SUMTER, S.C. — A Sumter group is kicking off its annual effort to collect school supplies for children in need.
The Item of Sumter reports that United Ministries of Sumter is starting to collect items including book bags, glue sticks and binders on Monday.
The group says it hopes to pack 1,800 book bags full of supplies for kids in need this week and next week. Monetary donations are also accepted.
Last year, the group created more than 1,800 school kits and donated an additional 355 book bags to Sumter’s two school districts.
Volunteers are sorting and stuffing the bags later this month. The school district picks up the filled bags Aug. 5.
Tags: School Supplies, Sumter Group, Supplies
COLUMBIA — In just over a month, a two day social media conference is set to descend on the Capital City to help users make sense out of art of online communication.
The SocialCrush is a series of workshops covering everything from the basics to the best tips and practices on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other popular forms of social media.
Organizers are here in Columbia this week for a preview of the event that will take place August 16 and 17 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
“We’re so looking forward to coming back. I can’t wait,” says President Tim Moore. “In fact, I was telling the folks here at WACH that we can’t wait to get back here and start the conference on the 16th.”
If you’re interested in attending, you can sign up for sessions here.
You can also enter a t-shirt design into the Social Crush contest. Click here to find out more.
Tags: Conference, Social Media
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Clemson University has again selected former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins as the chairman of its board of trustees.
The board voted unanimously Friday during a meeting in Charleston to select the former South Carolina lawmaker for a two-year term.
The Greenville native was first elected to the board in 2007. He holds a history degree from Clemson and was captain of the school’s tennis team. He has also served on the university’s Board of Visitors.
Wilkins also earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina and is a partner at the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough law firm.
Also at Friday’s meeting, Clemson’s trustees approved an $815 million budget. Officials say that amount includes a 2.2 percent increase in total revenues and expenditures.
Tags: Chairman
COLUMBIA — The use of social media to teach and promote French has earned a University of South Carolina associate professor knighthood by the French government.
Dr. Lara Lomicka Anderson, a faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been honored by France’s Ministry of Education with the Chevalier dans lordre des Palmes Academiques
The order was established by Napoleon Bonaparte and is one of the world’s oldest orders of knighthood. I
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Tags: Knighthood
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Educators say South Carolina’s new budget adds money to classrooms and school buses and could ease problems in school schools around the state.
Public education spending accounts for more than a third of the $6 billion general fund spending plan that took effect Friday. And it survived all but one of Gov. Nikki Haley’s budget vetoes with Legislature overriding by overwhelming margins.
The budget adds $12.4 million for school buses, $20 million to deal with flaws in the statewide school funding formula and $56 million in additional per-student spending.
But legislators and Gov. Nikki Haley did scrap a SAT improvement program.
Scott Price of the South Carolina School Boards Association says that doesn’t seem to mesh with the thinking that SAT test scores are a measuring stick for the state.
Tags: Budget Adds, School