The Newberry Observer published that, "the Mid-Carolina Middle School Academic Team, on Friday, March 29 MCMS won the 2019 State Champions of Academics for the second year in a row.
The original competition began in the 1970s with the PeeDee and Old English consortiums. Around 2012 students requested for a state championship of academics.
'MCMS originally won the Western Piedmont Consortium on March 5 to go to state against the other consortiums. They competed against Fulmer Middle School from the Midlands Consortium in Round One to advance to the championship game against Williams Middle School from the PeeDee Consortium,' said Pam Arrington, executive director of Human Resources with the District.
Academic team members include: Madelyn Coker, Katlyn Mae Crooks, Ryan Crooks, Jonathan Gantt, Kendellin Haltiwanger, Rachel Redd, Serenity Richburg, Micah Schafer, Campbell Stuck, Emma Stuck, David Vanzadelhoff and Maya Elena Williams.
Also recognized from MCMS were Jack Gantt and Matthew Moyd who received third place in Density Lab at the S.C. Science Olympiad.
'MCMS Science Olympiad team competed against 15 other schools in the S.C. Science Olympiad Competition at Newberry College on Feb. 23. Jack Gantt and Matthew Moyd placed third in the Density Lab competition. Participants compete in activities and answered questions about mass, density, number density, area density, concentration, pressure and buoyancy,' Arrington said.
Lastly from MCMS was Principal Deedee Westwood who was elected to the S.C. Beta Club Council. Westwood was elected to the S.C. Beta Club Council in July 2018 and served at the S.C. Jr. Beta Convention in January for grades 4-8 and S.C. Senior Beta Convention in February for grades 9-12.
'She has been charged with representing all beta members at the junior and senior levels. The mission of the Beta Club is to promote the ideals of academic achievement, character, service and leadership among elementary and secondary school students,' Arrington said.
Moving on to Mid-Carolina High School, Kaleb Boland was recognized for achieving a maximum (perfect) score of 800 on the Math portion of the SAT.
In addition to Boland’s recognition, Hailey Roach was recognized for qualifying for All-State Chorus.
'All-State Chorus takes place each year at Winthrop University and showcases the state’s finest high school choral singers. Hailey rehearsed with the All-State Choir under the direction of Dr. Alicia Walker and performed a concert at the end of the weekend,' said Arrington. 'The concert took place on Saturday March 9 at Winthrop University. Ms. Roach worked hard to learn her music in preparation for this honor to sing with the SSAA All-State Choir. Ms. Sarah Bridges is her Chorus Teacher.'
Rounding out recognitions were several students from the Newberry County Career Center who participated in the SkillsUSA Competition on March 15 in Greenville, South Carolina. SkillsUSA is a state-wide competition to showcase the skills of the top students in career and technical education programs.
The following are District State winners: Andrew Boland (second place and receiving a Silver Medal for the Mechatronics Team); Joseph Murray (second place and receiving a Silver Medal for Mechatronics Team) — Boland and Murray are both Mechatronics students; Jesus Ramirez (second place and receiving a Silver Medal for Promotional Bulletin Board); Jonathan Tiahuechti-Huetra (second place and receiving a Silver Medal for Promotional Bulletin Board) — Ramirez and Tiahuechti-Huetra are students in Digital Publication, Design, Image Editing, Game Design and Professional Leadership and Development; Nicolette Still (second place and receiving a Silver Medal in Customer Service — She is a student in Advanced Web Page Design and Development; and Noah Longshore (first place and receiving a Gold Medal in Cabinet Making.
'This is the third year in a row that a NCCC Carpentry student has won this competition. Noah qualified for, and is planning on attending, the SkillsUSA National Cabinet Making competition in Louisville, KY June 24-28, 2019, for the 55th annual National Leadership and Skill Conference (NLSC). There he will compete against other state champions from all 50 state and Puerto Rico. This is a wonderful accomplishment for him and for Newberry,' Arrington said."