Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a safe, creatively stimulating, academically challenging learning environment where all students connect their role in our community with their place in the global society by emphasizing character, education and good citizenship. As a community school with a 100-year rich history, our students and teachers are challenged to live, lead, and leave a legacy.
Life and Character Skills:
Leavelle McCampbell Middle School proudly serves a diverse population of 620 students. This year, we implemented various initiatives to produce higher levels of academic achievement, fewer discipline problems, and increased engagement in students, teachers, parents, and the community. One initiative was to focus on leadership skills and provide social-emotional learning through our advisory time. We are a proud Leader in Me school focusing on the 7 habits of highly effective people. Our students are developing skills that include responsibility, leadership, adaptability, communication, creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. Our mission is to increase academic growth in all students while developing leadership skills that can be used beyond the classroom. All face-to-face students participated in leadership clubs pairing with twenty-two community partners culminating in a team service project. Almost 100% of our students participate in extracurricular leadership opportunities through either leadership clubs, Beta Club, Student Council, Builders Club, Chorus, Band, Future Cities, Math Counts, Academic Team, science fair, Future Cities, Rock Press, Mock Trial, Watts Up Club, Student Ambassadors, or athletics. Our clubs and organizations emphasize service, both to our school and community. Some of this year’s projects included making blankets for premature babies, creating positive notes for teachers and students, a food drive for ACTS, organizing our in-house care closet, making toiletry bags for the homeless, beautifying the school, and much more. We strive to develop a strong work ethic in our students and soft, interpersonal skills that will help them succeed in life.
We will continue to empower students as a personalized learning and Leader in Me school in 2021-2022. We implemented positive behavior supports to target specific behaviors with great success. We were able to continue to decrease student discipline. Some of the rewards for students included Kona Ice, laser tag, bounce houses, food trucks, choice days, and concessions just to name a few.
World-class Knowledge and Skills:
To develop our students' world-class knowledge, the teachers at Leavelle McCampbell collaborate weekly to develop rigorous lessons to promote student growth and improvement, chart student data progress, and discuss methodologies. In addition to the academics in class, our students are allowed to perform a variety of activities outside of the classroom. They explored careers in STEM fields with guest speakers during classroom lessons.
Students continue to develop skills, using computers in classes to conduct research, construct presentations, and extend learning. Additionally, students participate in our Spanish curriculum which expands our students’ cultural understanding. Our students are challenged and motivated to be active learners, problem solvers, creative thinkers, and well-informed decision makers. All LMMS students have opportunities to participate in advanced and accelerated courses while our seventh and eighth grade students are offered opportunities to earn high school credit in Honors Algebra 1, Honors Geometry, Honors English 1, Fundamentals of Computing, and World Language. We also offer opportunities for students to earn high school credit in virtual classrooms with a variety of elective offerings.
Leavelle McCampbell is fortunate to have a supportive community that is vested in our school. We are appreciative of our dedicated parent groups and incredibly supportive community. Our partnerships include our local faith-based organizations, Gifting Tree, Bridgestone, Kiwanis Club of Aiken, Leavelle McCampbell Schoool Alumni Association, Sage Valley, Quality Print, and local media outlets. Our PTO offered several events for both families and the community including Trunk-or-Treat, Mistletoe Market, Spring Vendor Fair, Pageant, concessions at sporting events, and Chick-fil-A breakfast sales. LMMS also hosted stakeholder events such as Fruits for Families and Pastors and Pastries to promote relationships and inclusiveness. Our school has maintained an active partnership with the University of South Carolina at Aiken, connecting with college education majors who serve as mentors, practicum students, and interns. We also offer a free after-school LEADS (Learn, Empower, Achieve, Develop, Serve) program to further enrich our students. Certified teachers provide additional support in both ELA and math. USCA students are after-school mentors. Parent and community involvement is vital to our school’s success.
Leavelle McCampbell Middle School has proudly shown growth in both reading and math. LMMS is committed to working diligently to helping all students develop critical thinking and collaborative skills that will help them as they progress into adults in the South Carolina workforce.
Elizabeth McClearen, SIC Chair
Dr. Tiffany Hall, Principal
