The HHIHS School Improvement Council also won an award this year. They won the SC-SIC’s fourth annual "Award of Merit for SIC Report to the Parents." This was announced during an online awards ceremony on May 1st. There is a state law that requires each SIC in South Carolina to prepare and release a "Report to the Parents" every spring. This report informs the school community about the progress of achieving school improvement goals.

The last breaking news story is HHIHS's 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year and Staff Member of the Year! The Teacher of the Year is Ms. Bejan, who is a Special Education teacher. The staff member of the year is Mr. Sykes who is the Theater Technician.

HHIHS is ending the school year with a lot of great news!

HHIHS was able to perform a musical this spring.

Matilda: The Musical was produced by Ms. Guinn and her theater students. It has been in production since January 2020 and was supposed to be performed the week that school got shut down for COVID-19 last year. The show lost all its senior actors so they had to re-cast some main roles. The Seahawk Theater Company had to redo most of the musical, but they started rehearsing in March. All their actors and staff totaled to 40 people.

Ms. Guinn explains the plot, “Matilda is a young girl bullied by her classmates and her principal Mrs. Trunchbull; she's a smart kid and she develops powers. She uses those powers to defeat those bullies and she gets to live happily ever after."

The seating capacity operated at a 40% or 200 seats per show in the school auditorium, also known as The Seahawk Cultural Center. Families were able to sit next to each other, but friends had to sit two seats apart because of the social distancing protocols. Any young children were able sit next to their parents, temperatures were taken when the audience entered the building in order to comply with COVID-19 safety rules.

The audience was able to purchase tickets virtually on the theater website which is www.hhihstheater.org.

Ms. Guinn says, “The musical ran two hours long with a 15 minute intermission to buy snacks.” There are also no ticket fees for children two and under for HHIHS theater productions.

Matilda: The Musical opened April 22 and ran through April 25. Each show started 7pm, but Sunday the matinee started at 2 pm.

The audience seemed to enjoy the show as each night was sold out and the audience laughed, and interacted with the cast.

The Seahawk Theater Company staged another great show and HHIHS is looking forward to the 2021-2022 theater season.

The senior yard signs are made to show support to the seniors and because they have missed out on many activities due to the pandemic. There are 300 seniors and each one will be getting a sign. Parents and teachers have volunteered to put the signs out for the seniors. They will put them on their front lawns. This was all made possible by our PTSO and principal who all decided to do this. This is a new tradition for HHIHS having been done this last year. Seniors went through a lot this year and the Seahawk nation wants them to feel special. Senior yard signs will be delivered the week of May 24th.

The week of April 19, 2021 HHIHS honored those service men and women who defend our country. During this week, HHIHS held a spirit week. Mr. Schidrich stated that “this was an event that started this year and will hopefully continue for years to come."

Mr. Schidrich stated that “the idea originated at the district office and was for all schools in the Beaufort County School District."

Mr. Schidrich said that it was “important to do especially in Beaufort County because we have two military installations in our county and we have multiple students from military families."

For the first day of the military spirit week students and staff could wear a shirt that represented a branch of the military. The second day was the colors red, white, and blue to represent the colors of the United States flag. Wednesday was camo day.

Mr. Schidrich stated that we wore camo to represent the uniform the many service members from the different branches wear. Thursday was purple shirt day because this color is recognized nationally as the color to honor military families. Friday was red day because this color represents those who are currently deployed in combat zones.

Hilton Head Island High school is a proud supporter of our military forces.

What is School Choice you may be wondering?

Each school in Beaufort County has a choice program that out of zone families can choose to send their children. The School Choice for Hilton Head High School's perspective is the International Baccalaureate Program that is to offered students. Other schools such as, Bluffton High School and May River have the AP Capstone program.

Mr. Schidrich gives an example of School Choice as “if you were a Bluffton student and you wanted to go out of zone and go to Hilton Head Island High School because you wanted to take the IB program then you would apply for School Choice.”

Mr. Schidrich also states “you are able to get to a school outside of your zone because they have a program that you are interested in."

School Choice helps students and their families “to choose an educational pathway that meets their interests and goals. So if you are not in the school zone of HHIHS and are interested in the IB program you can apply for the school of choice. However, sometimes our school enrollment numbers may limit the amount of out zone students coming to HHIHS," he said.

The School Choice application is usually available in the spring because typically during the month of February and March. However, this year the window for School Choice is March 1 through April 15. The reason for the cutoff date is to allow the staff of HHIHS plan our master schedule and staffing needs for the next school year.

School Choice has been around in the Beaufort County school district "for nearly eight years" said Mr. Schidrich.

Some important breaking news from Hilton Head Island High School to end the school year. The HHIHS School Improvement Council (SIC) has been busy this school year and the SIC was able to achieve several goals, and the teacher of the year has been announced!

The first SIC goal achieved was HHIHS's ranking in the U.S. News & World Report rankings for Best High Schools. This report had data from 24,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the D.C. area. 18,000 schools of the 24,000 were "ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college" said Hilton Head Island High School principal Mr. Schidrich.

The factors for ratings are: College Readiness, Math and Reading Proficiency, Math and Reading Performance, Underserved Student Performance, College Curriculum Breadth, and Graduation Rate.

Mr. Schidrich announced the week of May 9, 2021 that "Hilton Head Island High School was the #1 high school in Beaufort County. HHIHS is ranked #10 in the state of South Carolina out of 243 high schools. Finally, HHIHS is ranked #1,588 in the nation with 24,000 high schools in the U.S. getting evaluated, and the 17,857 receiving a rating. Therefore, HHIHS is in the top 7% (out of 24,000), or top 9% out of 17,857 schools being evaluated."