Points of Pride
Quarter 3
- Three Richland One students won first place in the South Carolina 2024 Youth Conservation Poster Contest, sponsored by the South Carolina Association of Conservation Districts. The contest is an annual education program that invites students to explain the importance of environmental and conservation efforts through artwork. Arden Elementary School fourth-grade student Aneysha Laureano won first place in the second-third grade division. Hand Middle School seventh-grade student Mills Coco won first place in the fourth-six grade division. A.C. Flora High School freshman Silas Baldwin won first place in the seventh-ninth grade division. The students also received first place in their respective divisions of the county poster contest, sponsored by the Richland Soil and Water Conservation District.
- Five Richland One student-athletes have been nominated for the 2025 Richland County High School Girls Basketball Player of the Year award. Click here for the names of Richland One’s Player of the Year nominees and the schools they attend.
- Another Richland One teacher has earned the gold standard of the teaching profession – National Board Certification. Andrea E. Puckett of Brockman Elementary School joins 168 others in the district as National Board-Certified Teachers (NBCT). In addition to the newest NBCT, 18 Richland One teachers earned the National Board’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC), which is a five-year extension from their current certificate’s expiration date. Click here for the list of teachers who earned their MOC.
- Brennen Elementary School fifth-grade student Kennedy McCall was named the winner of Richland One’s fourth annual elementary school spelling bee.
- Dale Jacobs, Hopkins Middle School’s International Baccalaureate program coordinator and AVID coordinator, has been named a Professional Development Schools (PDS) Fellow for the 2024-2025 school year by the University of South Carolina’s College of Education.
- Lower Richland High School’s Army JROTC drill team placed first overall in Richland One’s annual drill competition.
- Twelve Richland One students received Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Keeper Scholarship Awards. The awards recognize students who show “exemplary displays of committed service to the tenets of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” The scholarship awards program was only open to Richland One students. Click here for the names of the students who received Dream Keeper scholarship awards.
- Three Richland One schools were recognized for collecting the most canned goods as part of the City of Columbia’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Honor the Dream Food Drive. The event honors Dr. King’s legacy of community service. Burton-Pack Elementary School received first place in the elementary school division. Southeast Middle School received first place in the middle school division. Richland One Middle College received first place in the high school division.
- Three Richland One high school students advanced to the national Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition, after receiving top awards in the eastern region-at-large competition. A.C. Flora High School junior Ani Karapetyan received two gold key awards in the drawing and illustration category. A.C. Flora junior Sophia Cherednichenko Garcia received a gold key in the digital art category. Dreher High School sophomore Aria Le received a gold key in the ceramics and glass category. Nine other Richland One students were also recognized in the eastern region-at-large competition. Click here for the names of all of the students who received awards.
- Dreher High School freshman Aiden Wang was elected as the South Carolina Future Business Leaders of America’s (FBLA) vice president for community service for the 2025-2026 school year.
- Two Richland One Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapters qualified for the organization’s National Leadership Conference. The FBLA chapters at Dreher High School and Richland One Middle College finished in the top four of their respective categories during the 2025 South Carolina Leadership Conference. In addition, 19 individual students from Dreher and W.J. Keenan high schools, as well as Richland One Middle College, qualified for the National Leadership Conference and placed in the top four of their respective categories. Click here for the names of the individual students who qualified.
- Dreher High School computer science and math teacher Alison Schriro has been named a 2025 National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Aspirations in Computing educator award winner for South Carolina.
- Dr. Kamon Singleton, an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher at Heyward Gibbes Middle School, has been named a 2025 Regional Teacher to Watch for the Upper Midlands region by the South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education (SCAMLE).
- For the second year in a row, Lower Richland High School’s Army JROTC drill team won first place overall in the Fourth Brigade Regional Armed Drill Competition. The drill team has also qualified for the National High School Drill Team Championship for the fourth consecutive year.
- Prisma Health has expanded its MedEx Academy program to C.A. Johnson High School, which becomes the first school in the Midlands to offer the program.
- Nine Richland One students have been selected for the 2025 South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA)’s All-State Orchestra. Three of those students earned first chair positions in the All-State Orchestra, making them the best in the state. Click here for the list of students who were selected for the All-State Orchestra.
- Seven Richland One students were selected for the 2025 South Carolina Band Directors Association’s All-State Concert Band and All-State Jazz Band. In addition, 39 students were selected for the association’s Region III Honor Bands. Click here for the names of the students selected for the All-State Concert and Jazz bands, as well as the Region III Honor Bands.
