Media Special;ists for Lancaster County School District Lancaster S.c.

Regional News Archives

 This page was created November 2014 to maintain an archive of regional news submitted for sharing via SCASL.net after regional news was relocated from the Media Center Messenger to the website. Pictures have been stripped from the archive, but can be found in the SCASL Flickr sets.

Spring 2015

Happy Retirement, fellow Librarians It's a new chapter! The following are confirmed as retiring this year:

• Bess Strong, Brunson Elementary/Ben Hazel Primary, Hampton 1
• Fran Bullington, Boiling Springs High, Spartanburg 2
• Karen Olson, Northwestern High, York 3
• Kay Watson, Erwin Elementary, Lancaster
• Anthony McKissick, Hyatt Park Elementary, Richland One
• Elisabeth Hall, Brennen Elementary, Richland One
• Carla Daniels, Olympia Learning Center, Richland One
• Carol Harris, Greenville Senior High Academy of Law, Finance, and Business
• Lynne Holcombe, Wren Elementary, Anderson 1
• Laura Judson, Wando High, Charleston County Schools
• Anne Stone, Batesburg-Leesville Middle, Lexington 3
• Mary Saladyga, Busbee Elementary School, Wagener, SC, Aiken County
• Steve Smith, schofield Middle School, Aiken County
• Ms. Claire Langston, Wallace-Gregg Elementary, Florence 1

Liz Hood, Librarian at Saluda Trail Middle in Rock Hill - York District 3 hosted author Eric Berlin with her students in the library.

Congratulations to LMSElizabeth Graham who has received a $750 Travel Grant sponsored by Bound to Stay Bound to attend her first annual AASL Conference being held in Columbus,Ohio this November.Elizabeth is the librarian at Woodland Heights Elementary in Spartanburg District 6.  Way to go Elizabeth!

Author Sara Pennypacker visited two of Florence 1 Schools, Moore Intermediate School and Lucy T. Davis Elementary. She inspired students to write and told them all about the fabulous life of an author. She is pictured here with Lucy T. Davis school LibrarianDebbie Heimbrook.

Two of the Aiken County library media specialists were also chosen as the teacher of the year for their schools! Congrats to Ginna Vedder- Oakwood-Windsor Elementary and Anne Sidey - North Augusta Middle.

FOX Carolina 21 is featuring the Honea Path Librarians in their adventure to sleep over night on the roof of the school as students met a challenge of reading books during the school year.Melanie Hahn is the media specialist at Honea Path Elementary - Anderson 2.

Congratulations toJessica Felker Wheeler (Nursery Road, Lexington Richland 5),Cathy Jo Nelson (Dorman High, Spartanburg 6), Adrine Weaks (South Pointe High, York 3) andDonna Roberts (Rock Hill High, York 3) for being accepted into the Discovery Education Network Summer Institute planned for Washington, DC July 12-17, 2015. It is a unique weeklong residential style professional development opportunity that brings together Discovery Educators from across disciplines and geography with a common mission to energize their own teaching through the power of collaboration, technology, and fun. The application process is competitive, so we congratulate these four for being selected!

Two of the Aiken County library media specialists were also chosen as the teacher of the year for their schools! Congrats to:
Ginna Vedder- Oakwood-Windsor Elementary
Anne Sidey - North Augusta Middle

"PaperCutz," the Pelion High breakfast book club, helps Pelion Elementary students connect with books. PHS Book Club Members and PHS Media SpecialistDebbie Jackson acted out Melinda Long's book, "How I Became a Pirate," during the PES observance of Children's Book Week. Pelion is part of Lexington District 1.

 

Susannah Hogan, librarian at Wellford Academy (Spartanburg District 5), has been selected to attend the National Endowment for the Humanities' Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop Gullah Voices: Traditions and Transformations in Savannah in July. She will receive a $1200 stipend and spend a week in Savannah examining the artistic expressions of the Gullah, direct descendants of slaves who worked the rice plantations on the coastal islands off the shores of South Carolina and Georgia.

The School District ofOconee County recently held its 5th Annual Battle of the Books competition. Teams from ten elementary schools competed, including Blue Ridge Elementary (Fredda Shaw, LMS), James M. Brown Elementary (Tonya Stancil, LMS), Keowee Elementary (Rachel Smith, LMS), Northside Elementary (Mary Anne Robbins, LMS), Oakway Intermediate (Sallie Wigington, LMS), Orchard Park Elementary (Paige Price, LMS), Ravenel Elementary (Cindy Edgerton, LMS), Tamassee-Salem Elementary (Tracy Whaley, LMS), Walhalla Elementary (Joy Waller, LMS), and Westminster Elementary (Melissa Farmer, LMS). Northside, Oakway, and Walhalla were matched in the final round for the championship, with Northside bringing home the 1st place trophy.  Congratulations to all who participated!

LibrariansKaren Hill andJamie Gregory at Byrnes High School (Spartanburg 5) completed a mini-grant funded by the Junior League of Spartanburg. Titled When People Become Pawns: Investigating social injustice in selected contemporary literature, students read fiction and nonfiction titles related to various examples of social injustice. They participated in gallery walk activities, an author Skype visit with Kim Purcell, and a visit from SWITCH, an organization working in the Upstate to fight against human trafficking and prostitution. We also watched the documentary Outlawed in Pakistan to discuss honor killings as a social injustice. Students concluded the project by writing letters to their state congressmen urging them to take more action against these issues. An English teacher also used the book titles downloaded to our Kindles in literature circles. We plan to continue this activity next year by adding new titles! It was a great hit among teachers and students! (Pictured: The group shot shows the SWITCH organization presentation, and the other one shows media center service learners completing the social injustice gallery walk.)

The Byrnes High School Rebels are ready for Book Bingo, our summer reading program for 2015! Students and teachers are invited to use the bingo handout or the Google form to complete various reading activities, such as reading a Printz award winner or donating a book to the public library. The student who reads the most books this summer from the 2015-2016 SCYABA list will win a special prize! Other prizes include Barnes & Noble and Amazon gift cards. All participants will be invited to a pizza lunch when school starts in August.Jamie Gregory andKaren Hill are the librarians at Byrnes High School and their school is in Spartanburg District 5.

Susan Dicey of Hillcrest Middle (Greenville County) is one of the recipients of the DonorsChoose Flash Funding by Stephen Colbert. The title of her grant is Making for Middle Schoolers ($816) and will provide a 3D printer and filament for the library makerspace.

Springfield Middle's School Library Month Activities were mentioned on AASL's social media sites  as part of their SLM celebrations. Also, a student at Springfield Middle was chosen as the grades 6-8 winner of AASL's 2015 School Library Month Digital Storytelling Contest.Melissa Keefer is the librarian at Springfield Middle from York District 4.

