Riverwalk Roar

Pride,

Before I share with you my thoughts of the week, I wanted to take a moment to let you know how "loved" we're feeling. Our re-enrollment window closed two weeks ago and 98% of our families completed the re-enrollment process and indicated that "yes, my student will be returning for the 22 - 23 school year." By doing this, it essentially secures their child's seat for the upcoming school year. In addition to those who are reenrolling, as of Thursday, we have had over 150 new students apply for the upcoming school year. Thank you all for putting your faith and trust in Riverwalk Academy and thank you all for carrying the banner in a manner that lets others in the community want to become members of our Pride.

I do recognize that many of our families have a lot of things going on this evening and the "Riverwalk Roar" is the last thing on their mind. Between tomorrow being Valentine's Day, and tonight's exciting matchup between the Rams and Bengals, and even more exciting halftime show, we all are a bit preoccupied. Because of this, I'll be brief.

I wanted to take a moment to give Ms. Kayla Bumgarner a big shoutout. Ms. Bumgarner joined us in January as our marketing and enrollment coordinator. As many of you remember, we rolled-over our website last Fall and we made the decision to building it from scratch (instead of just moving all the pages over). We wanted out content to be fresh, relevant, and most importantly, accurate. Over the past few weeks, Ms. Bumgarner has been creating new content for us that answers the question, "Who is Riverwalk Academy."

I wanted to share a few documents that helps answer this question for everyone:

• Riverwalk Academy Brochure
• Our Core Commitments
• Fast Facts
• PBL Press Release

These documents can be found by visiting Riverwalk Academy, and then clicking the menu button.

I hope each of you has a great evening and a wonderful week.

In Strength and Blessings,

~Dr. Compton

This week's photo is of Lexi Brookshire (3rd) and Ms. McCray. Lexi received a "positive" office referral on 2/8/22 from her teacher Ms. Carney for taking the initiative to clean up her classroom.

We're asking that our families assist us in managing everyone's status by using this form when your child shows symptoms, tests positive, is a close contact, or is a household close contact. The data shared with us is kept confidential. After completing this form, you'll receive an email or phone call from Nurse Donna to discuss your child's specific isolation/quarantining plan.

Linked here is Riverwalk Academy's COVID Dashboard. This COVID dashboard is updated by 3:00 pm each school day. This dashboard can also be found on our website.

We've received a few questions about our dashboard, so I wanted to provide an explanation for everyone. Click here for an explanation of our COVID data.

Riverwalk Academy is a "bring your own lunch" school where students are encouraged to bring their own lunches. We do offer a fee-based lunch program that is not income-contingent. Our fee-based lunch program is provided by Golden Corral. For more information about this option, please click here.

Pride, if you haven't done so, please take a moment to check out our new and improved website. From the main page, you have immediate access to the latest news, and up to date calendar.

Each week, we'll showcase one of our seniors from our inaugural graduating class. #Classof2022

If you would like to purchase a yearbook for 2021-22 for your student(s) - please follow this link: http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A02183267

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Dwana Tillman (dtillman@riverwalkacademy.com) or Mrs. Kathryn Carr (kcarr@riverwalkacademy.com).

Greetings everyone! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and enjoyed our one day of springlike weather on Saturday. I was able to take a beautiful walk with my son and our dogs.

This week I was able to do several lessons with The Crayon Box that Talked and Say Something. I also was able to hang some of the class work from the lessons. It is so much fun to fill the halls with the students’ work. It brings color and joy to the halls and the students to see their work hanging up. In the coming weeks, we will be having another door decorating contest. The teachers and students really show their creativity and it is exciting to see it. During our professional development on Friday, we talked about how the Energy Bus is moving along - sometimes slower than we wish, but with the art and creativity hanging up - it brings more positivity to keep the bus going.

Administration and myself have been working on making sure our staff knows they are supported, heard and included as passengers on our Energy Bus. Sometimes we feel we are alone but we are all on this positive road together. We hope our parents also know how supported they are. It may be hard at times to get us on the phone, but we all read our emails and it is the best way to get through to us. Please always reach out to your students’ teachers first, as they spend the most time with them and have first hand knowledge of the happenings in the classroom. If the teacher doesn’t reply or you need more support or information, after hearing from the teacher, please feel free to reach out to the administration or myself. If we wish to all be passengers on the Energy Bus and all collaborate to give the students their best education possible, we need to communicate clearly and kindly. All of our emails are listed on the website.

