News and Updates

Johnston, SC – First year Strom Thurmond High School (STHS) Golf Head Coach Vernon Ball brought with him a vision to see the Rebels establish themselves as an annual contender in the sport at both the region and state levels of competition.

If year one is any indication of future success, the team is well on its way to reaching those goals.

The Rebels performed extremely well during the regular season with an 8-2 overall record and finished second recently at the Region 2-AA golf tournament, which allowed the team to advance to the Class AA state golf championships being held today (5/19) and tomorrow (5/20) at the Cheraw State Park Golf Course in Cheraw, S.C.

“It’s been a great experience,” stated Coach Ball. “It’s a good group of guys and an easy group of guys to be around. They’re teachable and they listen well, and we’ve had some success this season and that’s been a good surprise. We have some talented kids and they’re progressing at a fast rate.”

Also pointing to the future is the current makeup of the roster, which includes no seniors and just a pair of juniors.

“It’s been great this season just seeing them improve,” commented Coach Ball. “Some of our players were really beginners and now they’re getting out of that stage and building confidence and I’m just trying to encourage them as much as I can and show them some good technique so they can lower their scores.”

Coach Ball is joined by STHS Golf Assistant Coach Jordan Black. Team members include Christian Haskins, Tyler Rearden, Haden Free, Jordan Outlaw, Oliver Martin, Garrett Gangway, Sawyer Guy, Joshua Derrick, Conner Blair and Derek Hardy.

Congratulations, Rebels! Good luck at the State Finals!

Johnston, SC – The Strom Thurmond Career and Technology Center’s (STCTC) cosmetology program is one of only two cosmetology programs in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) to offer its students the opportunity to earn certification and a state license in hair braiding. Recently, the program celebrated a significant milestone as eight senior students successfully completed hair braiding certification and state licensing ahead of their May 30, 2025, high school graduations.

“This achievement not only showcases the hard work and commitment of our students, but also highlights the exceptional training provided at the Strom Thurmond Career and Technology Center,” stated STCTC Director, Dr. Alan Gray. “We are incredibly proud of our students and their accomplishments in this specialized field. Their passion for beauty and creativity truly shines through, and we cannot wait to see how they will use their skills in the future.”

Earning their Hair Braiding License in Cosmetology at STCTC are seniors Skylar Corley, Tamara Finley, Amiah Jones, Cherrish Jones, Serenity Gilchrist, Ny'Asia McKinney, Emily Mckie and Shanahce Patterson.

The students also received several other important certifications in addition to their state licenses, including Infection Control (a two-hour course), Domestic Violence Awareness, and Human Trafficking Awareness.

The cosmetology program at STCTC is led by Dr. Jackie Kennion, who praised the seniors for their dedication to excellence.

“This student milestone is one I will never forget,” stated Dr. Kennion. “It has been a fantastic experience, and this moment of recognition for their hard work will inspire further motivation and a sense of accomplishment.”

“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Gray for believing in me and my students,” she added. “His support and encouragement have been invaluable.”

Congratulations, Rebels!

Johnston, SC – They are known as the “Relentless Rebels” for very good reason – they NEVER give up.

The Strom Thurmond High School (STHS) varsity boys’ baseball team had a less than auspicious start to Region 2-AA play, a pair of losses to Batesburg-Leesville High School that put them in a tough position in their annual pursuit of a region title. The region championship would go to the Panthers, but the Rebels righted the ship along the way, were unbeaten in the remainder of the region slate, and earned a second place finish allowing them to host their state playoff opener.

“The boys keep coming out and playing hard and competing, having good at bats and filling the zone up and making plays behind each other,” stated the Rebels’ head coach, Nate Horton. “They keep having one another’s backs. One thing we’ve talked about a lot this year is making sure we’re able to handle adversity and I think we’re doing a better job of that.”

The rest, as they say, is District 4 championship history.

The Rebels (15-9) won that playoff opener in a convincing 10-2 final over Chester High Cyclones, then went on the road to defeat the Andrew Jackson High Volunteers in a close 7-6 victory that set up a rematch with the Vols in the first of two district championship games (if needed) in Johnston on Tuesday (5/13).

Clinging to a one-run lead at 3-2 after five innings of play, the visiting Volunteers scratched across a run in the top of the sixth inning to tie things up and threaten to seize the momentum. Instead, the Rebels made sure that never happened.

In the bottom of the frame, speedy Kaleb Simpkins led off the inning by stroking a single to left-center field and moving to second on a pitcher's balk. Then, a passed ball moved him quickly to third base, setting the stage for some late inning heroics by senior Brayden McAllister. Brayden, who was also on the mound for the Rebels, drove a ball to right field to score Kaleb on a sacrifice fly and then made it stick in the top of the seventh to finish off an exciting 4-3 victory for the district title.

“Kaleb had a big knock there, then a balk and he moved up on a passed ball and Brayden came up and hit a line drive to right and we’re able to tag up and score Kaleb and put ourselves in a position to win the game,” commented Coach Horton. “Brayden hadn’t been throwing the ball great as of late, but I pulled him aside and told him if he wanted the ball (to pitch) it was his. He said he wanted the ball and was ready to go and he came out and had good stuff and he competed. He’s a senior and he plays every game like he doesn’t want it to be his last. I’m extremely proud of him.”