Judy Garner  at Fort Mill High (York 4) recently learned that her audiobook grant was funded, which will provide numerous audiobooks to students next year as part of our upcoming "Walking Book Club"

Liz Hood, School Librarian at Saluda Trail Middle School (York 3) received the Veterans of Foreign Wars Regional Teacher of the Year Award Saturday, May 9, 2015.

Saluda Trail Middle School (York 3) received a $25K Grant from Verizon for Collaborating Teacher Jenn Greene and School LibrarianLiz Hood to work with app developers and students on beta-testing apps and learning about app/game design.

On Monday, April 13th, M.H. Herlong, author of Buddy , this year's South Carolina Children's Book Award winner, visited with 3rd-5th grade students at Fork Shoals. Ms. Herlong spoke with students about her life as a writer, living in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and the importance of accepting "no excuses" when working toward a goal.Here is a YouTube video featuring pictures from the visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlw6wXTxQ-M.Kelly Knightis the school librarian atFork Shoals Elementary in the Greenville County School District.

In celebration of National Poetry Month,Rosewood Elementary School (Richland One) had children's poet and author Brod Bagert visit. Along with sharing his poetry, he also talked to students about the process of writing by saying "write your worst first and each rewrite you make a little bit better." Working with the fourth and fifth grade students he wrote the poem "DNA Double Good." His presentation was engaging, entertaining and musically infused. A great time a was had by students and teachers alike. The school librarian serving Rosewood Elementary isLJubica Arceneaux, Information Technology Specialist.

TheLancaster County School Library Media Specialist Association held their last meeting of the year on May 4th. We wishKay Watson (front row on right) well in her retirement! Thank you for your many years of service to our district and as our representative to Olde English Consortium!

Peggy McQuade,LMS at Dorman Freshman Campus in Spartanburg 6,  was recently featured in tv ad about her recent battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Here is the short written blurb that accompanied the video: Peggy didn't fight Stage 2 Pancreatic Cancer alone. She had friends, family, and Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute. "I felt really good about the support that I had. They were really doing a great job and they really cared about me." While the feature is focused on Gibbes Cancer Center & Research Institute and Peggy's successful battle with Cancer, we are proud to have one of our featured in this positive campaign.

Please help us congratulate Emilie Woody of Wando High (Charleston County School District. She was just named the CCSD 2015-2016 Teacher of the Year!

Jamie Gregory andKaren Hill, librarians atByrnes High School (Spartanburg 5) found a unique way to celebrate School Library Month! Checkout these videos from their 3rd and 4th blocks!

Cathy Jo Nelson and Melanie Dillard of Dorman High School (Spartanburg 6) "virtually" hosted Romily Bernard in their Lunchtime Book Club. The students were able to talk live with Romily about her SCYABA15-16 nominated titleFind Me, get the inside scoop on her next title, and learn about the writing and publishing process.

Congratulations toWill Straight, Teacher-Librarian at Spartanburg Day School for the piece I saw on this morning's WYFF-4 news that he was a Golden Apple Award Winner! I don't know him, nor ever met him, but it lifts us all up to see one in our profession receive that kind of recognition. Thank you, Will Straight for being awesome in your school. View the video here: http://www.wyff4.com/…/golden-apple-winner-will-st…/32035782

Congratulations toElizabeth Graham, school librarian at Woodland Heights Elementary in Spartanburg 6. Her students' art works were featured in a national webcast for the "big reveal" of the nextDiary of a Wimpy Kid book release. Elizabeth tweeted this out herself recently, and shares a link to the write up of the recognition and the activity in her school library's blog.Click here to read and see pics of student entries!

Big News for our library: We made the cover reveal webcat! http://t.co/zIcgzX6QRo@wimpykid @SCASLNet pic.twitter.com/tmI7GuBH6C

— Elizabeth Graham (@Libscigal) May 3, 2015

Region 1A  Anderson, Oconee, Pickens

At Centerville Elementary School (Anderson 5) the media specialist has been using www.smore.com to connect parents with the happenings of the media center.  Media Happenings is an online newsletter that is sent to all the parents on the school's distribution email list.  This has been an easy and efficient way to let parents know about guest readers, tips on helping their child with reading, and library circulation stats.

Eric Litwin visited Concord Concord Elementary, IB World School (Anderson 5)  recently and gave 2 outstanding performances, one for K-1 students and one for the older classes. He spoke about using imagery, rhyme, and repetition in his writing. The children from Kindergarten through 5 th grade were enthralled with his guitar and harmonica playing, fun stories, and engaging personality.

Meng Sheridan, the media specialist at Whitehall Elementary (Anderson 5) has a group of fourth graders who visit the library during their lunch time.  She reads a good read-aloud chapter to the students while they eat. Then she and the students discuss. At the same time, the students are reading a book on their own that has to do with the same topic. Then when she finishes the read-aloud, they discuss the book that the students are reading independently. The students think it is cool because they get to come to the library and eat.  She has 8 students each session.

Librarian Linda Couch welcomes Intern Lindsay McKay to Robert Anderson College and Career Academy (anderson 5) during spring semester. Lindsay, media specialist at Pendleton Elementary, is completing her MLIS at USC in May.

Region 1B Cherokee, Greenville, Spartanburg

On Monday, January 26th, Fork Shoals School in Greenville County (Librarian, Kelly Knight) held a truly spectacular event. Family Reading Night brought together six local authors, and those authors shared their books with all who attended. (One author, Jonathan Miller of Charleston, spent the entire day at the school and presented his books to every student and teacher.)  The featured authors were: Paul Hohmann (The Tale of Tango), Jeffrey Lefko (Solomon Squirrel's Amazing Washington, DC Adventure), Beth Templeton (A Coat Named Mr. Spot), Fred Baus (Oh, Those Holiday Lights!), Kate Salley Palmer (Palmetto: Symbol of Courage), and Jonathan Miller (Sammy the Wonder Dachshund). Each author spoke with students, parents, and teachers about their books, the writing/illustrating process, and the importance of reading. Authors were also available for autographs at the evening's conclusion. As a special treat, the grade level winners of the school's 2nd Quarter Reading Challenge had a wonderful dinner with all of the Family Reading Night authors prior to the event. Both students and authors had interesting conversations about what they were reading and writing.

Pam Owens, SCASL Regional Network Contact for Spartanburg 2 shares the following: Spartanburg District Two has had a successful beginning to their EXCEL 1:1 Initiative. Since October, we have distributed iPad minis to all middle school students at Boiling Springs Middle, Rainbow Lake Middle, and Chesnee Middle. The picture is of Superintendent Dr. Scott Mercer rolling out the first device.

