Hillcrest Middle School is located at the intersection of Old Camden Hwy and Highway 441 in Dalzell, South Carolina. The school serves a population of approximately 381 sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students from Dalzell, Shaw Air Force Base, and surrounding communities. Our population includes 54.5% Black or African American, 35.7% White, 3.7% Hispanic/Latino, 5.3% Mixed Race,0.6 % Asian, and 0.2% other races.
We take pride in our Wildcat family. We encourage parental participation and provide quarterly teacher and administration-facilitated “Parent Universities” to keep parents educated on school policies, programs, and content area learning specifics. Parents are kept updated on their child’s progress through quarterly academic conferences, interims, progress reports, and personal contact as needed. We have a full-time school counselor and career specialist who work with students to plan their future paths and to help with their educational and supportive needs.
We have several community partners that work with Hillcrest Middle School. The Sumter School District has been designated as a Purple Star district, and at HMS we have a Shaw Air Force Base liaison that holds monthly Military Child support group meetings on our campus. Becton Dickinson boosts our school spirit with teacher and student incentives. BD also sends representatives to speak with students about preparing for career choices. Alice Drive Baptist Church, Wise Drive Baptist Church, and the Sumter Combat Veterans Group also encourage our teachers and staff by providing incentives. The Sumter Evening Optimist Club offers special incentives for teachers and hosts an Outstanding Youth Male and Female Award each year.
The HMS faculty is comprised of 100% qualified paraprofessionals and 95.1% highly qualified teachers. Our teachers hold advanced degrees including, Masters and Masters plus 30. We have four (4) staff members with post-graduate degrees. Several of our teachers have been nominated for the Air Force Aero Space Education Award, and we had an AASE teacher of the year in our science department! We also have teachers that have been nominated for the Sumter’s Best and Sumter Chamber of Commerce Educator Award. Our math department has Math Nation Builders and presenters. We have a teacher that was selected as a USC Noyce Teaching Fellow and a National Board-Certified Teacher. The Social Studies department brings history alive with virtual museum tours and interesting lessons from the past. We currently have a grant writer, Alicia Timmons, and two published authors. Rodrekous Hunter is the author of The Write Way to Heal, and Jamie Gore is the author of So You’re a Coach Now What?. HMS faculty and staff readily participate in Relay for Life and the American Heart Association fundraisers. The combination of administration, faculty, staff, students, and community partners has launched Hillcrest Middle School to Palmetto Silver status two years in a row.
Tarsha B. Staggers, Principal
Alicia Timmons, SIC Chair
