2021-2022 Report to Parents

Every year, Fort Mill High School earns local, state, and national recognition for the effort the students, faculty, and community members commit to the success of our school. The 2021-2022 was no different.

Fort Mill High School was recognized by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education and CollegeBoard as a College Access Champion Award School during the 2021-2022 school year. The College Access Champion Award recognizes the outstanding effort Fort Mill High has committed to helping students access college through the application process, financial aid, and selecting an institute of higher education. Fort Mill High School was one of five South Carolina schools awarded this honor for the 2021-2022 school year.

Fort Mill High School students are focused on academics, but understand the importance of giving back to the community and helping others. The FMHS faculty and students raised over $34,000 to support our local students participating in Special Olympics. The fundraiser culminated in several staff members taking a dive into freezing waters during the Annual Polar Plunge. The monies raised easily surpassed the $10,000 collected during the 2020-2021 school year and we can not thank our community enough for their support.

In the national spotlight, Fort Mill High School was recognized at the Annual Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Conference as a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School. Several staff members had the opportunity to attend and present at this nationally recognized event. The event allows educators to collaborate and share ideas to help promote continued improvement in our school.

This year approximately 750 of our students participated in athletics at Fort Mill High School. The school claimed seven region championships in Girls Swimming, Boys Swimming, Girls Cross Country, Boys Cross Country, Girls Tennis, Boys Basketball and Girls Lacrosse. Fort Mill High School also had 99 senior athletes recognized by the South Carolina High School League as scholar athletes (3.5 G.P.A. or higher and a varsity letter), and 27 have committed to play a sport in college. 45 Multi-Sport Athletes that lettered in both sports and three of those lettered in three sports.

The Fort Mill Band program has a long tradition of performing and competing throughout the year. The 2021-2021 school year marked the return to more performances and opportunities for the band. The competition show for this year was “Life Aquatic”. It depicted the often frenzied and tumultuous, but always beautiful, life in the coral reef featuring classical music, modern film scores such as ‘Finding Nemo’ and Heart’s Barracuda. The competition season culminated in a Southern States championship hosted by USBands in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

During the winter months, students participated in All-Region and All-State auditions and over 60 students placed in the honor ensembles. The Indoor Percussion Ensemble competed with their Winter Production: ‘Matador’ and finished 3rd. The Winter Guard competed with their show: “Ship in a Bottle” and finished 4th. This school year was filled with joyous music iin numerous concerts and performances. Our students’ demanding work earned a prestigious invitation to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland in 2023!

Fort Mill Dance has had an amazing year! First semester, the Fort Mill High School Dance Program was able to present their first recital since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the second semester of 2021-2022, the Fort Mill High School Dance Program teamed up with the FMHS Choir to perform in the annual Cabaret. The dance program will perform in the Choir Concert on May 12th and will be performing at the Fort Mill Rotary Literacy Picnic at the Greenway. The Fort Mill Chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts will be inducting 7 members that can be recognized at graduation for their artistic merits and achievements by their light blue & white graduation cord.

The Fort Mill High School Dance Team had a jam packed year full of performances and competitions. Their highlights include a 3rd place finish at the State Dance Team Competition, Ella Patel winning the Varsity solo division at the State Dance Team competition, and being selected to perform at Walt Disney World as part of the 50th Anniversary celebration. The FMHS Dance Team is excited to announce that the extracurricular dance program will be undergoing a restructure for next year. They will be taking the current dance team and dividing the program into two parts as we will be partnering with the band which will offer more students the opportunity to participate and perform! Auditions will be taking place at the end of May!

Fort Mill Theatre had a big year of transition. With a new director at the helm and looking to bounce back from 2 years of COVID protocols, students, teachers, and parents worked incredibly hard to create a fun and engaging year of art and theatre. With COVID throwing us for another loop in the fall, the Theatre program transitioned the musical to the spring and instead put on a variety show called The Stage Life. The Stage Life was filled with a variety of acts from musical theatre, student written scenes, improvisation, and spoken word. It was an awesome opportunity for students to showcase their talents. The winter saw us producing a one act show called Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. The advanced acting students put on this fun and engaging production that featured 25 plays in 60 minutes. Lastly, as COVID restrictions began to ease, the FMHS Theatre program was finally able to put on a musical again after more than two years away. Audiences were jiving and clapping to the songs of Abba as Fort Mill Theatre proudly performed Mamma Mia! Students took full ownership as light designers, sound board operators, stage managers and more. Over 70 students worked together to put on Mamma Mia. Their efforts and talent were on full display!