Jamie Gregory, media specialist at Byrnes High School, Spartanburg 5 , had a learning plan published in the February 2015 issue of School Library Monthly. Her learning plan, titled "Developing an Argument," presents ways English, Science, and Social Studies teachers can incorporate nonfiction research and argument skills into their classrooms by having students take on the roles of various community stakeholders about an important, debatable issue. Way to go Jamie!!

Elizabeth Graham, Media Specialist at Woodland Heights Elementary in Spartanburg District Six, has had four Donors Choose Projects funded this school year. The projects brought needed resources and technology to the library. Projects funded were: Legos in the Library, Create Book Buzz with Book Trailers (1 iPod Touch), Making Books Buzz with Book Trailers (2 iPods) and Fire up 1st Grade Readers with Graphic Novels.

The Spartanburg High School Library (Spartanburg 7) welcomes Kellie Smith as an intern.  Kellie is a graduate of Clemson University and is currently working on her MLIS degree from the University of South Carolina. She is the Media Assistant at Chapman High School in Inman, SC.  She is also the Football and Basketball Cheerleading coach at Chapman. In her free time, she enjoys reading science fiction, taking road trips, running, and attending conventions.

The Spartanburg High School Library is running the 7Reads summer reading program which is in its tenth year!  There are seven great books students choose from, and each student gets to take home the book of his/her choice.  We are pleased to announce that Brendan Reichs - cowriter of Virals - will be at our
7Reads school wide celebration.

Region 2Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Saluda

Region 3 Chester, Lancaster, Union, York

Congratulations to Connie Horton of Lancaster County who has taken an Assistant Principal position at AR Rucker Middle School!  Connie was the Media Specialist at Andrew Jackson Middle School (Lancaster County)

Region 4A Fairfield, Lexington 1-4, Newberry

Region 4B - Columbia Area including Richland One, Richland Two, Lexington/Richland Five; USC SLIS

Congratulations to Laura Haverkamp, Dreher High School, Richland One, for receiving one of the Richland District One's $500 Innovation Grants. The three recipients of the district's Spring 2015 Classroom Innovation Teacher Grants were recognized at the January 13 meeting of the Richland One Board of School Commissioners. The $500 grants allow teachers to implement innovative projects to enhance their classroom instruction. Laura used the grant money to purchase Fit Desks for her media center which include a strap to hold a laptop.

Richland One has Destiny's One Search feature set up with our district online databases and some of the Discus ones as well as the free databases available. This is an excellent tool to use for research on all levels as opposed to Googling research topics.

Laura Holladay at Webber Elementary (Richland One) has received a $10,000 grant from International Paper Company to create a Learning Commons area in her media center. She will be presented the check at the Feb. 24th Board meeting at Lower Richland. Let come out and celebrate with her.

WJ Keenan students, under the instruction of Vanessa Briggs and Technology Educator, Zebulun Dinkins, created an independent film that will be released on February 19.
http://coladaily.com/2015/01/24/keenan-students-independent-film-ready-for-red-carpet/

Laura Holladay at Webber Elementary (Richland One) has received a $10,000 grant from International Paper Company to create a Learning Commons area in her media center. She will be presented the check at the Feb. 24th Board meeting at Lower Richland. Let come out and celebrate with her.

As part of Family Literacy Night at Hand Middle School, the media center was transformed into the Reading Lounge, complete with soft jazz music and cozy reading spaces. Our families enjoyed special time spent reading picture books aloud. Carolyn Masek, NBCT is the Media Specialist at Hand Middle School.See all eight photos Carolyn shared here.

Look what's new in the media center at Hand Middle School. Carolyn Masek, media specialist at Hand Middle School worked with 7th grade art students, under the direction of Art teacher Sharlyn Turlington, to transform an ordinary book end into lovely works of art.

Richland Two

Pontiac Elementary School (PES) in Richland School District Two kicked off a school wide reading incentive on September 25, 2014. First – Fifth grades read The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies.  In conjunction with the incentive, teachers provided numerous learning experiences such as making posters of figurative language found throughout the novel and predicting and counting seeds found in lemons. Lemonade was sold at our Fall Fest on October 24, 2014. The profits were donated to City of Columbia Animal Services. Officers from City of Columbia Animal Services brought a furry friend, Kurt, to help kick off the event.  In addition to selling lemonade, PES students and staff also collected items for the shelter's wish list.  Some of the students even made a quilt to keep the animals warm. Kristie Haltiwangeris the media specialist at Pontiac Elementary School (PES) in Richland School District Two.

Media Specialist, Kristie Haltiwanger, at Pontiac Elementary School (PES) in Richland School District Two read The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. On the 100th day of school, February 2, 2015, relatives were invited to help the school reach their goal to have 100 relatives read to the students. Mrs. Barbara Montgomery, the school's former media specialist, started this tradition before she retired. The students have enjoyed keeping the tradition going each year

Region 5A   Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg

Cathy Hessalink of A. L. Corbett Middle School (Aiken County) submitted a proposal entitled "Readers Are Leaders". I requested funds to purchase low level/high interest materials for our struggling and reluctant readers. I requested the maximum amount ($4000), however we received $3000. This is the first time I have ever written agrant (other than a school based mini-grant (PTO).DollarGeneral Youth LiteracyGrants are awarded to schools across the nation. The recipients are listed on their webpage:

Cathy Shares, "My book budget at ALCM is less than $10 per pupil. Receiving this funding will definitely make a huge impact on our collection development plan for 2014 -2015. I am excited that we will be able to offer a great selection of low level/high interest materials to our students. I am anxious to see if this will be effective in bringing up their reading scores, as I proposed. Due to the success I had with the Dollar General Youth Literacy Grants Program,  you can be assured that I will be writing more grants."

Also, on November 20, 2015 , Chris Rylander, author of "The Fourth Stall" series met with 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students at Corbett Middle School (Cathy hessalink, LMS). He talked with them about the importance of reading and writing and shared personal anecdotes with illustrations.  After meeting with each grade level, he posed for pictures and did a book signing.  He was amazing!  I was really impressed how much time he was willing to spend talking with students individually after the presentation.

Region 5B Allendale, Calhoun, Orangeburg

Region 6 - Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, Sumter

Lugoff-Elgin High School is hosting an author visit on March 6th. As part of reading across the curriculum our Spanish classes are reading Queen of Water by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango.Laura is flying in from Colorado and Maria Virginia from Ecuador. The public is invited,several bookclubs, students from Lugoff-Elgin Middle School and the South Carolina Virtual Charter School will also be attending. In the evening Laura and Maria Virginia will chatting and signing books at our local bookstore Books on Broad in Camden.The LMS at Lugoff-Elgin High school is Anne Lemieux.

