to see how different UVA and RMC are from each other. “What I most enjoyed about our experience at both schools was seeing the diversity of the campuses or ‘grounds’ as UVA students would say,” Sage said, but she preferred RMC. “It was a better environment than UVA,” she said. “It was less crowded.” We got to see how both schools meet different people’s standards and needs.
After eating dinner on the RMC campus and chatting with some students, TGS went back to the hotel by bus. When we got there the students were told to dress warmly and head down to the lobby after because we were going on a walk. Students speculated about the upcoming activity. Was it ice-skating? Some other kind of physical activity? As we walked for about a mile, the students chatted and some even gave piggyback rides. After almost losing Dr. Simmons, we crossed a few more streets and found ourselves back on the RMC campus. Suddenly Dr. Gates stopped in front of Keeble Observatory with an important announcement. “We are finally going to succeed in doing an activity we have been trying to schedule for ten years,” he said. “We are finally visiting an observatory.” As we entered the building, we walked up flights of stairs, through multiple hallways, and over a bridge to get to the telescope. The room was filled with red lights to dilate the eyes before looking through the powerful instrument. Some people got to see Mars and some people got to see the Orion Nebula. Many people thought that Mars looked like a red dot and that the room was really cool. The observatory was an enjoyable experience.
The next morning we packed up for the ride home and headed over to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts with its amazing collections of art. Dr. Gates said that the American art was very impressive and that all the art was very imaginatively displayed. For example, a tribute portrait from “The New Republic” series by Kehinde Wiley was placed among the medieval icon pictures. It was hard for the groups to stay together but everyone found something interesting to look at, especially Zayne who was so interested he went super-slowly from one painting to another and almost got lost. It is nice to know that Kingfishers can appreciate art!
On the way home, we needed to stop somewhere for lunch. By far, the most requested place to eat at during the trip was Chick Fil A. We piled into the building and our line wrapped around the inside of the restaurant. A curious customer asked us what was happening. We told him that we had come from South Carolina to Virginia on a school trip to visit many different places. “Wow, I wish I went to that school!” he said, after learning what we were doing. The customer service was amazing and the line moved fairly quickly and soon we all were chowing down. After eating, we got into the bus with full stomachs and prepared to go home.
The ride home was very fun. The back of the bus played slumber party games and got to know each other better while the front of the bus quietly conversed among themselves. Almost everyone got their hair braided and we ate many snacks. Towards the end of the bus ride, we got our phones and started to wind down. When we finally made it to the school, it was 7pm and everyone was ready to go home. Another unforgettable road trip for Kingfishers! Thank you teachers, especially Dr. Gates and Ms. Amy, for making it all possible.
By: Annika, Emily, Saylor, Isaac, Bristol, Sage, and Quin
Today, TGS said, “Bonjour!” to Kris Brame, Mme Gates’ former French student who also had Mrs. Patrick, Dr. Gates, and Dr. Neubauer as his high school teachers. Fluent in French and German, he now works as a translator today after starting his own company By The Word Translation. He talked to us about his love for learning languages and his international educational path.
Kris originally wanted to learn German, inspired by an Austrian exchange student his family hosted when he was in 8th grade. He told us “Everyone was always asking Fabian ‘How do you say that in German?’ and I learned the words.” He took French in high school, then decided to go on a German high school exchange program before graduating. While there, he began to perfect his German and French.
After earning the German equivalent of a high school diploma, Kris decided to stay in Europe to pursue translation studies at the university level in Mainz. He finished his B.S. at Kent State, then interned as a medical interpreter in Indianapolis. COVID put an end to in-person medical interpretation and at that point, Kris took the big step of starting his own company.
By the Word Translation is Kris’s online enterprise. He is still a medical interpreter, but now mostly does subtitle translations for many clients, most notably Netflix and a French poker show. Unfortunately, Kris couldn’t give any spoilers for our favorite shows! He had some advice for students who wish seriously to master their foreign language: find a good friend who is a native speaker to talk to and use the internet to read and listen to the language you want to learn. Vielen Dank, Kris!
