Rock Hill High Honors Chorus performing at the Showcase of the Arts 2012  Events

The Rock Hill School District Foundation recently held its annual Showcase of the Arts at Rock Hill High School. Upon entering the schools gymnasium, guests were greeted by the semi-formal social atmosphere of the gala event. Students from the Culinary Arts Department at  the Applied Technology center greeted everyone with hors’ d oeuvres such as tuxedo strawberries.

Once seated, guests were entertained with musical performances by the Rock Hill school (continued)]]> The Rock Hill School District Foundation recently held its annual Showcase of the Arts at Rock Hill High School. Upon entering the schools gymnasium, guests were greeted by the semi-formal social atmosphere of the gala event. Students from the Culinary Arts Department at  the Applied Technology center greeted everyone with hors’ d oeuvres such as tuxedo strawberries.

Once seated, guests were entertained with musical performances by the Rock Hill school District Honors Chorus, Northside first graders and the Rock Hill High Honors Chorus.  Other highlights of the evening were  dance performances by the Rawlinson Road dancers and a performance by drama students from Rock Hill High.

This year the Foundation presented video segments of Grants in Action in the classroom. The two grants presented were the “Portable Access to Student Health Records” written by Kathryn VanGelder, the school Nurse at Northwestern High School and “Sketch it to Get It” written by Shaneka Miller, a 7^th grade Math Teacher at Saluda Trail Middle School.

Kathyn VanGelder explained how the “Portable Access to the Student Records” grant has benefited her and the students of Northwestern. Northwestern is one of the largest schools in the Rock Hill School District and has approximately 1,700 students currently enrolled.  With a student body that size, having access to an iPad to access student records has helped her tremendously. When an emergency occurs anywhere on campus, she has immediate access to the student health records and is able to document and relay any vital information that emergency medical responders may need.  The iPad has made her job much easier. This grant was awarded to Ms. VanGelder in October 2011 as a superlative award by Comporium.

Ms. Miller demonstrated how she has implemented the Geometer’s Sketchpad software in her classroom. Through this program, students are able to utilize the software that helps them to better understand math. Sketchpad enables the students to see, manipulate and problem solve the math problems they are assigned. The “Sketch it to Get It” grant was awarded in October of 2011 and was a superlative award by State Farm.

The foundation would like to thank everyone that attended this year’s event as well as all donors who have made contributions to the Foundation.  Your generous donations allow the Foundation to continue to award grants that aid  in creating innovative ideas in the Rock Hill School District classrooms.

 Showcase of the Arts 2012 Gallery

Winthrop Athletics and Back the Pack teamed up for a donation drive at the recent Winthrop Eagles and High Point game. Elementary students, staff, family and friends were able to attend the game free by donating a food item to the Back the Pack program. Parents and children from each of the 17 elementary schools came out to support their schools and to enjoy the games.  The school with (continued)]]>

Winthrop Athletics and Back the Pack teamed up for a donation drive at the recent Winthrop Eagles and High Point game. Elementary students, staff, family and friends were able to attend the game free by donating a food item to the Back the Pack program. Parents and children from each of the 17 elementary schools came out to support their schools and to enjoy the games.  The school with the most supporters at the game won $2,000 for their school. Congratulations to Richmond Drive elementary on their win!  Supporters also had the opportunity to support Back the Pack by purchasing a ticket for a chance to win a 16GB 3G Apple iPad from Comporium.

More than 1000 people came out to support this event and Back the Pack collected approximately 6,000 lbs. of food making this the largest food donation from one single community event in the programs history.

Thank you to the Rock Hill community for your support and a special thank you to Jennifer Graham for putting this event together.

Rock Hill was recently awarded the 2011 America’s Promise award by the America’s Promise Alliance. This is the fourth time the city has won the award. This award is given to cities that are make extraordinary efforts to reduce the dropout rates, improves outstanding support and services to their youth.  To read more about the award please visit the America’s promise Alliance Rock Hill page.