Region 7  Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro

Marianne Gaskins of North Vista Elementary School in Florence School District 1 shares about the move into a new building in August 2015. The new library in this school has the newest in furniture and technology. It has a computer lab with 20 desktop computers, touch screen self check in station, a TV production room, and the new SMART 6065 interactive panel. All of the furniture in the library has charging stations, which allows students and staff members the ability to charge mobile devices they are using for class or during meetings.  The entire community is already making the library one of the central parts of the school.  Classes use the computers for conducting research or working on school projects.  Families have enjoyed coming in to the library for family reading night, where they are encouraged to read using a variety of print and electronic media and participate in literacy activities.  Students and parents also participate in a family book club where a different book is discussed each month. Once the book is discussed families participate in book related activities that correlate with standards in the classroom. (Pictures below)

Region 8 Georgetown, Horry, Williamsburg

Georgetown County School District is doing its own Read-In. It will be the same day as Columbia, but going there is cost prohibited ~ so you know what they say ~ if you can't go to the Read-In in Columbia, then bring the Read-In here. We have committees, every school will participate, logo contest in process, etc. We will have a parade down Front Street with lunch, activities and community speakers in East Bay Park. It is our first attempt at doing this, but we are hoping that it, too, will be an annual event (like Columbia!).
Shared by Paula Canine, Waccamaw Elementary

At LMS Paula Canine's school - Waccamaw Elementary - 2nd graders celebrated 100 Days of school in the library by dressing up as 100 year old readers!

Anna Fox has the unique distinction of being the Teacher of the Year at 2 schools in Georgetown County!  She is the LMS at both Plantersville ES and Brown's Ferry ES and has been elected TOY at each for the 2015-16 school year.Anna Fox is the proud mother of little Emma Louise Fox, born December 6, 214.

WASA (Waccamaw Association of Space and Aviation) club at Waccamaw High School is getting ready for the Georgetown County School District TECH FAIR being held at Waccamaw Intermediate School on May 22.  WASA won in the Innovation Category last year and we hope to win again this year.  Alan W. Pritchard, LMS at Waccamaw HS, is the team advisor.

Region 9A Berkeley, Dorchester

Laura Linder of Cane Bay Middle (Berkeley) shares about her awesome lunch bunch book club for January! The seed for the idea came from an ad for free crochet kits sponsored by The Craft Yarn Council and JoAnne's. Laura signed up her school to get 20 kits. Since the program was meant for students in 8th-12th grade, she knew her middle school would target 8th graders, and  Laura's assistant suggested they use them with the 8th grade lunch bunch book club in January, and as they crocheted they would talk about books, authors, characters, etc. The book club was extremely successful, and they even had five guys join their group of fifteen. As a result of the crochet book club, all are still crocheting and one of the guys even used crocheting as a form of stress relief prior to the state wrestling tournament. See the pictures of 8th graders Ralpheal Inge and Micah Staggers crocheting.

Region 9B Charleston

Emilie Woody, library media specialist at Wando High School was surprised at school Friday, March 6, 2015 by Charlie the Riverdog and other Charleston County School District dignitaries as she was notified she is a finalist for the Charleston County School District Teacher of the Year. ​Emily is the driver pictured here with her principal, other school people, and Charlie the RiverDog  of the Charleston Riverdogs Minor League Baseball organization..

Region 10  Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper

Region 11 Special/Independent

Top

November-December 2014

Region 1A  Anderson, Oconee, Pickens

Region 1B Cherokee, Greenville, Spartanburg

Greer High School celebrated a November Teen Read Week with three workshops being offered to classes in the library last week. First, students were invited to expand their horizons by reading the Young Adult Book Award books. They could stop by the library and pick up a list of books, watch the "trailers" online and then read to see "the places you will go".Second, students could visit the library's new CAREER CENTER, exploring all the books available about careers. Students could take the online test to see what best suited their personality as they make the all-important decision of "what you will be when you grow up".Third, classes could learn about DISCUS, our online 24/7 internet library as well as the public library's OVERDRIVE. Students could  also learn about their EBooks. Greer's goal for Teen Read Week was to let students know the world is at your fingertips FOR FREE everyday all day long! Librarians at Greer High (Greenville) areLeAnn Kiser and Harriet Kicker.

Fork Shoals School in Greenville County had its best Scholastic Book Fair ever this fall. The event coincided with the school's Dynamite Dads breakfast as well as the school-wide Thanksgiving meal. The librarian, Kelly Knight , also dressed in costume (as a knight, obviously) one evening and had a medieval themed photo booth for students, parents, and teachers. Parent and teacher volunteers created lovely decorations to go along with this year's theme, Sir Readalot's Castle.

"I Read…What's Your Superpower?" was the theme of Teen Read Week at Woodmont High School, celebrated this week to coincide with the release of the next Hunger Games Movie, Mockingjay. The week was full of activities inspired by superheroesand Hunger Games. The media center sponsored two movie nights, so the students could see the first two Hunger Games movies before the third was released. Also, one morning they had the art teacher teach a special class on how to draw a superhero to the morning crowd in the media center. Throughout the week, students received treats when they checked out and logged books for the Wild About Reading program. Students also started the Wild About Reading Bingo program that will continue until late April. Students who read a BINGO will be invited to a special library program in May. Finally the week ended with the 2nd Annual Hunger Games! Twenty-two students competed in a fun Hunger Games style tournament! Mrs. Brundage (LMS), Mrs. Broome (LMS) and Mrs. Emerson had a blast showing their alter ego and their superpowers for this fun week!!! You can follow our adventures on our Facebook page: WHS Wildcats Read!

Cathy Nelson,Dorman High School, successfully renewed her National Board Certification in Library/Media.

Elizabeth Graham at Woodland Heights ES (Spartanburg 6) held a family night during her November bookfair. We especially love the shout outs to her school's business partners in herthank you post on her own library blog. Way to go Elizabeth!!

Region 2Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Saluda

Region 3 Chester, Lancaster, Union, York

Guess who got a visit from the Rock Hill Foundation today!Samantha McManus (Sullivan Middle School/Rock Hill)wrote a $1,000 grant to fund interactive books and they funded it. "I'm so excited and it was wonderful to have a class of sixth graders in the room when they awarded it. Thank you, Rock Hill School District Foundation!" exclaimed Samantha McManus.

Dr. Lisa Tait, LMS at Lewisville Middle  (Chester County) had a busy year. She renewed her National Board (2015-2025) and completed her Doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching.  In her words, she shares, "Now I finally have time to read a book!"

Melisa Smith, Mount Gallant Elementary School, (York 3-Rock Hill) successfully renewed her National Board Certification.

SCASL member andUnion County High School Librarian Pam Sloss was recently elected to the Union City Council. Congrats pam!

