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Why are we always thirsty after eating salty food, like potato chips? Southland Academy sixth grader, Jordan Sanders, explores this concept for her science class. She has cut three slices of raw potato. One slice she placed in a cup with plain water, the second slice she placed in a cup with one teaspoonful of salt dissolved in water, and the third was placed in a cup with two teaspoons of salt dissolved in the water.

After 50 minutes, the class observed that the slice in the solution with the most salt seemed very limp and smaller. The class concluded that the salt must have drawn the water out of the potato--the same thing that happens in our stomachs when we eat very salty food.

Southland held its semi-annual Career Day at Central Baptist Church Friday, March 5th. Juniors and seniors were given the opportunity to hear panelist from the fields of business, service, legal, medical, arts, engineering and technology, and education. Many of the panelist were Southland Academy graduates.

Southland's STAR Student, Vivek Kothari, was recently named the Sumter County STAR student. Congratulations Vivek!

As the Business Law class studied about Renting Realty, they were fortunate to have a visitor who is a Southland graduate and present parent come and speak to the class. Mrs. Mary Kathryn Davis was able to enlighten the class on the perspective from being a landlord. She emphasized important points about signing a lease and the required procedure for eviction. The class enjoyed Mrs. Davis' visit and appreciated her patience in answering their questions.

Bud Wilkinson, a local representative of the Gideon's, recently handed out New Testament Bibles to all of Southland's fifth grade students.

Southland held its annual Jump Rope for Heart Thursday, March 4th. Students in grades 1 through 5 raised money for this worthy cause and then enjoyed having an afternoon of fun jumping rope and doing other activities in the gym.

Local dentist and Southland graduate, Ray Duke visited the 3-year old kindergarten students recently. Dr. Duke discussed three important things you should remember. 1. Brush your teeth; 2. Eat healthy; and 3. Visit your dentist regularly

Mrs. Melanie Mathis, Director of Development, Mrs. Karen McClung, Business Manager, and Mrs. Jane Odom, Administrative Assistant, were arrested and locked up for "good." The three were arrested and taken to the Windsor Hotel where they made calls to friends and associates to help "bail" them out of jail. As a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the three Southland employees raised over $1700 for MDA.

Captain Ralph Stuart, Chief Investigator for the Sumter Co. Sheriff's Department, recently visited our campus and spoke to the Business Law class about criminal law and criminal law procedures. The class enjoyed him sharing his expertise in this field. He patiently answered questions using applicable examples. Southland appreciates Captain Stuart sharing his time with us! Members of the Business Law class taught by Mrs. Judy Wills are Christian Felton, Carrie Hawkins, Drasti Patel, Megan Pilcher, Stephany Reyes, Amber Roberts, and Taylor Templin.

The 11th grade Advanced Placement and regular United States History classes that Mrs. Susan Welch teachers at Southland Academy were visited recently by President Theodore Roosevelt as portrayed by actor Bob Hodder. Hodder gave his presentation of Theodore Roosevelt from his birth to the presidency. The program was sponsored by the National Park Service for Presidents' Day. Also in attendance were National Park rangers, Gary Ingram and Anna Williams, and Plains National Historic Site Education Director, Mrs. Annette Wise.

While studying and learning how to write the letter "m", Southland's 3-year olds were treated with a visit to McDonald's. Pictured here are both classes with the thank you card they wrote to the manager of McDonald's.

The Southland varsity boys' 200 freestyle relay team broke the GISA State Record at the Championships in Atlanta Saturday. Their new mark, 1:32.84, knocked almost a full second off the record set in 2006 by Riverside Military Academy, and almost two seconds off Southland's school record. Southland Academy and Mt. de Sales co-hosted the meet at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta. (Pictured are relay team members Joseph Cornwell, Jay Buchanan, Aaron Pryor, and Eric Bruns)

Our varsity boys placed 3rd in the team standings out of 20 teams. Southland's JV boys were 4th and the JV girls were 5th. Taylor Carnes, 6th grader, placed 1st in the 50 free and 50 back and 2nd in the 100 free. Walter Cornwell, 8th grader, placed 1st in the 100 IM, 100 free, and 50 breast. Congratulations to all our swim team members!

The tournament champions were Southland's 5th & 6th grade boys' basketball team led by Coach Dwayne Harvey at Saturday's day of games. The boys were undefeated for this year's season.

All living things have a body plan, called symmetry. One type of plan is a radial symmetry where the parts of the body seem to radiate from a center ir circle. To practice this Mrs. Cindy Williams' seventh grade Life Science class at Southland Academy had fun making snowflakes with radial symmetry. Pictured with her radial snowflake is Avery Hart.