The pathway to Tuesday’s big victory is traced directly back to what could have been devastating in the first week of region play. Rather, the team’s determination kicked in and now they stay alive and advance to the Upper State tournament.

“We knew we had to do a really good job and win out in our region to be able to put ourselves in position to host the first (playoff) game,” stated Coach Horton. “Those two losses to Batesburg-Leesville kind of stuck with us and I think they gave us some motivation.”

The team begins play in the Class AA Upper State tournament today (5/15) on the road.

“They played every single pitch tonight and they did it the right way,” added Coach Horton.

Johnston, SC – Members of the Edgefield County Board of Education recognized the hard work and notable academic achievements of nine of the school district’s middle school students from Johnston-Edgefield-Trenton (J-E-T) Middle School and Merriwether Middle School (MMS) during their regularly scheduled monthly meeting held on Tuesday, May 12, 2025.

The South Carolina Junior Scholars Program was developed by the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) to identify eighth-grade students with exceptional academic talent and to develop strategies for their inclusion into special programs. The program includes a process for screening a potential talent pool of students, identifying and recognizing those students with exceptionally high scholastic achievement and intellectual ability, and sponsoring summer opportunities in collaboration with participating South Carolina colleges and universities.

Students are screened and identified in the eighth grade, and score in the highest percentage of students across the entire state in both math and reading skills as measured by an assessment given to only the highest achieving students nationwide.

Students honored on Tuesday as Junior Scholars from J-E-T Middle School included Dalton Acosta, Rebecca Carpenter, Hannah Kring and Dezarae Schwalbauch.

Students honored as Junior Scholars from Merriwether Middle School included Audrey Joiner, Savanna Jones, Shelby Machado, Safeerah Rahman and Benaiah Wixson.

Congratulations to these outstanding, high-performing students and their families.

Merriwether, SC – One of the many fall activities impacted by Hurricane Helene was the much anticipated, first-ever Edgefield County School District (ECSD) Gifted & Talented Fine Arts Camp, bringing together some of the most promising fine arts talents from across the school district. Those students finally came together in April during the intersession week of spring break, and the amount of stellar work they were able to create in less than a week was astounding.

The school district's Gifted & Talented students, led by an amazing team of ECSD teachers, put their immense talent and creativity on display on Thursday, April 3, 2025, as the Merriwether Elementary School (MES) cafeteria was transformed into an art gallery and stage for fine arts excellence in the ECSD Gifted & Talented Fine Arts Showcase.

“The kids were excited and super motivated, and they got a lot of work done,” stated MES Art Teacher Michael Keltz.

Teachers included art teachers Keltz (MES) and April Arthur (Johnston Elementary School)(JES), and music teachers Clare Henry (MES) and Amanda Fulmer (JES). They were supported by paraprofessionals Pam Chick and Elizabeth Hill.

Music participants in the camp, who performed vocally and instrumentally with six selections during the showcase, included the following students: Logan Hargrove, D.J. Davis, Collier Frye, Kathryn Stanford, and Dakota Byers of MES; Brenden Brown of JES; and Ella Rourk of Douglas Elementary School (DES).

“The excitement of getting the chance for these students from across the school district to be able to work together was the best part of this entire program,” commented MES Music Teacher, Clare Henry. “Some of these students may be the only one in their class who is really passionate about music or art, but here they were able to be with a bunch of people who are all passionate about the same things. Seeing them get the chance to make new friends was the best part for me.”

“We just wanted to come together and see what these kids could create,” she added. “That was the goal, to see what we could create in three days and when you give them a challenge them, they rise to that challenge. They were fabulous.”

Please click on the following link to view the musical portion of the showcase: https://ecsdsc.link/7cngt

Visual art participants, each of whom created several unique pieces of artwork during the showcase, included the following students: Gracie Anderson, Baylee Brown, Ariane Counts, Malaki Goodman, Savannah Henderson, Anna Stewart and Cheriste’ Sylvester of DES; Gracie Corley, Leslie Gomez, Alisson Guzman, Sha Lazire, Joselyn Navarro, Aubrey Parkman and Lauren Whitley of JES; and Samantha Edwards, Avereigh Jefferson, Tegan Kurschner, Jacob Rodriguez, Rylee Smith, Shelby Smith and Lynlee Tyler of MES.

“We knew the music teachers were going to be using some African themed music (in the showcase), so I felt we needed some artwork to sort of go along with that,” stated MES art teacher, Michael Keltz. “We studied African masks and what all the symbolism means, then they got to paint them on canvas.”

“The students also enjoyed building dragon eyes made with Crayola model magic, where we focused on textures and colors.” commented Keltz. “They made prints using gelatin plates where you can spread paint over several layers and then it’s sort of like stamping onto paper. All the layers pile on top of one another and create beautiful images.”

“They also created digital portraits on the iPad where we were teaching them how to do digital art using multiple layers,” he added. “So, when these students start to do graphic design and Advanced Placement art, they will already understand the foundations of the programs they will be using.”

Please click on the following link to view all visual art pieces from the showcase: https://ecsdsc.link/tc5i1

Congratulations to these amazing students and educators on a wonderful spring showcase!