Columbia Star

1963        Celebrating 60 Years      2023

School Stars


Sixty-seven Richland One orchestra students received either Superior or Excellent ratings for solo and ensemble performances from the South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCEMA). The following students received Superior ratings for solo performances—Ashley Banks, A.C. Moore Elementary; Ameleia Addington-Wu and Kinsley Ellington, Meadowfield Elementary; Oliver Kneas, Martha Adams, Sylvia Glavey, and ZaKayla Pauling, Rosewood Elementary; Sa’Von Goodwin, TaMya Harrison, Sheryl-Lynn Bennett, and Savannah White, Hand Middle; Xavion Boyd-Gray, St. Andrews Middle; Kathryn Adler, Drew Bethune, Sarah Bobertz, Tarun Bulusu, Micah Doberne-Schor, Courtney Jolly, Juliet Jones, Jude Knoepp, Diana Lopez Aguilar, F. Daniel Rose, Jane Semmelmeyer, and Katherine Tam, Dreher High. The following students received Superior ratings for ensemble performances—Samari Robinson and Elisabeth Haught, Satchel Ford Elementary; Elizabeth Choate, Piper Grinton, and Elisabeth Haught, Satchel Ford Elementary; Ashley Banks, Piper Wolfram, and Charlotte Warren, A.C. Moore Elementary; Jacob-Alexander Davis and Aiden Wright – Ryans, Meadowfield Elementary; Ava Sumter and Laurynn Stephney, Meadowfield Elementary; Berkeley McCants and Lucja Chruszcz, Hand Middle; Toriyah Livingston, Gessiah Bostick, Kennedi Watson, and Patrick Tucker, Hand Middle; Sophia Wachtel and Sophie Peay, Hand Middle; Zara Shah-Fuente and Madilyn Dooley, Hand Middle; Henry Kneas and John Greytak, Hand Middle; Courtney Bookert, Lacy Eaddy, Malana Pinckney, and Diana Lopez Aguilar, Dreher High; Amelie Galimba and Jane Semmelmeyer, Dreher High; Alexander Greytak, Micah Doberne-Schor, and Jude Knoepp, Dreher High; Juliet Jones and Kaden Lim, Dreher High; Sarah Bobertz and Kathryn Adler, Dreher High; and Micah Doberne-Schor, Andrew DuBard, Warren Grandmason, Ava Rodriguez, and Thomas White, Dreher High.

The Montessori School of Columbia (MSC) is now an accredited member of the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS). It also is the only South Carolina school accredited by the American Montessori Society (AMS).

Thanks to the district’s dual enrollment program in partnership with Midlands Technical College, Richland One students can get a head start on college classes. This year 59 Richland One students received a certificate or associate degree from Midlands Tech.

Two Richland One school band programs have been named two of the top band programs in South Carolina. Crayton Middle School and Dreher High School were awarded the Outstanding Performance Award from the South Carolina Band Directors Association (SCBDA) for the 2022-2023 school year.

Ninety-two Lexington-Richland School District Five students have been named South Carolina Junior Scholars for the 2022-2023 school year, including Chase Albro, Fatima Abdou Gagara, Fatima Al-Abresm, Omachukwu Anadu, William Appleby, Kennedy Babb, Sawyer Bailey, Logan Best, Thomas Bodie, Isabella Bonavilla, Braelyn Byars, Savannah Campbell, Tamlin Cantrell, Mackenzie Carlander, Chandler Cochran, Megan Coleman, Zachary Cooley, James Cowherd, Ava Culler, Giap Dao, Jorden Davis, Ahmed Farhani, Taja Fletcher, Victor Fowler, Trent Frisk, Anthony Fu, Jillian Galloway, Clinton Gentry, Evien Glover, Benjamin Godfrey, Dalton Gravelle, Mallory Greene, Sophie Hall, Caden Hamm, Chasen Hartenstine, Daniel Helms, Kyle Hepps, Stephen Hill, Robert Hood, Riley Hunt, Tyler Jackson, Owen Jackson, Kristen Ihrie, Ansley Ihrie, Elias Johnson, Greer Johnson, Claire Ju, Owen Kammerer, Gabriel Keller, Weston Lea, Aubrea Lee, Amelia Leon, Madeline Linder, Hampton Long, Taryn Lybrand, Sariya Martin, Landon Mills, Hafza Osman, Katie Palmer, Lucy Pruitt, Jacob Quinones, James Remillard, Keenan Reynolds, Sarah Rives, Ayden Robinson, Jackson Roy, Grayson Ruff, Matthew Ruppe, Madeline Rutherford, Lorelei Sakocius, Anna Shelley, Ruhao Shen, Seomegeun Shim, Leoga Sikod, Luke Simon, Landon Slice, Olivia Somerville, Vista Sotudeh Chafi, Audrey Stewart, Aubrey Stillwell, Kylie Taylor, Sarah Thompson, Adam Thur, Lilah Torres, Daniel Wang, William Wang, Kendall Webster, James Weed, Sarah Wildt, Porter Wilhelm, Zhixuan Xu, and Soyeon Yeom.

 Lexington-Richland School District Five has named Roy Frick the assistant director of Career and Technical Education.

On March 2, Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon challenged students in prekindergarten through eighth grade to read 750,000 books by May 5. If students met or exceeded that goal, Dr. Witherspoon promised the top elementary school and middle school students would have the opportunity to dunk him in a dunk tank. The results of the 2023 Superintendent’s Book Club Challenge are in—students exceeded the goal by reading 1,046,651 books.

 Ebonee Davis (Dutch Fork High) was named a winner of this year’s National Merit $2,500 Scholarship.

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