The Kingfishers competed against the Kings Academy Lions on Monday, March 30 in Florence.  “We were overmatched but it was a good experience,” said mid-fielder Top.  The eleven Kingfishers played the entire game against the Lions’ deep bench and showed they were in excellent shape!  Grayson’s goal was a highlight: ” I was surprised and amused that we scored!” he said.

Coach Gates and the school are proud of the guys and girls who stayed on the field the whole time and we look forward to better results soon.  Go Kingfishers!

On February 27, the normal morning schedule came to a halt for our school-wide Science Fair, an event that all of the students had been preparing for since last fall. Everyone set up their boards all throughout the main hallway, decking the hall with boughs of science. The Science Fair contained projects from various grades and had 5 guest judges: local scientists Brian Williams, Research Associate at Clemson’s Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Dr. Dan Hitchcock, Associate Professor at Clemson’s Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Maggie Senko, Data Analyst at Mercom, Heather Cox, Zookeeper at Brookgreen Gardens, and Ian McLaren, Engineer, retired.

The middle school winners included Johnathan Lambert’s “Avocado Sprouting” for third place, Jesse DeLuca’s “Can Soda Dissolve Your Teeth?” for second place, and Bronwen Bodie’s “Can Biochar Remove Pollutants from Storm Water?” for first. The high school winners included Elizabeth Exum’s “Cool Blue Luminol” for third place, Avery Rose Higgins’ “Electric Rainwater” for second place, and Lochlyn Hejl’s “Puddles and Pavement” for first place. Ninth grader Chris Attias won an award for Best Theoretical Application with “Tanking Under Pressure: Building a Device to Store Hydrogen.” Top (Thomas) Lee won best overall project with “Investigating the Microbial Consortium Within Pseudoceratina Crassa and Its Surrounding Seawater Using Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization.” All students who participated in this year’s science fair will proceed to the College of Charleston’s 35^th annual Lowcountry Science Fair on March 24.

by Savanna Morris and Top Lee

  The Georgetown School won big at the SCISA Math Meet (Division II), held at the Sumter Civic Center on January 20.  Thirty-six teams from twenty-four schools around the state turned up to show their skills, both individually and as teams.  First, all the students individually took an hour-long written test comprised of 50 questions, then the teams faced off in five speed rounds.

Ninth-grader Christopher Attias placed first overall in the individual competition, beating 180 other students. Great job, Chris!

The Georgetown School captured 7^th place in the team competition, outscoring twenty-eight of the thirty-six teams.  “This was our first time at the SCISA Math Meet and I am extremely proud of our team’s performance and our math program,” said Dr. Gates, “We were probably the smallest school there!” Congratulations on a job well done to Math Team members: Christopher, Elizabeth, Sarah E., Nathan, and Top.

    Nervous, excited and hopeful, 62 third- to eighth-graders from seven area schools turned up January 15 at the Winyah Auditorium, where The Georgetown School of Arts and Sciences was hosting the 2015 SCISA Regional Spelling Bee.  Grade by grade, they took their places on the stage to spell words such as wanderlust, ampere, coloratura, vivisection and potash, while the audience of teachers, parents and friends held its breath awaiting the outcome of each spelldown.

Ryleigh Neubauer, seventh-grader, came in first place for her grade and will advance to the SCISA State Spelling Bee in February. She is continuing the tradition begun by her older sister Isabella, who made it to the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee four years in a row. Great job, Ryleigh! Congratulations to our other TGS participants who did a good job too: Tiyon, John Grey, Camille, Johnathan and Jesse.

Thanks to Dr. Gates for pronouncing, to all our volunteers, to people who contributed food for the bake sale and to the Winyah Auditorium for use of its space. Special thanks to Mrs. Crosby and Dr. Neubauer for organizing this annual event so successfully.

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!

All of Middle School enjoyed a quick field trip to the Dock Street Theater in Charleston on December 7 to see an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Marley and Scrooge.”  They set out after first period with Mrs. Crosby, Mrs. Patrick and Mrs. Bodie to have time to eat lunch in St. Philip’s cemetery before attending the play at 11:30.