Samaritan’s Feet, Elevation Church, and Rock Hill School District Three came together on Monday, January 16, to hold a Shoes of  Hope distribution with one goal in mind. That goal was to make a difference and spread a message of  hope. Samaritan’s Feet is  a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Emmanuel Ohonme for the purpose of sharing hope with those in need and giving them a new pair of (continued)]]> Samaritan’s Feet, Elevation Church, and Rock Hill School District Three came together on Monday, January 16, to hold a Shoes of  Hope distribution with one goal in mind. That goal was to make a difference and spread a message of  hope. Samaritan’s Feet is  a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 by Emmanuel Ohonme for the purpose of sharing hope with those in need and giving them a new pair of shoes. The organization believes a new pair of shoes can be a symbol of hope to a person in need. This event was part of the National Day of Service to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and is the second Shoes for Hope event to be held in the Rock Hill area.

In an effort to reach as many families as possible, the school district provided transportation to and from the event.  Volunteers from across Rock Hill came out ready to roll up their sleeves and help in any way they could.  As each family arrived, they were  greeted with smiling faces and words of encouragement from the  more than 100 volunteers.

Each child and parent had their feet washed and they each received the gift of a new pair of shoes.  Rock Hill District Three also provided each child with a backpack and school supplies from the Sharehouse School Zone, a school supply house operated by the Rock Hill District.

There were approximately 300 pairs of shoe distributed during this event and each of the families left with smiles on their faces because not only did they receive a new pair of shoes, they also received a message of hope and encouraging words. At the conclusion of the event, the volunteers were also smiling because they had participated in spreading the message of hope and making a difference in the lives of the citizens of Rock Hill.

(click an image to view a slideshow. press the ESC  to exit)

The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society of York Technical College recently completed a volunteer project with Back the Pack. This project was part of the Phi Theta Kappa Carolinas Region 2011 Service project, “Hand In Hand Together We Can.” The goal of this service project was to give back to the community. According to Mike Russow, Vice-President of the York Tech chapter, Back the Pack was the program they (continued)]]>

The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society of York Technical College recently completed a volunteer project with Back the Pack. This project was part of the Phi Theta Kappa Carolinas Region 2011 Service project, “Hand In Hand Together We Can.” The goal of this service project was to give back to the community. According to Mike Russow, Vice-President of the York Tech chapter, Back the Pack was the program they chose to work with because of the impact the program has had in the local community. Members who participated in the project (pictured above from left to right) are Michael Russell,  AJ Dover,  Jennifer Russell,  Mike Russow,  Michael Brezillac, and Jonathan Sturgill.

During the project, members of Phi Theta Kappa worked on preparing packages for Back the Pack to distribute to the children in the local school district. Since  2008, Back the Pack has actively distributed nutritious food to children in the Rock Hill School District. The Back the Pack program would not be possible without the generous monetary donations, the donations of food and the volunteer effort from within the community.

“The world is hugged by the faithful arms of volunteers”.  ~Terri Guillemets

Thanks to our generous donors, each family received a gift basket from Hickory Farms. The baskets were delivered to the families via UPS on Christmas Eve.

continued)]]> Some Rock Hill School District families got a bit of a surprise on Christmas Eve thanks to the Back the Pack program. Back the Pack provides needy children  with backpacks of nutritious food to take home with them on the weekend during the school year.

Thanks to our generous donors, each family received a gift basket from Hickory Farms. The baskets were delivered to the families via UPS on Christmas Eve.

Back the Pack Provides Gift Baskets

Eight grant proposals received a score of exceptional by the Foundation grants committee.  This score placed these proposals in the superlatives category for the Fall 2011 grants cycle and each Superlative Foundation Champion Donors funded grants this cycle.  Superlative award recipients will be honored by the Foundation at the 2012 Showcase (continued)]]> The Foundation is pleased to announce fifteen grant awards to Teachers in Rock Hill Schools!  Awards totaled $12,056 for the Fall 2011 awards cycle.

