Merriwether Middle School is growing greatness through engaging, empowering, and enriching our students’ lives. We continuously strive to develop world-class skills and career characteristics noted in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. In order to do so, we know that we must cultivate a climate in which all stakeholders feel safe, valued, and inspired to achieve personal and academic excellence. Our school is dedicated to empowering students, families, and communities socially, emotionally, and academically with excellence through commitment to a growth mindset. Additionally, Edgefield County School District understands the importance of having a community-backed school district and recognizes that in order to produce well-rounded grounded graduates we must take a family-first approach and must have a salt-of-the-earth faculty and staff engaging with our learners on a daily basis.
The teachers at Merriwether Middle implement strategies, interventions, and best practices that are necessary to move our students academically. At Merriwether, we know that it is imperative to implement educational programs and provide a curriculum aligned to the State Standards, as well as create an equitable learning environment for all stakeholders. Therefore, we are constantly reviewing and implementing new strategies and programs that move all of our students towards new levels of social, emotional, and academic excellence. We provide benchmark testing and other assessments for our students in an effort to determine focus areas for instruction. This data source is also used to guide professional development for our teachers. Additionally, Merriwether is proud to have Inquiry Innovators who work to create learning experiences where students are empowered to apply thinking, personal, and relational skills in authentic ways that can be transferred to meet the demands of an increasingly complex, interconnected, and unpredictable world (*Adapted from Jay McTighe’s Leading Modern Learning and the Profile of an ECSD Graduate). As part of an interconnected world that makes use of technology daily, students at Merriwether are provided a Chromebook to be used throughout their educational career in the district.
Additionally, Merriwether provides enrichment, remediation, and intervention opportunities to students. One such highly individualized program is Read 180 which decreases the literacy gap by using technology, whole group, and direct instruction. Also, during breaks throughout the year, we provide programs like “Ignite” to spur children onward toward greater academic progress and success.
As mentioned previously, our teachers are continuously improving themselves and their teaching practices through professional weekly development opportunities, departmentalized collaboration and planning, as well as grade-level collaboration and planning. In our school though, not only are professional development opportunities provided for teachers, but Merriwether also has professional development opportunities for students. In one such session, students focused on learning a core set of instructional routines that encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and communication in the classroom. They learned and practiced these routines and then presented them the next day to their own classroom peers in order to help students become more active in the learning process. Our students love taking ownership of their learning.
At Merriwether Middle School, we believe in growing well-rounded individuals both inside and outside of the classroom; therefore, we encourage all students to be involved in programs, organizations, and extracurricular opportunities. One such opportunity is Our Project Lead the Way program which allows our students to participate in robotics and other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) related competitions. Many of our students participate on athletic teams, such as volleyball, soccer, football, cheer, and basketball. Likewise, we have various clubs that students are able to join. Some of those clubs include Beta Club, School Improvement Council, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Yearbook Staff, and more. We feel like it is important to bridge relationships between our younger students at Merriwether Elementary and our students at Merriwether Middle School. Our students have enjoyed opportunities to connect with younger students in the elementary school through reading books with them, writing letters to Santa with them, and hosting Easter egg hunts with them.
Merriwether Middle also believes in encouraging good, friendly competition. Many of our students from all grade levels participate in our Battle of the Books competition. Merriwether Middle has been the proud District Winner of Battle of the Books for the last two years. To encourage our students who participate and to cheer on those involved in competitive sports such as football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and cheer, our school has athletic pep rallies. Not only do we have athletic pep rallies, but our school also hosts academic pep rallies to encourage students to put forth their best effort and do their absolute best in their academic pursuits.
The arts are another important part of our school. Many of our students participate in drama, art, band, chorus, and honor choir. In fact, our honor choir doubled in size this year. Merriwether has two band/choral concerts a year plus a Fine Arts Festival in our district which allows parents and community members to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of these students. Additionally, our school hosts an annual Mustangs on Parade talent show where individuals can showcase a wide variety of skills and talents. We love seeing and celebrating all of our students’ accomplishments. One such accomplishment for our band this year was achieving a Superior rating at CPA this year. We are very proud of them for all of their hard work and growth.
At Merriwether Middle School, we have a very active PTO. The PTO helps with canteen, school dances, special events, and celebrating our students and teachers, especially during times like Teacher Appreciation Week. We love having a close relationship between our teachers, parents, and school.
Merriwether is growing…in size and in heart. This year, we opened a brand new wing at our school. Our seventh graders were able to find a wonderful new “home” there. As a school, we have an “Open Door” policy and recognize that in order to maximize student achievement, a collaborative effort between our school, our parents, and our community is essential. We would love for you to be a part of our growing Mustang family as a student, teacher, staff, volunteer, or supportive community member. Come see us grow at Merriwether Middle School.
