Hilton Head Island High School’s Seahawk Stage Company won a superior rating from The Palmetto Dramatic Association and SC International Thespian Society competition.

The Palmetto Dramatic Association and SC International Thespian Society “was formed to give students an opportunity to showcase their theatre skills and to network with fellow students across the State of South Carolina. The SC International Thespian Society is the South Carolina Chapter of the International Thespian Society,” according to Ms. Guinn, the HHIHS theater teacher.

The students performed the play "The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play" by Alfred Hitchcock and adopted by Joe Landry.

Ms. Guinn says, “It took us from around 9 am to 3 pm to finish the complete filming on Saturday February 6, 2021.” They built the set, performed and filmed the play in her classroom, which is the Black Box Theater.

They won several awards. The superior ratings “are the highest rating given.” They won the superior rating for Best Costume Design. They also earned a superior rating for Best Set Design.

Ms. Guinn declares, “The students and I repurposed pieces from our old sets to create a radio station.” They received superior for Best Ensemble.

They were also given this award because of “how well the entire cast works together to create the show.” They received an overall excellent rating for the play. They were given this award, “for our overall play performance.” Kourtnie Dwornikoski, an 11th grader, won a superior award with her “solo musical competition for her performance of 'Somewhere That’s Green' from the musical 'Little Shop of Horrors.'” Ben Gutierrez, a 9th grader, received an award for “his performance as the Foley sound effects creator.”

Ms. Guinn chose this play because “I needed a show that could be filmed with online performance rights, which is really hard to find, but has become easier since the pandemic started.” Ms. Guinn also states, “I also wanted a show where I could keep the students as socially distanced as possible.”

Ms. Guinn and the cast were shocked about winning all the awards. As Ms. Guinn declares, “I know that I was shocked at how well we did. I think the kids were also shocked and really happy to have their hard work recognized this year.”

Hilton Head Island High School congratulates the Seahawk Theater Company for the hard work they did.

Hilton Head Island High School student, Brittany Ramirez won an award from the most prestigious national art competition available to high school students.

On January 28, 2021 Brittany won an award in Art 3 Honors at Hilton Head Island High School from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Competition. The award is called The Golden Key. The Gold Key is one of the hardest awards to win from this art competition. These awards come with hard work and facing challenges to get the art piece just right.

For her artwork, Brittany used a difficult but unique medium and technique. Brittany said, “though cutting through cardboard around the hair was difficult, I think the most challenging part was cutting the butterfly prints precisely with an Exacto knife. However, it was definitely worth it.”

She also explained that her artwork took her weeks to create and finish.

Furthermore, she said "attending HHIHS has expanded my horizons and exposed me to new art forms and techniques. Before attending HHIHS and having Mrs. Dobbelaere as my art teacher, my art was very simple and basic. Now, it has changed due to the techniques, tools, and forms that Mrs. Dobbelaere exposed me to and helped me achieve.”

Brittany is one among many of the 34 awards winners at Hilton Head Island High School, eight winners from May River High School, and students Bluffton High School also won awards.

In an email to the school district, Beaufort County School District Superintendent Dr. Frank Rodriguez said, “it's great to see our students shine through artistic expression,” and “these 48 awards are a testament to not only to our tremendously talented students, but also, to their amazing dedicated art teachers who lead our district’s superb art programs.”

The yearbook is a yearly occurrence that happens at HHIHS that everyone enjoys.

At HHIHS there is a class dedicated to making the yearbook its called Yearbook Production. Mrs. Schoelkopf-Lewis is the teacher that runs Yearbook Production. Mrs. Schoelkopf-Lewis states that her students in the yearbook class contact staff and students, take pictures, write headlines, and design the yearbook pages.

Students work hard in the class to create the yearbook. Some of the things included in the yearbook are sports, senior baby photos, and ads from local businesses. The yearly yearbook at HHIHS takes five months to create feature spreads.

Mrs. Schoelkopf-Lewis states “that you are in production mode from November to March."

She says that “this year we were in production mode from December to April because we had a bit of a leeway this year due to the late start. Then we do a supplement for all the spring sports and prom that are not in the yearbook for spring. The ones we pull usually go to states. This supplement is glued in the back of the yearbook."

Since students need to have the yearbook before school ends, the Yearbook Production class finishes the yearbook three months before school ends.

All students should buy a yearbook every year to have a memory of that school year. This year's yearbook is supposed to come out somewhere near the first week of June.

Tutoring is a helpful outlet for students that need help in any of their classes.

HHIHS provides students with tutoring sessions after school. Mrs. Robinson states that "tutoring is from 3:30 to 4:45 so each tutoring session is an hour and 15 minutes long."

Tutoring is held at the library after school. Tutoring is available for any class.

Mrs. Robinson states, "you can really get help in every subject but sometimes we don't have the teachers for that subject there. If students let us now what they need help with ahead of time we can arrange for a teacher to come.”

Tutoring is for everyone. If you need help come to the Media Center or sign up online.

Mrs. Robinson states, “we recommend to sign up for tutoring ahead of time but it's not required. If a student wants to show up and get help that day they can do that.”

During tutoring students that are behind in classes go to tutoring because they just need a place to sit and do some schoolwork.

Two different teachers go to tutoring each day. Mrs. Robinson says, "there only two teachers a day; it might be foreign language and science one day and the next day could be math and social studies. Most of the teachers are able to help in a lot of different subject areas.”

Tutoring is a great opportunity that HHIHS gives students to help improve their grades or find a space to work on homework.

The Hilton Head Island High School News Show has returned! Due to the pandemic, HHIHS students could not release their daily news show for a semester.

As of February 22, students resumed The News Show and everything is going smoothly. Mr. DeMaio, an English teacher at HHIHS, trained his students to film The News with video cameras and how to use different camera angles.

Mr. DeMaio's first period Journalism 1-2 class produces The News, and has it sent to everyone in the school to view during lunch. Mr. DeMaio provides the cameras for his students and then students go off around the school in small groups to record each advertisement.

Journalism 1 student, Stella Piccoli says, "Some struggles are not filming correctly. Masks are also a struggle, sometimes we have to redo projects so the audience can hear us."

After the Journalism 1 and 2 students finish filming, they deliver the footage to Mr. DeMaio who edits it on iMovie.

The school watches The News during lunch, which is between second and third block. Mr. DeMaio supplies the students with the announcement information, and the students have full independence to make their own skits and advertisements.

Virtual students also participate in The News, by recording their skit at home, or anywhere other than school.

The News is also another great journalism elective at HHIHS.