Region 4A Fairfield, Lexington 1-4, Newberry

Region 4B - Columbia Area including Richland One, Richland Two, Lexington/Richland Five; USC SLIS

Richland One

Betsy Russell, ITS at Bradley Elementary School in Richland One, did a little digging to bring history to life for her 5th graders. Knowing they were studying the industrial titans of the early 20th century, she surfed the internet to find out if there are any local Model T clubs. Yes, there are but they didn't seem as easy to contact as the local Model A club and Model A's are much nicer looking. Mr. Porterfield and Mr. Cockerill agreed to visit and that's how this living history came to Bradley. As you can imagine, the kids were intrigued by the beauty and simplicity of these early autos. They'll remember sitting in the cars and hearing the aa-ooga of the horns for a long time! Read The State  Newspaper article here.  http://www.thestate.com/2014/12/18/3881882_columbia-5th-graders-take-a-drive.html?sp=/99/205/&rh=1

Carolyn Masek, LMS at Hand Middle School, Richland One successfully renewed her National Board Certification. (Nov 2014)

At Pine Grove Elementary School, LMSAngie Enlow facilitated one of her teachers, Ms. Crawford's first grade class in a video conferencing session with NASA's Kennedy Space Center about the sun. See her short highlight video! (Nov 2014)

 Richland Two

Amy Whitfield andCrystal Smith, Library Media Specialists atBlythewood High School in Richland School District Two along with the school's Technology Learning Coach Tami Lenker and Ridge View High School's Technology Learning Coach Cheryl Hunter applied for and completed the first round of Richland School District Two's innovation incubator-R2 Innovates (http://r2innovates.blogspot.com/). Fifteen teams were in the first cohort, working on innovative ideas. Each team had to make a sales pitch in front of a panel similar to  a "Shark Tank" pitch. "Wreck that PD" was the title of the pitch that Whitfield, Smith, Lenker, and Hunter presented to the panel. Their team was one of nine teams to advance. "Wreck that PD" is an innovative idea to reconstruct the delivery of professional development. (November 2014)

Longleaf Middle School (Richland 2) has a new makerspace that includes origami, perler beads, knex and snap circuits in which the students come during their lunch or free time to tinker with the DIY items. We also have a book club on Wednesdays in which students come together to discuss the 2014-2015 SC Jr Book Award Nominees. This was shared with us by LMSCynthia Johnson. (November 2014)

Region 5A   Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg

Congratulations toMichelle Wells who renewed National Board Certification. Michelle works at North Augusta High School in Aiken County.

Corbett Middle School (AIken County Schools) recently hosted author Chris Rylander, and it was a huge success!Cathy Hessalink is the LMS at Corbett MS. Chris Rylander did an outstanding job, giving three separate presentations (one for each grade level), answered students questions, posed for pictures with the students, autographed books, and spent lots of time talking with the students. He was exceptionally good with our special needs kids. The local paper, theAiken Standardcovered this and provided a picture. Here is the article from the Aiken Standard:  http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20141122/AIK0101/141129837

Heather Loy, LMS at Wagener-Salley High School (Aiken County Schools) has created a mini maker fair that features duct tape crafts! Students have been visiting daily since last Thursday during lunch to explore the craft ideas being generated. Students have made pencil/pen cases, phone caddies, bracelets and more with the funky duct tape made available for the center. These are TOO CUTE!!

Region 5B Allendale, Calhoun, Orangeburg

Region 6 - Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, Sumter

Region 7  Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro

Dillon

Gordon Elementary 5th graders have been busy making models of cells. They proudly displayed them in the library. In social studies they are studying western expansion. So in come the covered wagons! Each month students have a chance to earn a game day in the library by using good library manners. The librarian at Gordon Elementary is Gail Carter. Gordon Elementary is in Dillon School District.

Making room for more recognition! At East Elementary it seemed that each week the same class was being recognized for earning the most points in Reading Counts. For something new to encourage Reading Counts,LMS Ann Carlsonpurchased 3 trophies for each grade level 1, 2, and 3. Every two weeks she now runs a report to see how many points each class has earned. The class with the most number of points for that grade level has a trophy in his classroom for two weeks. This way, even if a class had done poorly at the beginning of the year, it would have a chance to have a trophy in its classroom by doing well during a two week period. After two weeks, the report is run again and the same trophies go to different rooms. This is working well for Ann's school, East Elementary. (November 2014)

At Dillon Middle School LMSMarcia Bethea administered a reading interest survey to all students, tallied the results, and compiled the data.  She then created charts depicting some of the survey findings and sent these to her ELA teachers and to her building administrators. She also has the charts running on her digital sign monitors throughout the school for the entire community and visitors to see. She plans to use some of the survey information to inform her book purchases and programming for the media center this year. Marcia shares, "I also heard from my principal after he viewed the charts; he would like for us to hold a public library card sign-up drive. Here is a sample of her survey results. Clickhere to see the entire set of results. (November 2014)

Region 8 Georgetown, Horry, Williamsburg

Georgetown

Donna B. Owens, Carvers Bay High School, Georgetown County successfully renewed her National Board Certification. (Nov. 2014)

GCSD LMSAnna Fox is expecting in December. GCSD LMS had a surprise baby shower and all of the gifts were books to begin a new library for her baby! Anna slits her time between Browns Ferry ES & Plantersville ES. (11/14)

Waccamaw ES used their school mascot to help run a successful bookfair!  Too cute!Paula Canine is the LMS at Waccamaw ES. (11/14)

Horry

Aynor High School Media Center Opens 'Maker Space' with 3D Printers, gets Channel 15 Carolina Alive Coverage.Dawn James is the librarian at AHS. Read the article here. (November 2014)

Aynor High School (LMS Dawn James) and Aynor Middle School (LMS Danielle West) Book Clubs sponsored  book drives during the month of November.  New books were wrapped and passed out to children of all ages at the Aynor Christmas parade Saturday.  It was a huge success, promoting literacy throughout our community. Aynor is part of the Horry County School System

Region 9A Berkeley, Dorchester

Berkeley

Kellyanne Burbage, media specialist from Sangaree Intermediate School shares about a successful reading promotion:  "We just completed a successful reading promotion called "Read Around the World." Students were challenged to read a book from 5 different continents. They received a sticker for each continent, which they kept on a passport page in their reading notebooks. After reading the 5 books, each student received a globe keychain and their names were entered into a chance to win an inflatable globe.This was one of the most enjoyable contests we've done – it was refreshing to watch the students search for a book that represented a particular continent, for example, a book about koalas for Australia, a book about WWII for Europe."  (November 2014)

LMS Laura Linder   received a Google Communities Grant for $25,750 to purchase a mobile lab of 30 Dell Tablets for Cane Bay Middle School. (November 2014)

Region 9B Charleston

Way to go Charleston County School District! 14 schools received funding through theLaura Bush Foundation for America's School Libraries Grant!

