What's Happening on the Hill?

It is the goal of D.R. Hill Middle School to keep parents, guardians, and students up to date on everything happening at The Hill. If you need to update your address, email, or telephone information please contact the school. Information can be found in several areas:

Facebook

D.R. Hill Website

Monthly Parent Newsletter

Thrillshare Automated Messages

If you have a student on the bus, you can download a new app called Ride360. It allows you to see where your student's bus is in real time.

Students are permitted to use their cell phones and ear buds during non-instructional time. This includes before school (unless otherwise determined), during lunch/recess, and after school. Students should have their cell phones turned off and put away during all classes and transitions.

All students are required to wear their ID's at all times. The initial ID is $5, all subsequent ID's are $15. Students without their ID will serve lunch detention that day.

Please take a moment to complete our school counseling survey. The answers you provide will help our department offer programs to better meet the needs of your student(s) and family.

https://forms.gle/Ex15cq5u171yrsJ3A

Please join me in welcoming Alison Wofford our district’s School Social Worker. Alison is available to

assists both students and families with a variety of needs including but not limited to community

assistance referrals for food, and housing to name a couple, clothing needs and school supplies, as well as help with navigating government benefits. For this and any other questions/concerns you have please contact Alison at: 864-949-2027 or by email: alison.wofford@spart5net.

Release Time through Friendship Baptist church has begun! In total we have 86 students in both 7 th and 8th grade participating this semester. Release Time meets every Tuesday during the student’s assigned elective period. Students will have another opportunity to sign up for our second semester upon return from holiday break.

Congratulations to our Students of the Month chosen for September. These young ladies and

gentleman were selected by their team of teachers for showing what it means to have Respect, Effort, Attitude, Cooperation and Honesty when working with their peers and daily adult interactions.

These 9 students will be celebrated along with their families at our month breakfast whereby they will be recognized for their outstanding character!

7th grade:

Sophia Harris

Ameila Kotelevskaya

Daniel Gossen

Sy’Miah Sims

Liam Johnson

8th Grade

Nyah Henderson

Joshua Dixon

Barron Brown

Kyle Vandegrift

The PSAT 8/9 is going Digital this year! Qualified eighth graders (those taking a Carnegie unit class) will take this exam here at D.R. Hill electronically on Wednesday, October 25 th .

Information pertaining to the exam and questions relating to the test itself will be introduced to your

child later this month.

The PSAT lets your child:

 Provides clear information and recommended steps to help students build and expand

academic strengths, skills, and knowledge important for college and career readiness.

 Encourages familiarity with the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT

 Provides free, personalized practice resources

 Shows which AP Program courses students are ready for.

Any questions regarding your child taking this exam please reach out to Danielle Akey in Guidance at

danielle.akey@spart5.net

By now your student may be enrolled in the AVID elective, or perhaps they are bringing home their binders. You may have heard the buzz word "AVID" and wonder, "what does that even mean?"

AVID is a system that is implemented in every school across our district that helps support students during their educational journey. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination and provides students with instruction and skills to become college and career ready in a global society.

So far this year we have contacted over 1200 colleges and universities who provided various spirit items to our school. We have used them in every classroom to promote different college paths to our students. We want them to hear the many possibilities for their futures, as well as help them create the path to get there. Additionally, we provided every student with binders to help them learn organizational skills in their various subjects.

This is just the beginning on our AVID journey!

Want to see all the amazing things your student is doing in the library? Follow their journey through inquiry, collaboration, curation, exploration and engagement on the D. R. Hill Library Instagram account @drhlibrary.

Things to look forward to in the library:

The Bedford Falls Book Fair will be October 16-20.

Book Clubs, Monthly Maker Programs (friendship bracelets, poetic pottery, etc.), Lunch & Learns.

Could your student benefit from academic support? Visit www.scdiscus.org/discus-resources & click on Tutor.com for free, live tutoring!

The D.R. Hill Fine Arts Department consists of performing arts (band, theatre, chorus, and orchestra) as well as art creation and design in different mediums.

Upcoming Events:

Honors Chorus will be participating in the SC Upper State Choral Clinic on Friday, October 27th. Concert is open to the community. It's at 6:00pm at Covenant United Methodist Church in Greer.

Middle School Art Show at the Fine Arts Center:

Month of October in Fine Arts Center Lobby

Participating students:

Emily Boatman 8th grade

Sonja Harley 8th grade

Alyssa Mobley 7th grade

Olivia Delaney 7th grade

Clara Hoskins 7th grade

Finnley Trudeau 7th grade

Mckenzie Soper 8th grade

Ashlyn Chase 8th grade (in pic)

Edwin (Samuel) Hernandez-Mendez 8th grade (in pic)

Congratulations to Dr. Schoch for being named the 2023-2024 Distinguished Literacy Teacher of the Year! Dr. Schoch is an amazing educator and we are blessed to have her as a part of the D.R. Hill family.

