Dear Silver Foxes,
“Success,Nothing Less!” is more than our school’s motto, it is the essence of who we are as a school. We strive to exemplify what it means to be a Silver Fox daily. Because we are a nurturing school that is responsive to our evolving community, Ten Oaks Middle School ensures that all learners are prepared for and committed to lifelong learning with integrity by challenging them with innovative curricula, teaching them with high expectations, and cultivating our students’ individual talents to assist them in becoming successful adults. Since opening in 2017, we have continued to lay roots in our community and district as a school of excellence. Success is multifaceted. We do not solely credit it to academic achievement and student progress, we also attribute it to the care we show for our community, our dedicated staff who provide unique opportunities for our students, and our supportive parents and community members who partner with us to benefit our students. We are committed to fulfilling the school’s vision of being the premier middle school in Horry County.
Success is Caring for Others
As our school continues to grow into one of the largest middle schools in our district, our Silver Foxes strive to support each other and our community. Over the past two years, students have raised a little over $10,000 for the American Heart Association through our annual PE Department’s spring kickball tournament. The Student Council Association hosted fundraisers and drives for the Palmetto Literacy Council, Salvation Army, All About Animals Pet Rescue, Wreaths Across America, and Toy for Tots this year in addition to hosting school wide events. Additionally, our PTO raised over $18,000 with our first ever Boosterthon which helped to improve our GaGa Pits on the playground. Our Kindness Club has been instrumental in spreading joy throughout our building by creating banners, sponsoring a gratitude challenge, making posters, posting sticky notes, writing letters of appreciation, visiting assisted living centers, and assisting in recognizing different staff members.. We love how our students, staff, and community model kindness and compassion at this critical age in student development.
Success is a Dedicated Staff
Our staff works extremely hard to offer our students innovative, world-class curricula that fosters academic success in a safe and positive environment. This year, we continued to exemplify this. Not only do teachers continue to prepare engaging lessons on a variety of platforms, but we also encourage our students to take ownership of their learning. Our goal is to co-create learning environments that promote active student engagement and encourage curiosity. This helps us strive toward meeting our stretch goal of 100% of our students meeting their projected growth targets while also discovering new skills and interests.
This year, Dr. Elvage Murphy was selected to participate in the Computer Science Teachers Association Equity Fellowship and was invited to the White House to discuss his research on artificial intelligence and its impacts on education. Over the past few years, Mr. Cameron Lentz, Mrs. Jessica McKever, and Mrs. Sarah Bell has all been nominated and/or selected to receive the Ingle Teacher of the Year Award for their dedication in assisting students with historical research through the National History Day program.
In addition, our staff named one of our custodians, Ms. Brenda Brown as our Support Staff of the Year for our school. Miss Rachel Rollins was also named this years’ Ten Oaks Middle School Rookie Teacher of the Year. Finally, our teachers and staff also honored Mr. Mike Tomasko by naming him our school’s Teacher of the Year. Our Silver Foxes benefit from the dedication and success of our Ten Oaks Middle School faculty and staff.
Success is Student Achievement
Our Silver Foxes have worked hard this year, and the data supports it. Our school continues to consistently perform at an extremely high achievement level above the state and district SC READY and EOC averages. We were recognized by the State Board of Education as Palmetto Gold Award recipients based on our academic achievement and student progress. We increased our overall school report card score by just over two points from last year; and, our student progress indicator increased on the overall rating scale. Through the use of common assessments, digital content, diagnostic testing, iReady testing, and state testing, we continue to focus on all students at Ten Oaks Middle School meeting their target growth goals as projected by our iReady and SCReady yearly testing cycles in mathematics, reading, and writing. Moreover, by June 2024, we improved the percentage of students scoring Met or Exemplary on SC Ready assessments. We also had 34 eighth graders identified as South Carolina Junior Scholars.
Our Silver Foxes not only excelled academically but also personally through extracurricular activities, clubs, and organizations. Fine Arts students performed beautifully this year and competed at county, region, and state assessments. Our band and orchestra programs were recognized with the Outstanding Performance Award for the 2023-2024 school year by the SCMEA for the first time. Our football team placed third overall in the HTC HCS Middle School Bowl Championship Series, and our boys basketball team made it to the quarterfinals of the HCS Middle School basketball tournament. Cheerleaders did an outstanding job spreading school spirit, and several of our Silver Foxes competed in a variety of B-Team Sports at Carolina Forest High School. Our Science Club continues to thrive with monthly meetings, creative project opportunities, and multiple field trips which included being able to swim with manatees in Florida. The Silver Linings yearbook received an award this year and students participating in our production class did a great job sharing weekly announcements via TOMS Talk News. Students who participated in the HCS Tech Fair placed in their competing category. We were the only middle school to have an Esports Team Exhibition this year, and our Rubik's Cube Team finished in second place overall. We were one of only two middle schools in the district to compete in the Mock Trial Competition where our team finished in fourth place at the state level. Our MathCounts Team was also recognized at the state level competition, and National History Day students continue to excel at all levels. This year we had ten students advance to the national level competition and two students received special awards.
Success-Nothing Less!
While each school year is different and comes with its own unique set of successes and challenges, the school community at Ten Oaks Middle School continues to grow and thrive. We strive to uphold our commitment to providing our students with the skills and knowledge necessary so that they are college and career ready whenever they leave high school. Our Silver Foxes would not have been as successful this school year without the continued support of our community, including our PTO Board, SIC, and Carolina Forest Advisory Council Members, who have been valuable assets throughout the year. Their involvement is essential to the success of our students, staff, and community.
At Ten Oaks Middle School we strive to:
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Bring them in: All of our Silver Foxes will know that they are cared for.
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Build them up: All of our Silver Foxes will learn the academic and 21st century skills necessary in order to thrive in an ever-changing work.
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Send them out: All of our Silver Foxes will leave Ten Oaks Middle School having learned necessary skills to be successful in high school and beyond.
As we move forward, we will continue to model and expect success and nothing less from all members of our Silver Fox family.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Lindsay Sauls Lennon, Principal
Mrs. Jamia Ponder, SIC Chairperson
