H.E. McCracken Middle School is helping all students develop the world-class skills, knowledge, and life and career characteristics of the S.C. Profile of the Graduate through targeted curriculum initiatives and experiences that develop critical thinking skills, scholarship, and exploration.

The Administration, Teachers, and Staff strive to prepare all students for the next level in their lives. They promote independence, responsibility, effort, and self-respect. The curriculum offerings promote STEAM options so students can receive a well-rounded educational experience. They incorporate foreign languages, integration of the arts, and electives centered around career exploration in science, technology, engineering, and math.

H.E. McCracken Middle School is an Arts in Basic Curriculum School. We are recertified as an ABC School. H.E. McCracken integrates the arts into all core classes. This allows for continuity of learning, deeper learning, and various avenues of expression and belonging for our students. Professional staff members and leaders participate in ongoing professional development for arts integration.  

H.E. McCracken focuses on arts integration for students interested in visual arts, dance, chorus, band, various methods of creative expression, guitar, and piano. Working to create opportunities where the arts can be seen across the curriculum and connecting the core areas is a goal that we continue to set and expand each year.

We work diligently with our community to recognize the efforts of our students in an ongoing way. Our Multi-Lingual Learner Program (MLP) has the participation and monitoring of students in all academic settings, which include general education, gifted education, and special education. The MLP student body members come from families whose backgrounds are from many places, spanning continents, with many languages and backgrounds.

We collaborate with community nonprofit organizations to provide for medical and academic needs. Additionally, we work closely with the Bluffton Library to encourage our students to continue literacy development in their community after hours.

The Jr. Beta Club at H.E. McCracken Middle School earned various awards and provided thousands of hours of service. The club members attended the Leadership Summit, the South Carolina State Beta Convention, and the National Beta Convention throughout the school year. In addition to the conventions and competitions, the club members participated in several service projects. The members made cards of thanks to military personnel that are stationed overseas. The club members made cards for teachers to show appreciation. The Jr. Beta Club members completed over 7000 service hours during the 2022-2023 school year.  

For the 2023-2024 school year, H.E. McCracken will embrace a transformational process known as the Leader in Me. It teaches students 21st-century leadership and life skills and creates a culture of student empowerment based on the idea that every child can be a leader. The Leader in Me paradigm sees that every child is capable, and everyone is a leader. This viewpoint changes everything. We will focus on students learning 21st-century skills through practicing these 8 Habits.

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Habit 8: Find Your Voice

Laura Jacobi, HEMMS School Improvement Council

Ryan Milling, HEMMS Principal