Seneca Middle School students, staff, and community are producing "Seneca Success" and are helping all students develop world class skills. Our staff commits to providing a safe and academically rigorous learning environment to fulfill our vision. Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by facilitating the growth of our students in academics, the arts, and athletics. Our vision is that Seneca Middle School will be a learning community that inspires and supports academic excellence and social responsibility.
World class skills begins with world class teachers. Our teachers proven results are directly related to the high expectations they set for our students academically. Our teachers work is producing students who communicate effectively, solve problems competently, think creatively, act responsibly, and recognize and respect individual differences.
The mission of Seneca Middle School is to provide a meaningful and community-centered educational experience that transforms our students into responsible citizens and lifelong learners. This year, one of our curricular goals focused on increasing student outcomes in literacy and Math. Our school was named the South Carolina Outstanding School Library Program of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. We were awarded a $5000 Envision Equity Grant which was used to purchase books in students’ first languages and to let every student receive a free book. Our school sponsored a school-wide visit by Lois Ruby, author of a wide variety of middle grades literature. We encourage our students to pursue a goal of reading 25 books annually in our Strive for 25 Library Program and 548 students participated in this reading program. Math and English were enhanced with teacher training in the South Carolina Department of Education’s new growth model for the state middle schools, utilizing Mastery Connect software for benchmark assessments that identify individual student skill performances on state standards and interventions when students need additional support. In addition, teachers collaborated on identifying essential learning standards and collaborated in planning to develop Seneca Middle School into a professional learning community. Science students learned in our community with experiences in raising trout in the classroom and releasing them in the waters at Table Rock State Park while Social Studies received history lessons from our traditional Veterans Day Program and over 75 military attendees that celebrated our citizenship.
Our school and community are dedicated to developing our student’s world class skills. Our school offers a 1:1 device program for all students to incorporate digital learning. Additional partnerships with the Hamilton Career and Technology Center and Tri-County Technical College’s career showcase, virtual job shadowing and tours all expose our students to real world applications of their learning.
“Seneca Success” was seen in all areas of our middle school offerings. Programs offered to help our students become college and career ready included courses for high school credit such as English I Honors, Algebra I Honors, Discovering Computer Science Part I and Part II where 337 students earned Carnegie Units for high school. Our students excelled in the Arts where students performed at a number of community events. We had students participate in All-County Chorus, All-County Orchestra, and All-County Band. Eleven students earned placements in the All-State Chorus. One student was selected for the Southern Region SATB Youth Honor Choir that has members selected from 11 states. Our Chorus teacher earned state recognition with the he SCADCA Directors Award while her students earned a Superior Award with Distinction at their Concert Performance Assessment. Our Band and Orchestra programs received Excellent Ratings at their Concert Performance Assessments with our emphasis on the Arts to engage students. Our Visual Arts Program partnered with several community Art initiatives and the Visual Art students created projects in collaboration with Blue Ridge Elementary School. Athletically, we continue to encourage our students to participate in sports as a means to help students develop collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills. Our students had successful seasons in middle school volleyball, cheerleading, football, and basketball with our boys’ basketball team earning the Walhalla Tournament Championship. A number of students also participated in high school sports.
Seneca Middle School is the “Home of the Bobcats” and amazing students, faculty, and family support. Our Seneca families supported our school tremendously throughout the year by their work in our School Improvement Council, mentoring and parent organization initiatives for student and teacher support. We are extremely grateful to our students, families, SIC and volunteers for joining us in the development of our future graduates and leaders!
Mrs. Lindsey Simmons, SIC Chairperson
Dr. Mike Cory, Principal