Quarter 2
- A.C. Flora High School’s girls varsity tennis team was named Class AAAA Region 3 champions and the runner-up in the Class AAAA state championship.
- A.C. Flora High School’s girls swim team placed third in the Class AAAA state championship.
- Four Richland One high school marching bands were recognized in two separate regional competitions. W.J. Keenan High School and Lower Richland High School’s marching bands competed in the Dillon Battle of the Bands at Dillon High School October 5. W.J. Keenan’s marching band was named the Grand Champion for Class 1A and 2A and Best Musical Performance for Class 2A. W.J. Keenan’s marching band also placed first overall for Class 2A and received an “Excellent” rating for Class 2A. Lower Richland’s marching band earned the Best Drum Major award for Class 2A. A.C. Flora High School’s marching band and Dreher High School’s marching band competed in the River Bluff Swamp Classic at River Bluff High School in Lexington October 5. A.C. Flora’s marching band received the Best Color Guard and Best Percussion awards for Class 3A, and placed second overall for Class 3A. Dreher’s marching band placed second overall for Class 2A.
- Thirty-two Richland One orchestra students earned spots in the South Carolina Music Educators Association’s (SCMEA) Midlands Region Orchestra. Click here for the names of the students and their respective schools.
- Dreher High School’s Blue Devil Marching Band placed second in the South Carolina Band Directors Association (SCBDA)’s Marching Band State Championship for Class 3A.
- Sixteen Columbia High School students from the school’s BLAST (Building Lasting Aerospace and STEM Trajectories) national defense magnet program have earned certifications in recreational drone usage from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This is the first time since the program launched last school year that students have earned FAA certifications. The 16 students earned the certification by taking The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST). The TRUST certification will help students begin a path toward earning their FAA Part 107 certification, which allows for commercial drone usage. Click here for the names of FAA certification recipients.
- Twenty Dreher High School guitar students and Class of 2024 graduates participated in a national recording project with the Virtual Guitar Orchestra and Augustine Strings. The project, a performance of “The Sun” by Ronald Pearl, was released on YouTube November 6. The students were asked to participate in the project last year and spent most of the second semester practicing their parts. To participate, each student had to record themselves playing their part and send it to the Virtual Guitar Orchestra. Dreher students participated in the performance alongside students from New York, Connecticut and Hawaii. Click here for the names of the students and graduates who were involved in the project and to watch the performance.
- Al Minnigan, network security administrator in Richland One’s Information Technology (IT) department, has been awarded certification as a Certified Cybersecurity Rubric Evaluator (CCRE) by the Cybersecurity Coalition. The coalition created the Cybersecurity Framework for Education, a unique framework informed by The National Institute of Standards and Technology and other relevant cybersecurity and privacy standards, taking into account the specific needs of education. Using the framework, the coalition then developed the Cybersecurity Rubric for Education, which is a groundbreaking approach to self-assessing and improving cybersecurity in schools.
- Crayton Middle School’s football team was named Division 1 district champions.
- Heyward Gibbes Middle School’s football team was named Division 2 district champions.
- Heyward Gibbes, W.A. Perry and Hand middle schools’ mock trial clubs advanced to the South Carolina Bar Association’s Middle School Mock Trial State Competition. Hand also placed second in the Columbia Regional Competition.
- Five Richland One schools were awarded 2024-2025 Distinguished Arts Program (DAP) grants from the South Carolina Department of Education. The grant, which is part of the Department of Education’s Arts Curricular Innovation Grants (ACIG) program, provides funds for one-year projects. Grants are awarded based on the successful scoring of a school’s application. Click here for the schools that were awarded grants.
- Lower Richland High School’s Army JROTC drill team won first place overall in the unarmed division of the Northwest State Qualifier.
- A.C. Flora High School's competitive cheerleading team was named the runner-up in the Class AAAA state championship.
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Heyward Gibbes Middle School’s mock trial club received the 2024 Professionalism and Civility Award during the South Carolina Bar Association’s Middle School Mock Trial State Competition. The award highlights the importance of professionalism among teams competing in a mock trial competition. Each team nominates another team for the award. Teams nominated for the award must demonstrate several qualities inside and outside the courtroom including a professional demeanor, respect for the competition and fellow competitors, civility and honesty.
- Lower Richland High School’s army JROTC drill team placed first overall in the Midlands Drill Championship Competition.
- Lower Richland High School’s army JROTC drill team was named first place overall in the armed division of the Palmetto State Drill Championship for the third year in a row.
Quarter 1
- Terrian Gillette, the head track and field coach, assistant football coach and assistant boys basketball coach at St. Andrews Middle School, has been named Richland One’s 2023-2024 Middle School Coach of the Year.