FMHS visual arts students have had a successful (and busy) year! In the fall, Drawing 2 and Painting 1 students partnered with Pink Out to create logo designs for the annual Pink Out Event which promotes and raises funds for Breast Cancer Awareness. FMHS students and staff voted for the winning design that was used on t-shirts! Art students exhibited works and won awards at the York County High School Art Show and Pineville Fall Festival during the first part of the year. Students will participate in Pineville’s Arts in the Park Art Show in May. Also, over 120 student artworks were submitted to the Mid-Carolina Scholastic Art Competition in which 37 artworks received awards in the categories of Ceramics, Drawing and Illustration, Painting, Portfolio, and Sculpture! Gold Key winners automatically advanced to the national competition in NYC and were also recognized at the FMSD School Board Meeting. Silver and Gold Key winners had their works on display at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC for a month, and our student winners took a field trip in April to see the artworks on display.! Two of our visual arts students created themed artworks for SCEA’s Read Across South Carolina Artwork Contest to promote youth reading across the state. Both won awards, including Junior Anna Dellinger who won Best of Show. Her artwork promoted this year’s campaign, was printed on shirts, and was displayed at EdVenture in Columbia, SC. Both winners will be recognized at the SC State House by Representative Raye Felder on May 12th. Several FMHS students have also entered pieces into the Congressional Art Competition for SC District 5 which awards Best of Show with a $4,000 scholarship to SCAD and displays the winning artwork in the Cannon Tunnel to the U.S. Capitol! Students' works were also displayed throughout the year at Wells Fargo in Tega Cay in conjunction with works from NaFo and CRHS as well as in the FMSD Virtual Art Show. And, our AP Art Students will hold their annual, much anticipated art show April 28th-29th which features over 300 artworks!

In addition to competitions and art shows, our visual arts students stay involved in school and community events. Our National Art Honor Society participated in the Town of Fort Mill’s Annual Scarecrow Crawl and Fall Fun Market at the YMCA. They used their artistic talents to create handmade rings, artworks, greeting cards, and other crafts to sell at community and school events. The proceeds were used to fund student entries for Scholastic Art, supplies for community outreach projects, and other fun, art-related activities. The students made hand-made journals and artworks for donation to Pathways Community Center in Rock Hill. Other artistic involvement included partnering with FMHS Stuco for school-wide events, creating Black History Month Door Artworks for FMHS teachers, painting props for the FMHS Band, and creating instructional murals in the JROTC gym. Also, the Yellow Jacket Art Club participated in various student-selected art projects with various media.

The Fort Mill DECA team made their debut at the State Competition in Charleston in February 2022. Twelve students qualified to attend the state competition and represented FMHS with excellence and professionalism. FMHS placed 1st in Innovation Business Plan and Start Up Business Plan and placed 2nd in Independent Business Plan. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

FMHS Model United Nations had another successful year. Model UN provides students with the opportunity to role-play as United Nations delegates in order to facilitate debate on current global issues. FMHS MUN participated in the 46th annual Winthrop University Model United Nations Conference. Fort Mill High School represented four different nations at the conference: Russia, Brazil, Australia, and Iraq. Twenty Fort Mill students competed in several committees, including the Security Council, Political & Security, Legal, Social & Humanitarian, and the Commission on the Status of Women. Several delegates were recognized for their contributions at the conference. Jordan Brown (Legal) and Caroline Drinnon (Political & Security) both won Distinguished Delegate awards for their superior performance in committee. Our Russian delegation won one of three main awards, the Geoffrey Bruce Award, for best representing their nation.

The Fort Mill FFA Chapter, with its 115 dedicated members, has been recognized as a Gold National Chapter. This award received at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana recognizes our chapter for being in the top 10% of all chapters nationwide. Five Fort Mill FFA Delegates attended the convention. Also at the convention, Gabi McCarthy received the American Degree, the first Fort Mill student to earn the FFA highest degree.

The FMHS FFA’s sweet potato project was the club's service project once again. Club members harvested over 1,000 lbs of sweet potatoes from a local farm. A majority were donated to Pilgrims Inn Women's Shelter. Members were also visible at the Fort Mill Farmers Market, where members hosted a multitude of activities centered around agricultural education for adults and children. 40 members explored the Riverbanks Zoo to round out our fall activities. Our chapter had a busy fall supporting and teaching all aspects of agriculture.