The D.R. Hill 2023-2024 Student Council has arrived!

Our members have applied, interviewed, and submitted personal essays to join this amazing program!

Our 53 members have been divided into 3 caucuses: Academic, School Spirit, and Community Link. They are coordinating and self-managing programs to highlight our campus AVID initiatives, encourage peers through hallway awards, they are developing outreach programs for local church organizations and senior communities, and our link crew welcomes new students with bright smiles and peer buddies to ensure all students feel welcome on campus!

ACADEMIC CAUCUS:

Students have been working with Administration and Lead Teachers to develop a Hallway Student of the Month Program along with a Leadership raffle box. They are still ironing out the details, but they have been emailing and checking in with their hallway staff to get on board. It is a small caucus, but they pack a punch.

SCHOOL SPIRIT CAUCUS:

This large group has been broken up into a Podcast Crew, Social Media group, and Pep Rally committees. Our podcast crew will be covering events, interviewing staff, highlighting Clubs on campus, players of the week, and giving updates on our campus culture. The podcast will be posted through Spotify as we outline the details. The social media group is outlining how to highlight classroom instruction, short videos on music students listen to and other exciting information! Finally, we are working on Pregame Pep Rallies for our BIG GAMES and upcoming events and the ideas are flowing!

COMMUNITY OUTREACH & LINK CREW CAUCUS:

This team is ironing out the details of upcoming fundraisers and donation bins to help families on campus and outside the walls of DRH. We will soon be launching initiatives for a clothing drive to raise awareness and setting up dates to help at Senior Communities.

Link Crew will be reaching out to guidance to peer-buddy new students and faculty. Also, working with Lyman to set up reading group initiatives.

These ideas come from our students and are the result of an amazing faculty that have empowered, inspired, and unearthed the brilliance of our Tigers. May every initiative and endeavor bring pride to your hard work as a parent, guardian, or educator for inspiring them and teaching them the potential that lies within. Our job as Student Council advisors is to do our best to manage it all, what a FUN TASK!

This month is our Presidential Election (October 31st)! We are hosting the first-ever Tiger Time Town Hall, where our faculty will moderate student-to-candidate questions prior to the General Election!

D.R. Hill faculty are very proud of their student council and look forward to the amazing ideas they continue to innovate and implement this year!

Last week we had 20 students show up to add some chrysanthemums (mums) to both gardens. Did you know that mums are edible? Chrysanthemum Tea is especially popular in China. For more fun facts check out this Better Homes & Gardens article.

We also added netting to vegetable beds. I know netting is not as pretty as our beautiful plants but it is necessary for natural pest control. If you want your classes to see the plants (the transplanted collards are huge) then just simply unclip the netting, just be sure to clip it back.

This year DRH is excited to bring back our chapter of the National Beta Club! Students were eligible for membership based on their performance from the previous school year. Students who earned all As and no more than two Bs and had no referrals from last year were recently invited to join DRH Beta Club. This year our goals are to encourage academic excellence among our students, and serve our community as young leaders! Be on the lookout for DRH Beta Club members in action, excelling in and out of the classroom!

Beta Club is on the move! Please turn in all dues by October 11 in order to participate. The Beta Club will participate in several events and service learning projects this year...details to come. We are looking forward to a great year!

Hi there!

I’m Jasmine Evans and I have always had a passion for languages and other cultures different from my own! The world is so diverse and we all have so much to share with those around us; I am so excited to share this learning opportunity with my students!

We are still in the beginning stages, but the DRH culture club is designed to learn, share, and celebrate all cultures…especially those at our school. Our students are learning how to say Hello and greet others in different languages and cultures! We meet on Wednesday mornings before school! We are so excited about this opportunity to learn and grow with each other

Mrs. Jasmine Evans
8th Grade Math
DR. Hill Middle School
“The measure of love is to love without measure”

October

10/4 - Half Day for Students. Dismissal is at 12:30.

10/19 - Report Cards Go Out

10/20 - AVID Day - Students and Staff should rep their college/career colors or logos

10/27 - Pelican's Day

Website: https://www.spart5.net/o/drh
Location: 1303 Holly Springs Road, Lyman, SC, USA
Phone: (864) 949-2370
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DRHillMiddleSchool/