- Jason Sandifer, the varsity wrestling coach at Dreher High School, has been named Richland One’s 2023-2024 High School Coach of the Year.
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Crayton Middle School has been named a 2024 School of Distinction by the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), becoming the first school in South Carolina to earn the distinction. The recognition honors schools that demonstrate outstanding commitment to middle grades education and continuous improvement. Crayton is one of 17 schools in the United States to be named a School of Distinction by AMLE.
- Richland One ranked sixth among all South Carolina school districts for the most students earning Seals of Biliteracy during the 2023-2024 school year. Eighty-seven students earned South Carolina Seals of Biliteracy, which is a new record for the district.
- Satchel Ford Elementary School fifth-grade student Bailey Bostic placed first in the state elementary division and fifth in the national elementary division of the InvestWrite Spring 2024 essay contest. The essay contest, organized by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Foundation, is open to schools that participate in the foundation’s Stock Market Game. In the essay, students answer a question about long-term saving and investing that is meant to address real-world financial issues and situations. Bailey’s prizes included a banner and a $100 American Express gift card.
- Dreher High School Class of 2024 graduate Naja Weinkle has been awarded the 2024 Dr. Percy A. Mack Leadership Scholarship. The $1,000 scholarship is awarded annually to a Richland One high school senior who demonstrates leadership skills and potential, as well as well-rounded involvement in co-curricular activities. The scholarship is named in honor of Dr. Percy A. Mack, who served as the district’s superintendent from 2008-2014. Dr. Mack is also a member of the Richland One Hall of Fame.
- Five Richland One teachers have been awarded $1,000 grants through the district’s 2024-2025 Educational Ingenuity Grants Program. All Richland One teachers are eligible to apply for grant awards of up to $1,000 each. The grants support teachers in implementing context-specific, inquiry-driven projects that enhance learning experiences and outcomes for students. Click here to see the names of the newest Educational Ingenuity Grant recipients.
- Fifty-two Richland One students had perfect scores in math, English language arts (ELA) or both subject areas in the Spring 2024 administration of SC READY (South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Assessments). Students in grades 3-8 statewide took the SC READY ELA and math assessments. Forty-seven students had perfect scores in math. Three students had perfect scores in ELA. Two students had perfect scores in both. Click here for the names of the students who received perfect scores.
- Three Richland One educators have been selected for the South Carolina ASCD’s (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) Emerging Leaders program. The non-profit organization’s mission is to improve teaching and learning for all students. Click here for the names of the Richland One educators who were named Emerging Leaders.
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Twenty-one Richland One theater students represented the district during the International Thespian Excellence Awards (Thespys) program. The Thespy Awards, organized by the Educational Theatre Association, “recognize student excellence in 21 categories of theatrical performance, technical theatre, writing and filmmaking.” Three Richland One students received Superior ratings in their respective categories. Fourteen students received Excellent ratings. Click here for the names of the students who participated.
- Dreher High School sophomore Elizabeth Wise has qualified to compete in the junior teen division of the National American Miss (NAM) competition. The beauty pageant “emphasizes the importance of developing real-world skills and shaping the future leaders of tomorrow.” Elizabeth was named a junior teen division state finalist during the South Carolina NAM pageant. She was also awarded the Spirit of Pageantry award, and she was named runner-up in the “Best Resume’” and “Heart of Service” competitions.
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Dreher High School’s Botany Club has been awarded a $4,320 microgrant from the City of Columbia through the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund. The club will use the microgrant money to increase biodiversity at the school by planting native plants on campus. The organization is also working with the City of Columbia to introduce more biodiversity at a city-run park as well as providing plant beds to grow food crops in a community garden. The Botany Club’s project was one of nine projects and initiatives in the city to be awarded a microgrant.
- Forest Heights Elementary School curriculum resource teacher Dr. Torri Smith was chosen to participate in the Strategies for Teacher Advancement and Renewal (STAR) Fall 2024 seminar, sponsored by the Foundation for Professional Development and the Palmetto State Teachers Association. She was one of 10 educators from across South Carolina who were selected for the seminar.
- Twenty-one Richland One high school students have been honored with the College Board’s National Recognition Program award, which recognizes high-performing students in underrepresented communities. Click here for the names of the award recipients.
- All 48 Richland One schools are among the 879 schools nationwide to be named as America’s Healthiest Schools for the 2023-2024 school year. Again this year, Richland One has more award winners than any other school district in South Carolina. The recognition, awarded by Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a leading children’s health organization, honors schools’ dedication to supporting the health and well-being of students, staff, and families.