In closing, I want to give a shout out to my fellow counselor, Mrs. Menges, and my wonderful coworkers. This past week was National School Counselor week and they surprised Mrs. Menges and I with a beautiful certificate of appreciation and matching sweatshirts on Friday. Look for us wearing them together one day soon!!

Thank you for making my job such a wonderful daily experience and bringing positivity to my bus.

Love,

Mrs. Carr

Thank you for all that you do for our students and our community. We truly have appreciated your support over the last few weeks. We are halfway through the third nine weeks already!! Your students are working hard and are making gains daily.

We need your assistance in one matter. We have had several students who have wanted to bring their own devices to school. We are asking for you to assist us by reminding your student that we are not allowing this for several reasons. At Riverwalk Academy, we believe technology is a tool to supplement the core instruction students receive daily. We have firewalls and some websites blocked since they can be distractions to students and open students to more online presence. When students bring their own devices they are able to bypass our safety nets and this has created a disruption to the learning environment and also makes it so that we cannot monitor your students' online presence during the school day. Additionally, we do not want a student's personal device to get damaged or missing at school, therefore, the safest place for it to be is at home. Finally, we have invested in purchasing enough Chromebook so that each student can have one in class to work on, when the instruction requires it. We appreciate your support and as always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Warmly,

Dr. Christy Dempsey

If you would like to purchase a yearbook for 2021-22 for your student(s) - please follow this link: http://jostensyearbooks.com/?REF=A02183960

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Caroline Menges (cmenges@riverwalkacademy.com) or Mrs. Alyssa Snipes (asnipes@riverwalkacademy.com).

Hello everyone!

If you know me, you know I LOVE warm weather, so this Saturday was amazing for me. I hope you all were able to take advantage of the awesome weather and get outside! I will say this week will probably bring more cold as Mr. Groundhog said a couple weeks ago that we’ll have a little longer with winter weather. Everyone stay warm and don’t forget to bring your jackets with you to school! This week I do not have any updates or things to know for our middle/high students. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

-All students: KEEP UP THE HARD WORK! Also make sure you all purchase a yearbook by February 21st if you want to be guaranteed a yearbook this year!

Mrs. Menges

10th Graders, please get your ring orders in soon so they'll arrive in time for Ring Ceremony. Visit jostens.com for more information. Questions should be directed to Ms. Born.

Seniors, we have our meeting with HG Global on Thursday at 2:00 pm to discuss the senior gift. If you're planning on attending, please reach out to Ms Krebs or Ms. Born.

Monday: 2/14/22

• Track Information Meeting: 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm in Coach Wilson's Room (Coach Arizmendi)

Tuesday: 2/15/22

• Beginning Band, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (Johnston)
• Track Practice: 3:15 - 4:45 pm (Coach Arizmendi)
• Board Workshop: 5:30 pm - 6:45 pm
• Board Meeting: 7:00 pm

Wednesday: 2/16/22

• Advanced Band, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (Johnston)
• Track Practice: 3:15 - 4:45 pm (Coach Arizmendi)
• Spirit Cheer Pictures: 3:20 pm (Kunde)

Thursday: 2/17/22

• Beginning Band, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm (Johnston)
• Track Practice: 3:15 - 4:45 pm (Coach Arizmendi)

Friday: 2/18/22

• Teacher Workday - No school for students
• BPA Meeting: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm (Girard)

Monday: 2/21/22

• No School - Presidents Day

The Mission of Riverwalk Academy is to lead students to achieve through authentic project-based learning experiences with the knowledge and inquiry skills they need to succeed in life, college, and their future careers.

Email: info@riverwalkacademu.com
Website: https://www.riverwalkacademy.com/
Location: 5750 Mount Gallant Road, Rock Hill, SC, USA
Phone: (803) -327-8400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riverwalkacademy
Twitter: @riverwalklions