<b>USCB, TCL named to list of top military-friendly schools</b>

The University of South Carolina Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcountry have earned spots on BestColleges.com's recently-released list of "America's Top Military-Friendly Colleges," specifically the sub-list "Best Colleges for Veterans.”

The site says the featured schools "go above and beyond in their approach to veterans and military families by offering additional services which include financial-aid opportunities beyond the norm, special counseling services, veteran-oriented career consulting and much more."

<b>2016 Summer Institute welcomes </b><b>1,000-plus educators for workshops</b>

More than 1,000 Beaufort County School District teachers and staff attended three days of intensive professional development training as they prepared for the first day of classes on Monday, Aug. 15.

The district’s ninth annual Summer Institute, which was held at Bluffton High School and H.E. McCracken Middle School, featured more than 250 sessions.

Workshops covered a broad range of topics, including using technology to engage more students in reading; improving classroom management; employing Twitter as an instructional and a communications tool; using physical objects to teach abstract mathematical concepts; creating effective classroom tests; employing Rosetta Stone to learn foreign languages online; and training coaches in CPR and basic first aid.

“Student achievement in Beaufort County has improved dramatically in recent years, and a critical component in maintaining that improvement will be effective professional development for teachers and staff,” said Superintendent Jeff Moss.

N’Kia Campbell, who coordinates professional development for the district, said that the Summer Institute’s goal is to take research-based instructional concepts and make them work in school classrooms.

“It’s about exploring ideas and strategies that can be a bit abstract, then translating those ideas and strategies into real-world practices that connect with students and help them learn,” Campbell said.

<b>Solicitor helps students </b><b>prepare for law school</b>

Charlotte Loper hasn’t even started law school, but she already has courtroom experience.

Loper, who graduated from Bluffton High in 2012, and attended the University of South Carolina where she earned undergraduate degrees in political science and criminal justice, was one of four students to complete this summer’s Externship and Career Prosecutor Program through the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

After eight weeks of working in a busy prosecutor’s office. Loper will now head to North Carolina, where she begins her first year at Wake Forest University School of Law.

“This experience just solidified the career path that I wanted to follow,” Loper said. “We were able to trial board the cases and it was a real team effort.”

This marks the fourth year the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office has opened its doors to undergraduate students and law students for a hands-on experience. Selected students work cases from arrest to disposition.

Phillips plans to graduate this winter and take the state’s bar exam in February 2017.

To learn more about the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office Externship and Career Prosecutor Program, visit www.scsolicitor14.org.

[caption id="attachment_29466" align="aligncenter" width="640"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/loper.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-29466"><img class="size-full wp-image-29466" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/loper.jpg" alt="From left, Shane S. Scibelli and Kevin M. Phillips, both of the Charleston School of Law; Charlotte Loper of Wake Forest University School of Law; and Patrick Sancomb of the Savannah Law School recently completed an intensive eight-week externship with the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office." width="640" height="379" /></a> From left, Shane S. Scibelli and Kevin M. Phillips, both of the Charleston School of Law; Charlotte Loper of Wake Forest University School of Law; and Patrick Sancomb of the Savannah Law School recently completed an intensive eight-week externship with the Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor’s Office.[/caption]