Wando High School  now has 5 library media specialists, which affords us the time to become even more involved with classroom and technology collaboration. See picture - Emilie Woody, Katherine Ware, Donna Whitlock, Laura Judson and Shelly Moore. November 2014

Media SpecialistEmilie Woody from Wando High School (Mt. Pleasant) was named Teacher of the Year for 2014. Wando has an amazing faculty, so the idea that they would choose one of the library media specialists to be the Teacher of the Year speaks to the impact that she has on student learning at the school.​ Nov 2014

One of the perks of living near Charleston is having the authors from YallFest in town for a weekend. Becca Fitzpatrick, author of  the Hush, Hush series and Black Ice, visitedWando High School on November 7th and spoke to 9th grade English 1 students about the writing and publishing process.  Students are always amazed by the background stories that inspire authors and their writing. (Pictures are of author Becca Fitzpatrick with Wando media specialists Katherine Ware, Laura Judson and Donna Whitlock.  The other picture is of Becca Fitzpatrick with students from Ms. Poggioli's class.

About 20 YallFest authors  visited Charleston County School District Schools, Including Matthew de la Pena, Ellen Hopkins, Alexander London, and many others  November 2014

Middle school students from Zucker Middle School walk with their librarian Mrs. Miranda Cary  to Lambs Elementary to read to a first grade class. They come once a month to read books with the first graders.

Students in kindergarten-fifth grade at Daniel Island School in Charleston, SC participated in The Bert Show's Big Thank You, 2014, writing more than 840 letters to be sent to deployed service members this Thanksgiving.Kelli Friedman is the LMS at Daniel Island School, Charleston, SCSee more pictures here. (November 2014)

Region 10  Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper

Region 11 Special/Independent

Top

August-September-October 2014

The following items appeared Between August and October 2014:

Anderson 1

• New hires for 2014/2015:
  Martha Taylor, Wren Middle School
  Laura (Jo) Evans, Palmetto Middle
  Katie Wesolek, Cedar Grove
• Personnel Changes:
  Tamara Cox leaves Palmetto Middle's Library to take on a district level Instructional Technology position.
  Jean Rautman, former  media specialist from Cedar Grove Elementary retired in June and is now working at Anderson University.
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Carla Nash - Teacher of the Year - West Pelzer Elementary
• Noteworthy: Carla Nash, LMS, West Pelzer Elementary led a team to victory for the district's Battle of the Books Program. According to Carla, "These students read lots and worked hard to participate in West Pelzer Elementary's 2014 Battle of the Books competition. The school winners went on to the district completion."

Anderson 2

• New Hires:
  Mikki Blankenship, Belton Middle School
• Grants:
  Kate Byrd, librarian at Belton Elementary School, received a grant from the WebbCraft Family Foundation to purchase iPad Mini's to use in the classroom.

Anderson 3

• Personnel Changes:
  Tracey Burel, SC Vocational Rehabilitation Center in Greenwood, SC
• New Hires:
  Amy Russell, Starr-Iva Middle

Anderson 4

• New Hires:
  Jamie Gaines,  Townville Elementary
  Lindsey McKay, Pendleton Elementary
• Personnel Changes:
  Amy Marshall, Transfer, Mt. Lebanon Elementary
• Retirements
  Pam Owens from Pendleton Elementary has retired.

Anderson 5

• New Hires:
  Ms. Tara Jenness, New Prospect STEM Academy
  Ms. Christina King, Homeland Park Primary
  Ms. Wendy Nix, McLees Academy of Leadership.
  Dr. Veta New, Executive Director of Career and Technical Education and the media specialists' new district office liaison.

Greenville

• Noteworthy:
  Four Media Specialists in Greenville County will join forces and pull resources to take students to Y'all Fest this year. Media specialistsJanet Allen (Greenville High School), Karina Hill(JL Mann),Diane Morris (Mauldin High School) andJennifer Browning (Southside High School) will take a charter bus filled with 12 students from each of the four schools. Y'all fest is one of the biggest Young Adult author book festivals in the nation. It takes place in Charleston each year and is sponsored by Blue Cycle Books, Penguin Teen, and Amazon.com. It is a free event that will take place on November 7th and 8th this year. To learn more about it, go here: http://yallfest.org/Welcome Elementary School LibrarianCindy Haggerty partnered with the Greenville County Library System to promote their Summer Reading program. All students were given information and details before the end of school, and Mrs. Haggerty recently checked with the program coordinator for the results. She learned that there was a significant impact on participation at the library closest to the school. Of the registered children in 2013 - 29% completed the required reading whereas in 2014 - 44% completed the program. The Youth Services Manager said, "So, it looks like you did make a difference! Thank you for promoting reading and our program. We appreciate it!"
  
  

• R etired:
  Joan Gilreath, Mountain View Elementary
  Carolyn Page, Cherrydale Elementary
  Debbie Maddox, Lake Forest Elementary.

• New hires:
  Joy Rohrbaugh, Fisher Middle
  Regina Joseph, League Academy
  Laura Griner, Armstrong Elementary
  Amanda Jackson, Gateway Elementary
  Melanie Kloak, Lake Forest Elementary
  Kayce Clark White, Mountain View Elementary
  Gaelyn Jenkins, Riverside Middle

• Personnel Changes:
  Andi Fansher moved to the library at Wade Hampton High School
  Gaelyn Jenkins returns to Greenville County at Riverside Middle.

• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Janet Allen, media specialist at Greenville High School, was awarded the Robbie Van Pelt Grant for this upcoming school year. She will use the funds to purchase a school site license for Noodle Tools. Noodle Tools is a student research platform that integrates citations, google docs, and organizational tools.

  Susan Dicey attended ISTE 2014 this summer on a travel grant.

  The 14-15 GCMS (Greenville Council of Media Specialists) Board members are:  President -Kelly Knight (Fork Shoals School); Vice President -Eileen Conway (Augusta Circle ES); Secretary -Kriss Kirdindoll (Bethel ES); Treasurer -Misty Gosnell (Hillcrest HS); Grants Committee –Deanna McCarrell (Travelers Rest HS),Susan Dicey (Hillcrest MS),Pam Maggio (Rudolph Gordon ES); Elementary Representative –Denise McWhorter (Paris ES); Middle Representative –Kathleen Carey (Greenville Academy); High Representative –Sandy Brundage (Woodmont HS).

Spartanburg 1

• Retirements:
  Beth Kennerly retired as media specialist 33 years at New Prospect Elementary; Beth will continue service as 4K Assistant at Holly Springs Elementary in the district
• New Hires:
  Jill Tyner, New Prospect Elementary
  Angela Moore, Landrum Middle

Spartanburg 5

• LibrarianSusan Dubnik at Beech Springs Intermediate in Spartanburg District 5 is completing her School Library Media internship at Byrnes High School with librariansKaren Hill andJamie Gregory. Susan is working with the Teacher Cadet class to create booktalks using the website Vocaroo.