Mrs. Crosby and Mrs. Patrick have seen this production many times and they both declared that this show was the best ever.  The students were also very enthusiastic.  The character of Marley was the universal favorite: he got to fly about the stage on guy wires, flipping and swooping and shouting his lines in a very scary way.  Jesse said it reminded him of Betelgeuse, while Bronwen and Ryleigh said the flying looked like fun and that they would like to try it!

The kids identified some highlights of the show.  They loved the grave scene, where the Spirit of Christmas Future shows Scrooge his own death and Scrooge repents.  They also loved all the scenes with Marley and when the cast sang “Angels We Have Heard on High (Gloria)” at the end.  Many were intrigued by the differences between the actual play and the script which they read in class and everyone had a very good time. Thank you, Mrs. Crosby, for arranging this treat and thank you, Mrs. Patrick and Mrs. Bodie for chaperoning.

The evening of December 2 marked the start of our very first basketball season at TGS! Our Kingfishers entered the Lions’ den of James Island Christian and did their best to hold their own.  Although the Lady Kingfishers led through halftime, the Lions came back to win 39-23. The boys also lost to JICS in a friendly scrimmage. But all in all, we made history!

Elizabeth’s energy and ball-stealing boosted morale and wowed the audience as she worked with her sister Sarah (point guard) and followed instructions from her other sister Rachael on the sidelines. Savanna was another stand-out of the game, rebounding almost every one of the other team’s shots. Sarah held the team together and helped the new players Isabella, Avery, Tiyon and Grayha. Spirits were high after the game despite our loss because our basketball program was finally launched. Coach Gates said, “It was a great first start and very entertaining.” Senior captain Sarah said, “I thought we played really well–it was many of the girls’ first time on the court and they did great.”

The Winyah Auditorium was the scene of bustling activity the day before Thanksgiving, as citizens of Georgetown gathered to express their thankfulness through words, music and dance in a “Gathering of Gratitude.”  Thom Martin, music director of Georgetown Presbyterian Church and president of the Winyah Auditorium, brought together several different groups including our school, Helping Hands, Hispanic Outreach of Georgetown Presbyterian, and the Mitney Project for the program.  Thom passed the mic around, giving everyone the chance to share their gratitude (in English, Spanish, Hindi and Hebrew!).  The program included a dramatic reading by Sam and Dr. Gates, a cello solo by Nathan, flute solos, children’s songs led by Senora Yorky and two dance numbers with Shakeema helping.  The “Gathering of Gratitude” was an opportunity for citizens of Georgetown to come together and realize how blessed we are.

Bronwen and Jayla put finishing touches on our middle school mural, which was entered in the Wyland Foundation National Mural Contest. This year’s theme was oceans and our mural’s title is “Oceans Live.”  Art teacher Kathy Patrick is very proud of the hard work, research and efforts of the middle school students. Every middle school student put a brush to the piece! It was a wonderful collaborative success. Painting techniques and composition with Mrs. Patrick combined with Dr. Neubauer’s scientific expertise makes this piece a winning entry, we hope.  Keep your fins crossed!

The send-off to our 2014 Thanksgiving vacation was a delicious meal, in the great Kingfisher tradition of focusing on food.  Students arrived at school at 8:30 and attended periods 1 and 2, then began setting up a very long series of tables in our hall.  In the meantime, the Commons tables were covered in various dishes to share: turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, corn pudding, rolls, and all manner of desserts.  The food was prepared by teachers, and many desserts were brought by high school students, including Senora Yorky’s Spanish class.

Dr. Gates gave thanks and we filed through the Commons oldest to youngest. When everyone had had seconds, he sent the students to get dessert, youngest to oldest.  The meal was scrumptious and relaxing and it didn’t take long to clean up, because everyone pitched in.  We are indeed grateful for the second year of our school’s existence and for the students and teachers who make everything worthwhile.  Have a great vacation!