Thomas C. Cario Middle School is helping our students develop world-class skills based on the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate. We create an environment where students foster a love of learning through our three goals, creating a positive middle school experience, investing in faculty and staff, and building strong relationships with the community. Students are challenged to think critically and creatively while demonstrating character traits that are positive and have a positive impact on our community.
Cario provides quality academics with opportunities for high school credit in Algebra I, Geometry, English 1, computer science, and Spanish to promote critical thinking and problem-solving. Our students have a diverse program of studies that includes courses in a pre-engineering Project Lead the Way curriculum, business, computer science, financial literacy, video production, marine science, health sciences, and arts. Cario students compete in numerous local, state, and national academic challenges and win top awards, such as CCSD Spellbound Spelling Bee, Quest, LEGO Robotics, SC State Scholastic Chess Championship, National Geographic Geography Bee, and Mock Trial. We are extremely proud of our comprehensive and nationally recognized Fine Arts programs, each of which wins local, state, and national recognition. Nationally-normed benchmark testing indicates that our students are improving yearly with critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Character building, leadership, self-advocacy, kindness, and community outreach are strongly emphasized at Cario, which foster creativity and an innovative mindset. We teach that kindness and self-advocacy is a choice and is founded upon service to self, others, and the community. We have powerful and active student leadership organizations through the National Junior Honor Society and student council, among others. Our students use their creativity and innovation skills to create philanthropic endeavors that leave large footprints on our community. We offer a variety of clubs that include competitive academics, art, drama, STEM, leadership, horticulture, Star Wars, and literacy, among many others. Our students are involved and highly successful in sports offered through the recreational department and various private organizations. We could not be as successful or offer the vast variety of opportunities to our students without our committed and supportive parent and community groups. We work to ensure each student will be a highly successful, competitive South Carolina graduate and local, national, and world leader.
Our school has focused this year on creating a positive middle school experience for students. We were able to increase our clubs, assemblies, motivational speakers, field trips, and student extracurriculars. This was imperative coming out of the pandemic, where these opportunities were lost. Our teachers and staff were consistently implementing the MTSS process to ensure that all students were safe, supported, and that their social-emotional needs were being met.
Bryan Coleman, Principal
Bob Lang, SIC President
