Our main focus for the 2020-2021 school year was to follow our mission statement in everything we provide for our students: The FMMS Mission Statement reads, “Our mission is to nurture and educate our students while providing a successful transition between their elementary and secondary years.” Our school and district continued to support all students in developing the world-class skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by offering a variety of opportunities and activities throughout the school year that was aimed at academic and personal development.

We provide a rigorous curriculum that is aligned to the state standards, has high expectations for all our students and provides many learning opportunities throughout the year. Our teachers post weekly lesson plans on our school website so that parents can see what their children will be learning throughout the week. We provide morning tutoring for math in the media center Tuesdays – Fridays and computer lab 201 is open every morning prior to school to afford students the opportunity to get help and complete assignments.  

We have a 25-minute block each morning that we call Academic Plus (A+) that provides students with academic assistance, designated reading time and club opportunities.  We also offer a period called Stop, Drop, and Read (#SDR), which takes place Monday through Thursday prior to Academic Plus.  We have club day on Friday.

We provided opportunities for all our students to explore career options and interests in an effort to assist students and families with some career goals in selecting courses at the high school. In 6th grade, our students receive career lessons from our school counselors and take the South Carolina Occupational Information System (SCOIS) assessment; 7th graders take the SCOIS assessment and attend the Fort Mill School District Career Fair; 8th graders participate in Job Shadow Day and Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) meetings to select their high school classes.

At FMMS, we have several activities for students to participate in based on their interests and skills.

MATHCOUNTS:  This is a national math program that provides students an opportunity to solve higher-level math problems in both individual and group settings starting in September.  In December, we have a school-wide math competition to select the eight students who will represent our school.  The selected team competed in February in the Chapter Competition in Rock Hill against other middle schools from Rock Hill, Clover, York, and Lancaster.  This year, we placed 2nd in the chapter championship and placed third in the state competition!

Athletics: We offer a variety of interscholastic sports for our 7th and 8th-grade students at FMMS. Girls Volleyball, Football, Dance, Cheer, Girls and Boys Basketball, Wrestling, Boys and Girls Track, Boys and Girls Soccer, and Baseball.

We had several assemblies this year for our students to allow them to hear from special guests who provided powerful messages for our students on how to be successful as students, and more importantly, as people. 

• We concluded our Black History Month celebration with a school-wide assembly. We had many of our students participate in readings and our chorus performed. Mr. Eddie Young, Fort Mill resident and Career Development Facilitator at Fort Mill High, delivered inspiring presentations on having plans in place to follow your dreams and aspirations. We also had a Mobil Museum of African American artifacts on display with several station rotations through related arts classes.

• York County Environmental Education provides a free assembly to our 6th-grade students each year. The program is designed to promote recycling and taking care of our environment. Each year our 6th graders and staff enjoy the show put on by character, “Les Litter.”

• This was the fourth year consecutively that our PTO has financially sponsored a guest author to come to our school and speak to our students. This year we invited Jennifer Nielsen, author of books, A Night Divided and Resistance.  Our school engaged in a one book, one school initiative for the second consecutive year. Our school wide book for this initiative was Refugee, written by Alan Gratz.  Refugee, A Night Divided, and Resistance are all very dark books with people going through very tough and trying times.  In contrast to these stories, we wanted our students to be positive people in our community who help make a difference. Our school wide theme was “Bee the Light” and our students portrayed the ways to have a positive impact on their community.  Mrs. Nielson provided a powerful message of what the power of caring for another human being can do in this world.

Throughout the year, we try and provide our students with opportunities to learn academics and life skills from other sources beyond our teachers. With that said, we went on a variety of field trips off campus, had many lessons brought to our school, and several guest speakers.

We provide several service learning opportunities each year for our students to embrace. We have these each year in an attempt to allow our students the opportunity and appreciation of a caring and giving spirit. These activities are strictly on a voluntary basis.

As a school, we make every attempt to provide our students with as many activities and opportunities to engage them as a student and person. Although our mission is to nurture and educate our students while providing a successful transition between their elementary and secondary years, our goal also includes assisting our students in finding where they may fit in society. By providing them with countless opportunities, we believe that we have provided our students with the information, tools, and skills necessary to be successful in high school and beyond.

Maurice Murphy, Principal

Maureen Metzger, SIC Chair