The Lower School of Savannah Christian Preparatory School has been nominated by The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) as one of the top 50 private schools in America.  Recognized for consistent outstanding student achievement, SCPS has now been recommended to the U.S. Department of Education to receive the Blue Ribbon School Award.

In its nomination by CAPE, the Lower School meets the criteria of one of America’s highest performing schools. The U.S. Department of Education selects the country’s best schools, public and private, to earn this award widely known to be the pinnacle of educational achievement in American schools.

The criteria for earning this nomination began last spring with a schoolwide high performance on the Stanford Achievement Test.  These test scores met the criteria set by the Blue Ribbon Schools Program: that every grade level must score in the top 15 percent in the nation in both reading and mathematics.  In fact, nearly every single class in first through fifth grade scored in the top 10 percent in reading and math.

The 28 page application contained test scores for each grade level for the last five years, much data describing the student body, and responses to 12 narrative questions.

Savannah Christian Prep will have to wait until the fall while the final review is made.  Each year since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has sought to identify schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals.  In the past 28 years, more than 6,000 of America’s schools have received this coveted award.  Last fall 254 public and 50 private schools were honored at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

In recognition of Black History Month in February, Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, is making available more than 250,000 new and updated historical records documenting African-American family history, including the Slave Ship Manifests from Savannah, 1789-1859.  These records document more than 10,000 slaves who arrived or departed from the Savannah port for 70 years before the Civil War.

Although the transatlantic slave trade was banned in 1807, the transportation of slaves within the country remained, especially as the tobacco industry diminished in the North and the cotton industry boomed in the South.  The Slave Ship Manifests from Savannah are the records submitted by ships docked in Savannah who had arrived from or departed to other Atlantic or Gulf Coast ports. They include details about ships’ and captains’ names, origination and destination ports, and most importantly, the names, ages, heights, genders and colors of slaves onboard from various slave states. The manifests also include the name and residence of the slave owner or shipper. These kinds of details provide valuable information and important details about the lives of American slave ancestors.

The Savannah records and several other important record collections – many now online and searchable for the first time – cover more than 100 years of America’s slavery history from the late 1700s through the late 1800s, and will become part of Ancestry.com’s African American Historical Collection. The 250,000 new records expand the archive to include the lives of 3.2 million slaves, or 88 percent of the African-American population in 1850. In fact, about 35 million Americans should now be able to find an ancestor in the collection.

Hundreds of students are preparing their final submissions for the 2011 Georgia Tech Savannah Regional Science and Engineering Fair, to be held on Feb. 21-23 in Historic Downtown Savannah. The Science Fair is open to students from more than 100 middle and high schools in the 13-county region of southeast Georgia (Bryan, Bulloch, Candler, Chatham, Effingham, Emanuel, Evans, Jenkins, Liberty, Long, Screven, Tattnall and Toombs).

Each year, more than 150 of the top science fair projects from the region are reviewed and judged by 100 local business professionals including engineers and faculty from area colleges and universities. Awards are presented to the top category winners and overall top projects in a number of categories including but not limited to animal sciences, biochemistry, computer science, earth science, engineering, environmental, and physics. In addition to awards given by the Science Fair, local and international organizations donate special awards to students who excel in specific areas of research.

The Georgia Tech Savannah Regional Science and Engineering Fair is one of 21 regional fairs taking place throughout the State of Georgia. The top 15 percent of winners move on to the Georgia Science Engineering Fair (GSEF) and possibly on to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. ISEF annually provides a forum for more than 1,500 high school students from over 50 countries to showcase their independent research.

The Science Fair gives students a venue to develop important critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, teamwork and personal management skills, which are essential in order to thrive in today’s technological society.

“The fair is much more than a competition – it is a celebration of the imagination and hard work of those who will be tomorrow’s technical professionals,” says Dr. David Scott, director of the fair and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Tech. “Encouraging student enthusiasm for scientific discovery and achievement is one of the most important things we can do for our young people.”

By Alice Scavullo Atchison

When is a cafeteria not a cafeteria? When it is transformed into Santa’s workshop! St. James School held its annual Wrap Day on Dec. 9.  The workshop was full of busy elves with lists, tables of gifts, wrap, bows, holiday music and the warmth of the spirit of giving. A transformation like this doesn’t just happen. It takes planning, organization and many willing donors and volunteers. This tradition has been taking place at the school for over 25 years.

Each year the Wrap Day committee coordinates gift giving with several local organizations. The committee is given a list of needy families with a breakdown of ages, sizes and needs.   In the weeks before Wrap Day the students of St. James School bring in food items followed by the collection of gift items for local needy families.

“This is my favorite St. James tradition. It is very heart-warming,” says Gail Eischeid, a parent who volunteered for the sixth year in December. “This is what Christmas is all about. It flows like a very well-oiled machine.”

The seventh and eighth grade students in the National Junior Honor Society helped out by collecting all the items and moving them to the cafeteria prior to Wrap Day. They also put together the boxes. The set-up is an important part of why Wrap Day goes smoothly. Each pile of items is out in its proper station and analyzed to make sure that the gifts match the list.  

Wrap Day is the day all the planning comes together and the donations are wrapped by parent volunteers and staff members and readied for pick-up or delivery.  In the main part of the cafeteria 40 volunteers comprising teachers, staff and parents wrapped gifts.
This was parent Jane Auer’s seventh year volunteering. “The part that amazes me is that we have a special table of gifts to choose from, such as gift cards for movies or bowling, she says. “Volunteers look at their list with care and take the time to really think about the person, their age and try to include something special or unexpected. It is a wonderful tradition. It’s not just one gift. We are taking care of an entire family.”

In a nearby workshop five volunteers boxed up food items such as canned goods and cereal for the families. This year each family received two boxes of food.

The students and families at St. James School get a special feeling by participating in this tradition of giving each year.  This is one of the ways students at the school are taught about being part of a community and serving the needs of the community.  When Wrap Day is over the St. James School cafeteria once again becomes a cafeteria, but a year from now it will be transformed into Santa’s workshop once again.

Alice Scavullo Atchison is admissions director for St. James Catholic School in Savannah.