Myrtle Beach High School is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing access to 21st century skills and competencies through a varied and rigorous curriculum in a safe and caring learning environment. We continually challenge our students through a progressive, blended learning format that integrates research-based instructional practices from highly qualified teachers, digital content that provides essential formative data on each individual student, and student-centered instructional delivery models that promote greater personalization of learning.
During the 2017-2018 school year, Myrtle Beach High School continued to expand and deepen student learning in conjunction with our district Personalized Digital Learning initiative. Students and teachers were given access to a tremendous variety of digital content such as, Achieve 3000 and No Red Ink for English Language Arts, ALEKS for mathematics, and Discovery Ed. Our school continued to refine instruction delivery models to promote personalized learning opportunities for all students.
Myrtle Beach High School completed its fifth year of our partnership with New Tech Network as Seahawk New Tech. This unique, project-based approach was implemented in grades nine through twelve. Students were grouped in interdisciplinary sections of English/Social Studies and Math/Science in which core content was delivered through highly structured, real-world projects. This school within a school continues to be a popular and high performing program for our students. The combination of project-based learning, blended rotational models, and integrated digital content will ensure that Myrtle Beach High School students will develop the needed 21st century skills and competencies to be able to compete at the highest levels in a global society.
The 330 members of the graduating class of 2018 earned a combined scholarship total of $6,161,047.00 (at the time of this report). 143 students graduated with honors and 63 students received the HCS Honors Certificate. 28 students were awarded the prestigious Palmetto Fellows Scholarship and 65 graduates qualified for the Life Scholarship. 255 graduates plan to attend either a two or four-year college or university, 19 indicated plans to enter the Armed Forces.
Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, MBHS was selected by the College Board as one of only two schools in Horry County to offer the highly rigorous AP Capstone Diploma program. Other new AP courses offered included: AP Psychology, AP Music Theory, and AP Macroeconomics bringing the total AP offerings up to 16. In May, 215 Advanced Placement exams were administered to over 120 students. Matthew Belissary was selected as one of ten students from South Carolina to participate in the U.S. Senate Youth Program in Washington, DC. Ms. Alyssa Leibman, English and AP Capstone teacher, was a Top 5 Finalist for the Horry County Schools Teacher of the Year. 148 students qualified for the National Honor Society and 248 students qualified and were inducted into the MBHS chapter of the National Beta Club.
Career Readiness continues to be a strong focus at MBHS. 11 Seahawks placed at the Future Business Leaders of America State Leadership Conference with Taylor Riga earning 1st place in Economics and the opportunity to represent MBHS at the National Leadership Conference in Baltimore, MD. Health Occupations Students of America has 35 official members, 10 attended the State Leadership Conference and 6 officers attended the Fall Leadership Conference. HOSA completed over 60 community service hours over the holidays visiting senior citizens and hosted a "Be The Match" bone marrow donor drive.
In an effort to meet the social and emotional as well as the academic needs of our students, MBHS began its S.M.A.R.T. Lunch (Students Maximizing Achievement Relationships and Time) initiative. This unique approach offers students choices during the school day for academic tutorials, individual and collaborative study time, clubs and special interest meetings, access to guidance counselors, social time, and access to intramural sports. Students with transportation issues and those participating in after school activities were able to maximize their time during the school day to receive additional assistance from teachers, make up missed assignments and tests without sacrificing valuable instructional time, and be more actively engaged in the school community. S.M.A.R.T. Lunch also promotes positive interactions between teachers and students ensuring every child has access to a trusted adult in the school when needed. Teachers also benefited from this initiative through opportunities for collaborative planning, structured Professional Learning Communities, and deep data dives to reflect and improve instruction. At MBHS - We pack a lot into a one-hour lunch!
Myrtle Beach High School continues to grow its opportunities for students both artistically and athletically. With a staff of eight incredibly talented visual and performing arts teachers, students were able to put their many talents on display. Our visual arts students traveled to New York, NY. to experience world-class art, music and theatre. Students in the AP Art class held a showing at the William H. Miller Art Gallery to showcase their work. Nine students had their artwork published in the Celebrating Arts competition. Katelyn DuBose was a Top 10 winner in North America for her photography. Katelyn also won 1st place in the South Carolina Associated Press competition as well as the Congressional Art Competition for her photograph entitled, "Heart Ride" which will hang in Congressman Tom Rice's office in Washington, DC. MBHS had three students place in the SC State Fair 2017 Juried Art competition. Ms. Jennifer Pierce received the NAHS Sponsor Award from the SC Art Educators Association. Mr. Washburn was awarded the SCAEA Outstanding High School Principal Award for 2017. In the fall of 2017, MBHS presented long-time fan favorite "Grease". This award-winning musical provided our students tremendous opportunities in the theatre arts incorporating all aspects of theatre production including acting, singing, dance, and technical theatre. Our Seahawk Sound Marching Band brought home numerous awards in all captions from 15 competition performances during the 2017 season. The Seahawk Show Choir and Seahawk Strings took top awards at the Heritage Music Festival in Williamsburg, VA. MBHS continues to place high numbers of performing arts students in All-County, All-Region, and All-State Honor Ensembles as well as awards for performance in Solo and Ensemble competitions. Our Seahawks are in demand for performances throughout our community, the state, and nationally.
Myrtle Beach High School NJROTC was recognized and awarded, for the third consecutive year, the Distinguished Unit Award, placing the unit in the top 10% of NJROTC units in the nation. The MBHS NJROTC unit was the only unit in Horry County to earn this award. The unit placed third out of 66 units to qualify for the Area Six Drill Competition. Again, the only unit in Horry County to qualify. Senior NJROTC cadets earned approximately $182,000 in college scholarships. Seahawk Cadets participated in STEM events where they designed, built, and competed against other program teams using submersible robots. Our NJROTC Cadets logged over 2400 hours of community service during the 2017-2018 school year.
Seahawk athletics once again had a phenomenal year winning nine region championships in boys cross-country, girls tennis, volleyball, girls basketball, girls soccer, boys soccer, boys golf, boys tennis, and softball. Our Lady Seahawk Volleyball team celebrated a AAA State Championship and Daniel Mitchell won an individual State Championship in wrestling.
John Washburn, MBHS Principal
Katie Belissary, 2017-2018 SIC President