On Wednesday, January 4, our guest was Steve Harms of Purr & Pour Cat Café (who also brought along a feline friend named Houdini). Originally from Boston, Steve graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and made his career in the chemical industry. After retiring, all of that changed. He laughed, “You can graduate from MIT and end up scooping poop.”
The Purr & Pour Cat Café on Front Street is home to about 15 cats at all times. Steve and his wife Patricia founded the business and have been operating it since 2019. Steve thanked us for our support of Purr & Pour (we keep their window decorated for the holidays) and explained why he and Patricia decided to open a cat café in the first place.
Purr & Pour supports St. Frances Animal Center and was inspired by a kitty (Mr. Biscuits) who spent two sad years in a shelter before Steve and Patricia adopted him. “Our mission is to get the cats adopted,” Steve said. The café works closely with St. Frances Animal Center to host cats in their cafe, where hopefully the cats will be adopted by customers. Purr & Pour has already placed over 300 cats! Surplus income is donated to St. Frances.
Besides placing cats in homes, the Cat Café is organizing a series of educational meetings about animal welfare issues in Georgetown.
The series begins this week: on January 11th and January 18th Purr & Pour will be holding an event from 4:30pm to 6:00pm. The event is called So You Want to be a Veterinerian. It will be presented by Dr. Katie Roe-Jarisch, DMV of Fidelis Animal Hospital. Dr. Katie will be presenting about her journey to be a vet and answering questions about what it takes to be a vet.
Thanksgiving finds many of us in a good mood, thinking about all we appreciate about our lives as we look forward to the holidays. Our 10th Annual Thanksgiving Feast was, as always, an occasion to express gratitude for each other—students, teachers, and families alike—by sharing a meal and relaxed fellowship together.
The menu this year did not disappoint: two roasted turkeys, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn pudding, mac-and-cheese, green beans, dressing and fresh fruit and more, all with plenty of gravy. There were also tons of dessert choices: red velvet cake, sopapillas, lemon bars, brownies, pumpkin and Key Lime pies, and much more. The tables were festive with greens and Thanksgiving-themed place settings.
The bounty of this feast each year reminds us of the bounty of our lives and we are grateful for each other. Thank you to everyone who decorated, prepared and brought food, served food, ate food, and cleaned up after the food! Did we mention we had food?
When Bill Oberst began to talk about his journey as an artist, Kingfishers sat up and listened. They were simultaneously surprised, delighted, and encouraged by a monologue that had all of Bill’s many talents on display. At the end, we all burst into warm applause because it was so theatrical, and it was all for us!
Bill is a Georgetown native turned L.A. actor. He actually attended Winyah High School in the same building TGS is in today (Mme Gates was in his classes).
“I was an awkward kid with acne,” Bill told us. “I was angry all the time.” He often felt insecure and that he didn’t belong at school or anywhere. One day, Bill, in a fit of teenage rage, went for a bike ride in the woods. He then stumbled upon a guy reading. The guy held up his book to show Bill. It was a Ray Bradbury novel. Bill then opened the book and the first page he opened made him fall in love with words, with the power of language. That’s why he began acting. He wanted to act out these words.
Bill told us that artists hold up a mirror to world to teach us what we are, what we look like. They help us make sense of the world and ourselves. When young people pursue visual arts, writing, or any other media, they often have one crazy moment that launches them on their path. He described it as a kind of falling in love. And like love, it’s crazy!
”To do this job, you have to be a little crazy”, Bill told us. Being a “little crazy” must work to your advantage, because Bill has a long list of about 200 TV and movie appearances, including a role in the hit TV series Criminal Minds and Scream Queens.
Bill left us with this thought: “No art can be done with complete sanity.” Thank you so much for speaking to us today!
The Oyster Roast was back after a two-year hiatus, and it was amazing! Plenty of sunshine, cool temperatures, great live music by Dwayne DeMello, and all the fresh McClellanville oysters you could eat. The Kingfisher Crew did a great job planning all the moving parts, including a silent auction. When the big day came, we were ready. Parents and families pitched in to prepare and give out hot dogs and pileau and the kids helped out everywhere, especially with running buckets of steamed oysters out to the hungry people. A huge thank you to Sandy Martin, president of the Kingfisher Crew, and to all her loyal helpers for this hugely successful event.
The Georgetown School 
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