• Byrnes High School librariansKaren Hill andJamie Gregory have been awarded a grant from the Junior League of Spartanburg! Their project, titled When People Become Pawns: Investigating Social Injustice in Selected Contemporary Literature, asks book chat students to read I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and then pick one other fiction title out of five possibilities that all thematically relate to a current social injustice. Our book chat students will participate in an online blog throughout the year while reading the titles. We will also watch a PBS documentary, Outlawed in Pakistan. Then our culminating event will be to hear a guest speaker at our local community center and write letters to our local congresspeople.

Spartanburg 6

• Laura Trippe, LMS at Anderson Mill Elementary School hosted storyteller Tim Lowry at for Constitution Day, September 17.

• New Hires:
  Lori Willis-Richards, Lone Oak Elementary
  Elizabeth Graham, Woodland Heights Elementary
  Brandy Rollins, Arcadia Elementary
  Rebecca Johnson, West View Elementary
• Special Recognition/Grants/Awards:
  Cathy Jo Nelson was selected to attend the Google Teacher Academy in Atlanta, GA this past summer. She is now a Google Certified Teacher.

Spartanburg 7

• Personnel Changes:
  Ashley Layne, Spartanburg High
• New Hire:
  Stefania Hiltgen, Carver Middle
• Special Recognition/Grants/Awards:
  Elizabeth Graham, former Media Assistant from EP Todd, was recognized as Support Person of the Year for E. P. Todd School. Elizabeth is moving to Spartanburg 6 in a professional role as school librarian at Woodland Heights Elementary.
  Wendy Rollins,  Media Specialist and Technology Integration Specialist was recognized as Teacher of the Year for E. P. Todd School.

  Congrats toSusan Myers who has one her second 'Best of the Month' award on Pixoto. See her photo here: Pixoto.com ! http://www.pixoto.com/susanrmyers/awards/september-2014  Susan is an LMS at Spartanburg High School.

Region 2Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Saluda

Abbeville

• Retired:
  Ms. Nancy Taylor, John C. Calhoun Elementary
• New Hire:
  Joan Jordan, John C. Calhoun Elementary
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Kim Ware, Library Media Specialist, was named Teacher of the Year for 2014-15 for Cherokee Trail Elementary School

  Donna Sleister of Abbeville High School Media Center was awarded for this school year a $4,000.00 Dollar General Literacy Foundation Youth Literacy Grant titled "Diving Into Digital".
  

Greenwood 50

• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Greta Flynn presented "Flipping the Library" at ISTE 2014  in Atlanta in June.

Laurens 55

• Retired:
  Rhonda Harman, Hickory Tavern Elementary
• Personnel Changes:
  Amy Adams, Ford Elementary

McCormick County

• Personnel Changes​:
  Beverly Hall, Library Media Specialist at McCormick Elementary and Middle Schools will now be serving as the McCormick County School District Technology Director and Library Media Specialist at McCormick High School.
• New Hires:
  Sarah Bailey, McCormick Elementary and Middle School

Region 3 Chester, Lancaster, Union, York

York 1 - York

• New Hires:
  Robin Clinton, York  Middle School
  Renee Comer, Jefferson Elementary School

York County 3 - Rock Hill

• New Hire:
  Tenley Middleton, India Hook Elementary
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Cathy Poole, Teacher of the Year, Lesslie Elementary

• Susie Mitchell, Library Media Specialist at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, SC received a very special honor this year. She was accepted as a member of Young Adult Library Services Association's  (YALSA) mentoring. YALSA is a division of the American Library Association. Only 6 to 8 mentors are chosen nationwide each year. The mentors are chosen from public and school librarians.
  

• Tiffany Rickey, Library Media Specialist at Dutchman Creek Middle School, and her husband recently welcomed their third son. Justin Abram Rickey was born on September 6, 2014 at 9:09 am weighing 9 lbs 7 oz and measuring 21 1/2 inches long. Congratulations!

Region 4A Fairfield, Lexington 1-4, Newberry

Fairfield

• Retired:
  Harriet Pauling
• New hires:
  Lechel Pitts
  Beatrice McKnight

Lexington 1

• Retired:
  Susan Cathy, Midway Elementary
  Susan Mitton, Gilbert Elementary
• Personnel Changes:
  Janet Boltjes, Lexington High
  Sherell Stepp, Gilbert Primary
  Patrick Hanks, Lexington One Director of Instructional Technology, is now the district Media Specialists' Coordinator.
• New Hires:
  Merri Anna Allred, Deerfield Elementary
  Sherrell Stepp, Gilbert Primary
  Susan DuBose, Lexington Elementary
  Emily Black, Midway Elementary
  Becky Love, Rocky Creek Elementary
  Melanie Wyndham, White Knoll Elementary
  Adina Wilson, White Knoll High
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Valerie Byrd Fort spent the summer working at EdVenture Children's Museum as part of their Maker Corps.

Region 4B - Columbia Area including Richland One, Richland Two, Lexington/Richland Five; USC SLIS

Richland One

• At Pine Grove Elementary School, LMSAngie Enlow facilitated one of her teachers, Ms. Crawford's first grade class in a video conferencing session with NASA's Kennedy Space Center about the sun.  See her short highlight video! (Nov 2014)

• Congratulations toNeely Swygert, Information Technology Specialist at Gadsden Elementary for getting her Donor's Choose project fully funded. On this project, the library will be receiving a digital camera, memory card, camera case, color ink cartridge for a printer, and 2 pencil sharpeners. Neely exclaims, "I am so excited, especially about the pencil sharpeners! If you have never used Donor's Choose before, give it a try! I will be glad to give you tips on how to write everything up. Have a great day!!" This enthusiasm is contagious. :)

• Ida Thompson  was recently reappointed by Richland County Council to another four-term on the Richland Library Board of Trustees. Her term will conclude in 2018.