- Forty Dreher High School seniors and Class of 2024 graduates have earned the AP Capstone Diploma. The AP Capstone Diploma program helps students develop critical thinking, research, collaboration and presentation skills that are essential to academic success. Click here for the names of the AP Capstone Diploma recipients.
- Six Richland One students have been named semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program, which recognizes academically talented high school seniors across the country. Over 16,000 semifinalists will compete for 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million. The scholarships will be offered in the spring. Click here for the names of Richland One’s National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
- Satchel Ford Elementary School has been named a National Banner Unified Champion School by the Special Olympics. This is the third consecutive year that a Richland One school has received this recognition. Satchel Ford is one of ten schools in South Carolina to receive the designation this year.
- Bryan Lynip, a multilingual learning specialist at Meadowfield Elementary School, has been named a 2024-2025 WIDA Fellow. The fellowship program recognizes educators in WIDA’s efforts to bring quality and equitable education to multilingual learners. Lynip is one of two educators from South Carolina selected for the program.
- Terrence Holley, a social studies teacher at St. Andrews Middle School, has been selected for the Palmetto State Teachers Association’s (PSTA) Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI). The institute engages teacher leaders in educational policy, advocacy, leadership, proven educational practices and pedagogies, and growth within the PSTA. Holley was one of six teachers from across South Carolina selected for the ELI.
- Four Richland One educators have been named Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Experts for the 2024-2025 school year. The MIE program recognizes visionaries in the field who are using technology to enhance the instruction of their colleagues for improved student outcomes. Crayton Middle School curriculum resource teacher Cathleen Lacey has been named an MIE Expert for the fifth consecutive year, as well as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Fellow for the third consecutive year. Crayton social studies teacher Meghan Rorar and Richland One high school ELA curriculum consultant Sean Samon are in their second year as MIE Experts. Crayton career and technical education (CTE) teacher Julia Folks is in her first year as an MIE Expert.
- Seven Richland One student-athletes have been nominated for the 2024 Richland County High School Football Player of the Year award. Click here for the names of Richland One’s Player of the Year nominees and the schools they attend.
- For the second year in a row, two Richland One high schools have been named to College Board’s AP School Honor Roll. The recognition program, which launched in 2023, celebrates schools whose AP programs are “delivering results for students while broadening access.” The AP School Honor Roll offers four levels of distinction: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Dreher High School earned the silver recognition. A.C. Flora High School earned the bronze recognition.
- Five Richland One administrators have been selected for the South Carolina Department of Education’s Institute for District Administrators (IDA). The program is “designed to support entry-level district leaders with the knowledge, skills, and characteristics needed to serve on and lead highly effective district teams.” Click here for the names of Richland One’s participants in the IDA’s Cohort 27.
- A.C. Flora High School’s boys and girls swim teams were named Class AAAA Region 3 champions.
- Thirty Richland One art students received honors and awards in the 2024 South Carolina State Fair’s Art Competition. Richland One students competed in the 2-D, 3-D and photography divisions. These students were among the approximately 240 K-12 students from across the state who were recognized. Liliana Taylor, an eighth-grade student at Hand Middle School, received “Best in Show” for the middle school 2-D division. Click here for the names of all of the award recipients in Richland One. In addition to the student winners, Dreher High School art teacher Mary Catherine Raines received the South Carolina State Fair’s Student Art Education Teacher Award for the high school division. The award is given to the art teacher who submits the most amount of student artwork in their respective division.
- Three Richland One bookkeepers were named recipients of the district’s Diane Harlin Award for Excellence in Bookkeeping for the 2023-2024 fiscal year: Margaret Black of Dreher High School, Donella Brown of Arden Elementary School and Gail Harms of Crayton Middle School.
- Richland One has received the highest honors in financial reporting and accounting from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Association of School Business Officials International for the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. This is the 36th consecutive year the district has received this highest form of recognition in the areas of governmental accounting and financial reporting. The district must have a clean audit report or unqualified opinion to qualify for these national awards.
- Hyatt Park Elementary School art teacher Ryan McClendon received the top prize in the professional division of the South Carolina State Fair’s fine arts competition. McClendon’s artwork was named “Best of Show” and received $5,000.
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Fourteen Richland One students were recognized in the South Carolina State Fair’s youth home and craft competitions. Richland One students competed in baking and creative arts competitions against children ages 5-11 and 12-18 across the state. Categories include decorated cakes and cookies, fabric and threads, handicrafts, Legos and pottery. Six students received multiple awards from different competitions. Click here for the names of the students who received first or second place in their respective competitions.