At Furman Middle School, the faculty and staff are committed to assisting students in developing the world class skills and life and career characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing challenging opportunities for all students to be successful in a safe and caring environment. Students, parents, faculty, staff and community members support each other in our endeavors to achieve this goal.
This year, one of our goals was to re-engage students after a year of virtual learning due to the COVID pandemic. To assist us in our efforts, we collaborated with the Southeast Regional Education Board (SREB) to work with our teachers to identify proven methods of engaging students and applying these methods in the classroom. Teachers participated in regular professional development throughout the year as they implemented new strategies. We made great strides in student engagement and will continue our partnership with SREB for the upcoming school year.
In addition to student engagement goals, we also continued to prepare for and implement opportunities for students to engage in STEAM activities. This year we were able to offer a robotics course and also provided classroom lessons in STEAM with our “Project Lead the Way” trained science teacher. These efforts resulted in Furman Middle School winning the First Annual Sumter/Shaw AFB STEAM Innovation Challenge. Our student team won all of the team awards and also won the overall award for the challenge. To build on our successes, we applied for and were awarded a grant from the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness. This grant provides funding and training for Furman Middle School to implement the SREB Pre-Advanced Career Middle School STEM Curriculum. This curriculum will be implemented during the upcoming school year.
At Furman Middle we completed the fourth year of our AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program. This program has been an effective in helping students who need that extra support to grow and achieve. The students enrolled in this program are provided with an additional class where they are taught organization skills, receive tutoring, and also benefit from instruction by AVID trained teachers. We are pleased with our success as we see these students continue to grow every year.
In addition to our academic programs, we also provide opportunities to reach all students through our Exploratory classes. We offer a variety of courses from drafting to chorus so students can find their niche’. Our music department is especially strong and our Show Choir is well known throughout the community. We also offer the only Agriculture program at the middle school level in Sumter School district and have one of the largest Future Farmers of America chapters in the state.
At Furman Middle we believe the continued collaboration between school, family, and community is imperative to the success of our students. Thank you for all of your support in helping in the development of our future South Carolina graduates and world leaders!
Michael Riggins, Principal
Jennifer Barrett, School Improvement Council, Chairperson
