Giving and Receiving: Brightening Minds and the Holiday Season

By Dr. Brenda Mack-Foxworth

This is the time of year for giving and receiving. At Ridge View High School we are enjoying some fruits of our labor, and we’re spreading some holiday cheer. Usually, I would begin with sharing our good news about giving but we have received some fantastic news that I simply cannot wait to tell you about. Ridge View has learned it is the first school in South Carolina and one of some 600 worldwide to receive the opportunity to implement AP Capstone™. AP Capstone is an innovative diploma program that complements the rigor of Advanced Placement courses and exams. AP Capstone allows students to develop research, collaboration and communications skills that matter most for their future college success. The program includes a two-course sequence: AP Seminar and AP Research™ that were developed in direct response to feedback from higher education faculty and college admission officers.

Students completing AP Seminar and AP Research with scores of 3 or higher, and receive scores of 3 or higher on four AP Exams in subjects of their choosing, will receive the AP Capstone Diploma. Students who earn scores of 3 or higher on the two AP Capstone exams but do not take or earn qualifying scores on four additional AP Exams will receive the AP Seminar and Research Certificate.

This innovative program prepares a broader, more diverse student population for college and career success, and also provides our teachers with flexibility in the curriculum to expand access to challenging course work and the development of important skills. Students enrolled in the Scholars Academy for Business and Law Magnet program will start the AP Seminar in the fall of 2016.  Applications for the Scholars Academy Magnet and the Institute of Health Sciences Magnet programs go online January 4-22, 2016 at www.richland2.org.  To learn more about AP Capstone, Scholars Academy and the Institute of Health Sciences visit our school on Thursday, January 7 at 6 p.m. for our school information night. Tours will also be given.

Now that I’ve shared what we are so grateful to have received, we are even more grateful to have been able to share gifts with our community. Our Winter Wishes project begins in November and ends in December. Students collect canned goods, partner with the S.C. Department of Social Services to buy presents for foster children and sponsor a Giving Bowl dinner.  Proceeds from the dinner benefit Harvest Hope Food Bank. Students are involved in each of the projects which foster service and participation in students who will be tomorrow’s volunteers and civic leaders. This year the Ridge View Blazer family has so generously collected 10,000 canned goods for Harvest Hope Food Bank; $1,900 for God’s Storehouse; $1,000 for the Homeless Veterans of the Carolinas; raised $6,000 and sponsored 92 foster children for the Department of Social Services. Purposeful giving and purposeful learning: we are thankful to have both especially at this time of year.

Please continue to check this newspaper for updates on Ridge View and the Blazer family to learn more about why we believe and know, “It’s All at the View!”