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The Team's School The South Carolina - Naturally! site was created by a web team from Dent Middle School in Columbia S.C. Dent is proud to be known as the cornerstone for Richland School District #2 with a heritage of 75 years. Dent is a two time winner of the National Blue Ribbon School award, Palmettos Finest and a host of other awards. If you can't get by for a visit in-person, at least make a virtual visit at http://www.richland2.org/dm! |
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The Team is Formed The SCIway Web Design Contest had crossed the desk of team advisor Donna M. Petty earlier in the monthly SCIway newsletter. It was initially dismissed as she had some work for National Board Certification to get finished by April 16th. Then Dent's School Librarian, Carolyn Dickens, sent it to her, again. 'Seeming like destiny was knocking a second time, she set about the task of forming a team. She decided upon two writers, two "webbies", and an artist. She knew of two students, J. Grindrod and M. Poarch, from her science classes who were "into HTML" and recruited them. The team's Language Arts teachers, Mrs. Bullard and Ms. Robinson, recommended several for the writers, but S. Debebe-Kumssa and V. Lyles stood out as conscientious workers and great team players. The Art teacher, Ms. Campbell, recommended one of the advisor's top science students, N. Osmanski as Team Artist. |
Team Advisor, Donna M. Petty |
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The Web Project Team
| Now, with the team assembled it was time to implement the plan. The idea had long been in the advisor's head. South Carolina Science Standards had, for years, required 8th grade teachers to teach S.C. Geology - yet there were no textbooks or even websites with enough information. The advisor had taken a Geology course under Dr. Carolyn Hanna Murphy, author of Carolina Rocks! Finally, she'd found the information she and other 8th grade teachers needed. Dr. Murphy was even so kind as to come by and personally autograph a copy of her book for each of the web team members! |  |
| (Team picture coming) | Still, many teachers would not have this - it'd be good not only for the 8th grade teachers, but their students, to have this resource on the web. The basic vision was set, jobs assigned, and off the team went on a beautiful, cool mid-February Saturday to Oconee and Caesars Head State Parks to take in the northern-most geologic regions of the Blue Ridge and the Piedmont. Mr. Osmanski helped with the driving. One Wednesday after school Mrs. Allen help drive us all out for a few hours at Peachtree Rock, which seemed to be the best spot to tell the story of the Sandhills. On other Wednesdays, in between trips, Mrs. Dickens, the librarian, let us commandeer five of the library's computers as the writers typed up their accounts, and the artist refined his drawings and worked with the "webbies" on graphics for the page. The scanner and digital camera provided by a PTA grant proved to be valuable assets. Finally, on a Saturday in mid-March, Mrs. Lyles helped us make the trip to Woods Bay and Hunting Island. The Woods Bay Natural Area Rangers were particularly helpful. We had quite a drive from Woods Bay to Hunting Island. This made for a long, but exhilarating day which was celebrated with a big seafood dinner before heading back home. We all knew in our hearts, that even if we didn't win the contest, we'd had a wonderful time exploring South Carolina, had learned a lot from the experience, and had wonderful memories to share. Many thanks to all the supportive folks we've tried to give credit to in our story. |
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