Eight grant proposals received a score of exceptional by the Foundation grants committee.  This score placed these proposals in the superlatives category for the Fall 2011 grants cycle and each Superlative Foundation Champion Donors funded grants this cycle.  Superlative award recipients will be honored by the Foundation at the 2012 Showcase of the Arts event that will be held on Thursday, March 8, 2012 at Rock Hill High School.

The 2011 Fall recipients are:

• Kenton Simon -  Belleview,  Students in the Studio, superlative grant awarded by Allen Tate, $914.00

• Kathryn VanGalder – Northwestern , Portable Access to Student Health Records, superlative grant awarded by Comporium,  $725.00
• Melissa Meeks & Suzanne Young – Northwestern & ATC, An Apple A Day Keeps the Student’s Awake, superlative grant awarded by Outback $1,156.00

• Jason Brown & Robb Scott – Rebound Cache-ing in on Geography, superlative grant awarded by Harper Image, $1,135.00

• Heather Giles -  Rock Hill High CLIC Pals: Connecting with the World via On-Demand Pen Pals, superlative Williams and Fudge, $500.00
• Caroline Yetman & Ian Young – Rock Hill High, The Millennium Citizen Project, superlative grant awarded by Harper Image, $1,168.00

• Sheneka Miller -  Saluda Trail, Sketch It To Get It!, superlative grant awarded by State Farm, $1,000.00

• Samantha McManus -  Sullivan, Energize Reading with eBooks, superlative grant awarded by Family Trust FCU, $1,000.00

• Marco Vaughan -  Ebinport, More that Letters and Words…Fostering Fluency at Ebinport, $725.00

• Emily Ingram & Carrie Gaffney -  Finley Road, Falcon Poets Society, $150.00

• Kim Sloan -  Mt. Holly, Musical Meta-Orff-Osis, $711.00
• Jeaneen Wainman – Northwestern, Anime/Manga Gala, $395.00
• Tracey Shuckhart – Old Pointe, Becoming a Classroom of Scientists, $500.00
• Johnthan Hall -  Rock Hill High, RJSD3 High School District Honors Choir, $981.00
• Mary Page & Sarah Baker – Rock Hill High,  Captivating Kids with Kindles, $996.00

The next cycles of Foundation grants will be awarded. on January 2012. Applications are due no later than Monday December 12, 2011. If you are interested in application for a grant, please visit the Teacher Grants page for more information.

Shelves are stocked with many of the supplies teachers in the district will use in the classroom.

The parking lot of South Pointe High School was packed with vehicles on Friday morning. Teachers from all across the Rock Hill School District gathered to hear about innovative ways to enhance learning in the classroom. For the past six years, the Rock Hill School District has held conferences like this to keep educators engaged and informed on ways to increase creativity in the classroom setting.

As part of the (continued)]]>

The parking lot of South Pointe High School was packed with vehicles on Friday morning. Teachers from all across the Rock Hill School District gathered to hear about innovative ways to enhance learning in the classroom. For the past six years, the Rock Hill School District has held conferences like this to keep educators engaged and informed on ways to increase creativity in the classroom setting.

As part of the conference this year, the Rock Hill School District Foundation held two Foundation for the Classroom sessions to inform teachers in the district on the grant writing process. Grant committee members Annette Bennett ad Bob Parker explained what the committee members look for when they review each application and Bob Parker encouraged the educators to think outside the box when writing these proposals.

Proposals can be written for:

• Individual classroom grants to fund new programs or activities
• School group and collaborative team to fund projects new to the school site
• School wide initiatives with a creative building impact
• Special projects with a district wide emphasis

To date the foundation has awarded more than $500,000 to teachers for innovative classroom projects targeting district instructional goals. These informative sessions were a way to assist teachers in preparing a proper grant application.

Applications are accepted four times a year in January, April, July, and October. Applications must be receive in the Office of Community Services by 5:00 pm on the first working Monday of the consideration month.

To obtain a copy of the application please visit the Teacher Grant page.