Education notebook | Myrtle Beach school learns banking from its neighbor

Students at Myrtle Beach Elementary School saw banking in action last week as classes took tours at South Atlantic Bank, its next-door neighbor.

The bank has been holding four class tours each morning for the last several days so that students could see everything from coin and cash counters to the vault. Along the way, they learned the banking process, which ties into lessons the second- and third-graders have been studying on money and savings.

Barbara Marshall, the bank’s vice president and director of marketing, said this is the second year the bank has held the tours, and more than 10 members of the staff volunteer as tour guides. She said 683 students came through last year, and they expect about the same number this year once the tours had ended Friday.

On Wednesday, Kelly Preciado’s third-grade class took their tour, and several students remembered facts about the bank from taking last year’s tour. They eagerly answered questions posed by Anne Cote, branch manager and tour guide, and were particularly impressed with the vault and the boardroom chairs, which Marshall and Cote said held true with other classes.

“We get all kinds of questions,” Cote said, adding that students have asked everything from whether they can work there when they grow up to what they do about criminals and bank robberies. “I think they are reassured when they come in and see the bank. We talk a lot about safety and security, not just money, but keeping people safe.”

Teal Britton, Horry County Schools spokesperson, said field trips allow students to see parts of adult life that they never get to see.

“Our study trips provide an onsite, realistic picture of what students talk about inside the classroom, and some kids just don’t have the opportunity to see those things,” Britton said. “It helps them draw connections they might not otherwise have a chance to do.”

Britton said in addition to banks, students visit places such as farms, the Playcard Environmental Education Center, hospitals (for health majors) – even the former Pavilion provided a physics lesson, applied in the amusement park, where a class learned how the rides worked.

Students on the tours at South Atlantic received study materials on saving and currency, as well as a piggy bank with a quarter each. The bank also will hold an art contest where students will draw a picture of something in the bank. Bank staff members will choose eight winners who each will receive a $50 savings bond and a letter from the bank president.

Georgetown County charter school to hold drop-in

Coastal Montessori Charter School will hold its Family Meet & Greet today from 4-6 p.m. at Waccamaw Middle School, 247 Wildcat Way, Pawleys Island (off Willbrook Boulevard, near Reunion Hall).

The drop-in will be an opportunity for families to meet one another as preparations begin for the new school’s opening in August, as well as check out the school wing where CMCS will be housed for its first year.

Families that are enrolled and those on the waiting list are encouraged to attend. There will be refreshments, activities for kids and Montessori videos, and the planning committee will be on hand to answer questions. Students also are encouraged to bring a photo of themselves to add to the school’s family bulletin board.

Dinner dance to support music at Socastee High School

Socastee High School will hold its annual Jazz Dinner Dance Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at Ocean Lakes Family Campground, 6001 U.S. 17 Business S., Surfside Beach, and proceeds will fund the school’s music programs in which about 100 students participate.

For a $10 donation, each person will receive a spaghetti dinner from Anthony’s Pizza of Surfside Beach, as well as a silent auction. Live jazz will be provided by the Socastee High Jazz Ambassadors.

Forestbrook Elementary School up for National Blue Ribbon award

A belated congratulations goes out to Forestbrook Elementary School, one of five S.C. schools to be named a finalist for the 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award.

The program is run by the U.S. Department of Education and honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. All five nominees have more than 50 percent of students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, have exemplary high performance and have notably smaller performance gaps between subgroups than schools serving similar populations.

South Carolina is allowed to nominate five schools per federal guidelines, and each of those schools has to make Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act for the past two years in order to qualify for the program.