In spring competitive events, FFA members competed in career development events at regional and the state level. These included: floriculture, forestry, wildlife, milk quality, veterinary science, creed speaking and tool id. The Milk Quality Team, in which members evaluate dairy products for quality, placed 2nd in the state, the floriculture team placed 3rd in the state, and forestry 4th. Our tool identification (1st in the region) and FFA Creed speaker (2nd in the region) will compete at the state event this summer at the State FFA Convention in Greenville. Furthermore, seven of our members had an opportunity to attend Veterinary Camp at the FFA Center in North Myrtle Beach. In addition over 20 members earned industry certification.

We hosted our very own greenhouse sale, open to the public. The fundraiser opportunity gives our community a chance to support the work of our members and encourages our students to become more involved in the FFA. At our spring banquet, FFA is expecting 100 guests. Our enthusiasm and achievement are all because of our dedicated students, staff, and parents who believe in this chapter and what the FFA stands for.

The School Improvement Council of Fort Mill High School is a group of educational stakeholders that attempt to promote and support academic achievement and civic engagement at Fort Mill High School. This group of students, parents, teachers, and community members facilitate meaningful parent and community involvement at Fort Mill High School. The SIC meets monthly to discuss ways to support academic, athletics, visual and performing arts, and student body events. Also, they review policies and set annual goals aimed at targeting areas of need specific to the students of Fort Mill High School.

The FMHS SIC goal for the 2021-2022 school year was crafted to address the mental and emotional wellbeing of students and staff at Fort Mill High. Fort Mill High SIC established a plan to provide teachers educational resources through school designated professional development time and those resources included information on the following:

• Student anxiety
• Supporting students with depression
• Gratitude and supporting colleagues
• Positive parent-teacher communication
• Handling tough conversations

Focusing on the students of FMHS, the guidance department planned SWARM week to be, initially, held during the fall of 2021. SWARM stands for “student wellness and resilience matters” and is designed as a weeklong event to provide mental health and wellness resources to students. Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, the event was rescheduled for April of 2022. The SWARM week program kicked off with our guest speaker, Duncan Kirkwood. Mr. Kirkwood is a nationally recognized speaker and shared his message of resiliency and focusing on individual goals with over five hundred students at FMHS. The rest of the week included the following activities:

• Yoga on the Green
• Therapy dog visits during lunch
• Mindfulness Pledge
• Wellness resource sharing and prizes

Through the efforts of the Fort Mill High Guidance Department, students were able to participate and focus on their well-being. The event was a success and FMHS looks for SWARM week to be a part of the school culture for years to come.

Fort Mill High School's mission is to provide each student with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to become a lifelong learner and a responsible, productive citizen in a democratic society

Fort Mill High School proudly recognizes Mrs. Danielle Herring as the Fort Mill High School Teacher of the Year and Mrs. Karen Adams as the Fort Mill High School Support Staff of the Year.

The graduating class of 2021 contained 443 students with 59% attending 4-year colleges and 21% attending 2-year colleges or technical colleges. The average SAT score was 1096 (reading and math). The average ACT composite score for Fort Mill High School students was 23.9. The class of 2021 collectively earned more than 11 million dollars in scholarship offers.

During the 2020-2021 school year, Fort Mill High School coordinated 687 Advanced Placement exams to our students students with 86.4% scoring a 3 or better. Fort Mill High School also boasts an on-time graduation rate of 96.1%.

The town of Fort Mill, South Carolina is located just south of the North Carolina state line. Nearly 18,000 people live inside the Fort Mill corporate limits with a total of nearly 50,000 people residing within the entire township. The Township of Fort Mill currently supports three high schools.

About Fort Mill High School

The faculty of Fort Mill High School consists of over 130 teachers, one principal, five assistant principals, six school counselors, and one media specialist.

More than 200 course selections are offered, including Advanced Placement, Honors, and College Preparatory courses.

Fort Mill High School has over 38 co-curricular activities and 24 athletic teams

This report is issued by the Fort Mill High School, School Improvement Council in accordance with South Carolina law to share information on the school's progress in meeting various goals and objectives, the work of the SIC, and other accomplishments during the school year.

For more information regarding the Fort Mill High School SIC please contact Zachary Beam at beamz@fortmillschools.org

Website: fmhs.fortmillschools.org
Location: 215 N Hwy 21 Bypass Fort Mill, SC
Phone: (803) 548-1900
Twitter: @fmhsnews