Beaufort's Riverview Charter School is one of five South Carolina schools that have submitted an entry as part of Bing's "Our School Needs" contest.
More than 275 entries from across the country have been submitted in the contest that ultimately will award $250,000 to four schools, including $100,000 to the top winner. The other South Carolina entries have come from Columbia, Charleston, Greenville and Rock Hill.
The Bing contest asks the schools to come up with an essay, submit photos and even a video highlighting what the school "needs."
Of the entries, 15 will move on to the next round based on reviews from the public, and Riverview is asking supports to go online and give their app 5 stars.
Here's a portion of Riverview's application:
For the ‘Our School Needs’ competition, Riverview selected a partnership with an Expeditionary Learning program in order to implement our school’s mission in a rich and meaningful way. Expeditionary Learning, established seventeen (17) years ago and founded on the principles of Outward Bound, works with its partner schools to develop a comprehensive school development model centered on five (5) core practices – learning expeditions, active pedagogy, school culture and character, leadership and school improvement and structures. These practices work in concert and support one another to promote high achievement through active learning, character growth, and teamwork. Utilizing the funds from the Our School Needs competition, Riverview would purchase a partnership with Expeditionary Learning.
And here's how the judging works:
Entries will be rated by the public and the top 15 highest rated entries (5 in each category – K-6, 7-9, 10-12) will advance to the judging phase. Then 15 additional entries will be selected by the Bing editorial committee, making it a total of 30 entries that will qualify for judging. The judges will review these 30 entries and select 15 to move on to the final voting round. During the final voting round, the public will vote for their favorite, and the school whose entry receives the most votes will win the $100,000 first prize. The school whose entry receives the most votes in each category, K-6, 7-9, 10-12, will each receive a $50,000 second prize.
Supporters of Riverview have until Oct. 24 to rate the entries, and the finalists will be announced on Oct. 27, which then will trigger another round of voting.
The Riverview submission can be viewed and rated here.
Riverview, Beaufort County's first charter school, celebrated its 1-year anniversary in August.
Bing of course is a Microsoft-produced search engine.