• Konni Shier, Heward Gibbes Middle School, will receive one of the Colonial Life Grant Awards. Her grant entitled "Getting Reel with Books" will have students creating movie trailers for SC Book Award nominees
• "Reading Rocks Goes Digital" was the theme for our annual Reading Rocks literacy celebration on October 4, 2014. A stellar line up of nationally renowned authors, such as Sharon Draper, Floyd Cooper and Stanford Greene as well as many local authors were on hand to share their books and talents. Other activities included digital presentations from district schools, Richland Library Play Freely Bus, free books, vendors, trains, area queens and Cocky's Reading Express. It was a fun time for everyone.
• Several schools enjoyed authors visits on the day before Reading Rocks. Sharon Draper visited Alcorn Middle School and Sanders Middle School and Floyd Cooper demonstrated his illustrating talent to Arden Elementary and Rosewood Elementary.
• Retired:
  Chyrl Curtis, Gadsden Elementar
  Brenda Milton, South Kilbourne Elementary
  Kathy Carson, Alcorn Middle
  Jane Speight, WA Perry Middle
• New Hires:
  Susan Lewis, Greenview Elementary
  Laura Holladay, Webber Elementary
  Neely Swygert, Gadsden Elementary
  Jennifer Pinckney, South Kilbourne Elementary
  Konni Shier, Heyward Gibbes Middle
  Cynthia Shell, WA Perry Middle
  Russ Conrath, AC Flora High
• Personnel Changes
  Sherry Shewmaker, Alcorn Middle
  Angie Enlow, Pine Grove Elementary
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Ida Thompson has been selected to serve on the Coretta Scott King Award Jury and the leader of the AASL Supervisors' Section.

  16 Richland One Information Technology Specialists have had their lesson plan accepted to the AASL Lesson Plan database.

Richland Two

• Chad Crews brought his Nevermore  program to Muller Road Middle ( LMS Michal Brandon ) on October 22nd as a follow-up to last year's Authors of Mystery & Horror program.  Poe books and everything "magic" flew off the shelves as a result!

Lexington/Richland 5

• Special recognition:
  Jessica Felker Wheeler (Nursery Road Elementary, Columbia, SC) attended the Discovery Educators' Summer Institute in Nashville, TN July 13-18. The technology conference was located on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Attendees took part in an intense week of professional development. Some of the activities included: touring historic Nashville, working on service projects, participating in a Maker Faire, hearing from nationally known speakers such as Dr. Lodge McCammon and Lance Rougeaux, participating in an Amazing Race-type game which included geo-caching, and many more technology-related activities. One of the highlights of Jessica's experience was meeting Kathy Schrock.

USC-SLIS

• New Hire:
  USC welcomes ProfessorHeather Moorefield-Lang to the College of Library and Information Science.

Region 5A   Aiken, Barnwell, Bamberg

Aiken

• Retirements:
  Mary Ann Hinson, JD Lever Elementary
• Personnel Changes/New Hires:
  Faith Barber, JD Lever Elementary
  Amelia Clark, Gloverville Elementary
  Nikkie Mock, CLearwater Elementary

Region 5B Allendale, Calhoun, Orangeburg

Region 6 - Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee, Sumter

Clarendon County

• Michelle Weaver is the new Media Specialist at Walker Gamble Elementary in Clarendon  3.

Kershaw County

• New Hires:
  Donna Myles, Jackson Elementary
  Tara Ussery, Pine Tree Elementary
  Caitin Stalker, Midway Elementary
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Thanks to a travel grant from the SC State Library,Betsy Long, of Doby's Mill Elementary School, attended nErDCamp Michigan (edcamp with a literacy focus) July 7 & 8. Donalyn Miller was the keynote speaker.Mrs. Long led a session on "Creating Reading Excitement Through School-Wide Programming."

Sumter

• New:
  Ronda Speed, Sumter High School.
  Elma Strong, Alice Drive Middle School.
  Lessie Bernshouse, Millwood Elementary.
  Kent Singleton, Rafting Creek and Delaine Elementary Schools.
  Michael Duffy, Kingsbury Elementary.
  Lindsey Yaroch, Ebenezer Middle School.

• Thirty two STEMS students from Shaw Heights Elementary and High Hills Elementary attended STEMS Camp organized by Pat Wilcox, the media specialist at Shaw Heights Elementary. Students explored a variety of hands on activities including Construction, Wind-up Rubber-band cars, Stop Motion Animation, and puppet making.
  

• Students rotated through the different activities. After designing, building and creating within the activity students documented the process in their STEMS Log. The log provided a chance for the students to reflect on the project they had completed as they described what worked and what did not as well as exercising their observational and writing skills. At the end of camp students were asked to complete an evaluation of the camp.  When asked if they enjoyed camp it was a resounding yes!

Region 7  Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion, Marlboro

Darlington

• New Hires
  Mary Grice, Brunson-Dargan Elementary School, Darlington, SC and Cain Elementary School
  Stacy Harrison, Lamar Elementary School, Lamar, SC & Spaulding Elementary School

Dillon

• In celebration of Teen Read Week 2014,Liz Herlong, LMS at Lakeview High selected Lake View High School athletes visited Lake View Elementary School to discuss the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship and read to first and second graders on Tuesday, October 14, 2014. Checkout this awesome pic!

Florence 1

• Retired
  Susie Jackson, Sneed Middle
• New Hires:
  Barbara Green, Sneed Middle
  Laura Ward, Greenwood Elementary
• Debbie Heimbrook of Luce T. Davis Elementary recently presented (September 2014) about the library and librarian relationship with teachers to Francis Marion University's Education majors for the SCASL Preservice Committee.

Marion

• Retirement:
  Anna Nolan retired from Easterling Primary.
• Personnel Changes:
  Hope Jackson, Easterling Primary.
  Sylvia Elkins, Marion Intermediate School.
  Willie White will split time between McCormick Elementary and North Mullins Primary.

Region 8 Georgetown, Horry, Williamsburg

Georgetown

• Personnel Changes:
  Jenny Cox is leaving Kensington Elementary and  moving to a district job as elementary tech.coach.

Horry

• Retired:
  Roberta Castle, Aynor Middle
  Sherrie Gore, Myrtle Beach Elementary
• New Hires:
  Danielle West, Aynor Middle
  Pamela Hornbeck, Myrtle Beach Elementary
  Tim Nesbit, Carolina Forest High
  Collins Faulk, Loris Elementary
• Special Recognitions/Grants/Awards:
  Melanie Gentzler, Forestbrook Middle School, is a certified Commonsense Media Educator with Graphite.

Region 9A Berkeley, Dorchester

Berkeley

• Hanahan High School recently hosted an author visit by Pearl Cleage, a New York Times best-selling author and playwright.  Ms. Cleage is also known for her Oprah Book Club selection,What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day.Dr. Charlene Zehner is the School Librarian at Hanahan High School.

Dorchester 2

• New Hires:
  Pam Nichols, Joe Pye Elementary
  Jennifer Traeger, Ashley Ridge High
  Patricia Hoff, Fort Dorchester High

• Personnel Changes:
  Tabitha Hattabaugh, Gregg Middle
  Julie Mise, Summerville Elementary

Region 9B Charleston

Region 10  Beaufort, Hampton, Jasper

Jasper

• New Hires:
  Felicia Jordan, Hardeeville Elementary, Media Clerk

Region 11 Special/Independent

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Media Special;ists for Lancaster County School District Lancaster S.c.

Source: https://www.scasl.net/regional-news-archives