Last year, Siqi Fang, an eighth grader at Hanahan Middle School in Berkeley County, didn’t make it to the Spellbound! Bee, the Lowcountry’s only regional bee officially sanctioned by the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

She was knocked out of the competition at the district level.

This year, standing under the beaming spotlights at Charleston Southern University’s Lightsey Chapel, her left palm turned upwards to mimic her college ruled paper and her right hand holding an imaginary pen, Fang spelled the winning word.

“F-E-R-R-U-G-I-N-O-U-S,” she said, meaning of, relating to or containing iron.

All eyes glued to center stage, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.

The contest had gone down from 30 students to two: the other was Zachary Teachman, a student at Thomas C. Carlo Middle School in Charleston County.

Teachman was given the word “epenthesis,” which is defined as the insertion of a sound or letter in the body of a word.

The bell, notorious for sending rows of competitors to sit on the other side of the stage to watch the remaining spellers, followed, echoing throughout the chapel.

Suddenly, the bee sting on Fang’s right finger that had pestered her the past few days felt obsolete.

“I was kind of nervous,” Fang told The Post and Courier after posing for myriad photos with her winning trophy. “My competitor was also really good.”

Fang would have to spell the word correctly along with one final word to win.

“This year she seemed to be more comfortable on stage,” Fang’s mother, Cui He, told The Post and Courier.

“I’m maturing,” Fang interjected proudly.

Students go through an intense series of elimination rounds to compete in Spellbound! They have to win their school and district spelling bees to qualify. More than 40,000 students compete for the finals.

The contest this year marked the bee’s 31st anniversary and represented students from Charleston, Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester 2 and 4 school districts, the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, and S.C. Independent School Association.

The Post and Courier is a sponsor of Spellbound!

The winner advances to the virtual preliminary rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Those who make it through the virtual preliminaries go to National Harbor, Md., to compete for the champion title.

HANAHAN, S.C. (WCBD) – The owner of a fitness training company in Hanahan that has been working with kids and adults for a few years is calling on the community to help keep his business open.

Kendrick Robinson opened The Factory Sports and Fitness Training in Hanahan a year before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States to help train people in basketball, football, and other athletics.

“It was something that God brought to me. He gave me a vision,” said Robinson. “I wanted to have a facility where the youth in our community could (better) selves and have a safe place where they can come and train.”

“He always helps out. He helps out with kids like schoolwork and stuff like that before training,” said Christian Gray, who has been coming to the program for four years.

Robinson said working with the youth is his passion. But things have been tough financially, he said.

“Our rates are really not expensive, but if they’re not able to do training, we try to do charitable giving would give out free sessions,” explained Robinson.

He went on to say, “We kind of gotten [sic] to a rough patch since Covid. We had a business plan, and it kind of altered all of that, and we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”

Robinson decided Sunday to let the public know they might have to close next month and started a GoFundMe in hopes of finding some assistance.

“Not something I wanted to go public with, but closed mouths don’t get fed. God revealed that to me, he told me to make sure I keep this place open and get the help that we needed from the community. The response has been, man amazing.”

More than $2,500 has already come in from the community, of the $10,000 they need.

“It’s been amazing to get all the feedback and support from the supporters we’ve had over the years and knowing that we’re doing the right thing just by being transparent with the community and letting them know that it hasn’t always been easy.”

If you would like to help, please click here.

HANAHAN, S.C. (HOLY CITY SINNER) — Press Release

SeamonWhiteside (SW+), a full-service site design firm throughout the Carolinas, is nearing completion of the brand-new Hanahan Recreation Complex.

This multi-use recreation project is the first to open since the City of Hanahan’s large population growth over the last several years and is a much-needed addition to the community.

The new complex located in Hanahan off of Henry Brown Boulevard and adjacent to Bowen’s Corner Elementary School, will bring great value to the City’s residents and the Berkeley County School District with many added facilities and recreational uses.

SeamonWhiteside is the lead consultant on this $12M+ project and has worked closely with the City of Hanahan since 2016.

The firm provided Programming/Master Planning, Budgeting Assistance, CDs, Permitting, Bid Administration and Procurement, and Construction Administration.

The complex will offer dog parks, walking trails, courts for tennis, volleyball, and basketball, a playground, a multi-purpose recreation building, public parking, restrooms, picnic areas including a covered pavilion, and synthetic and natural sports fields.

“The project is nearing the finish line, and we can’t wait for the City of Hanahan residents to experience what we’ve been working on over the last several years. Located just steps away from Bowen’s Corner Elementary School, this will be a convenient and accessible resource for the community,” says Jennifer Palmer, Director of the SeamonWhiteside Summerville Office. “A fun fact about this project was the property used to be owned by the Federal Government Joint Base Charleston and was part of an old blast zone for testing missiles. All of the natural wetlands remain undisturbed and we utilized a timber bridge, designed by York Bridges, with a very natural park-like aesthetic for the road crossing spanning the wetland to join the two sides of the complex. It is thrilling to see it all come to life and I cannot wait to see it being utilized by the community.”

SeamonWhiteside worked closely on this project with Southeastern Surveying, ECS, Critical Systems Engineering, McSweeney Engineers, and architect Chris Karpus.

The Hanahan Recreation Complex began construction in June 2021 and is now nearing completion, with an expected finish and open date in early 2023.

To learn more about SeamonWhiteside, visit www.seamonwhiteside.com.

Hanahan High School’s next football coach has won better than 72 percent of his games in three Peach State stops as a head coach, including one state championship.

Milan Turner has certainly been around a lot of winning football going back nearly three decades.

Counting his time as an assistant coach in the mid-1990s, Turner has been on the sideline for six state championship games with five programs. Two of those won it all in Georgia, where he’s coached his whole career until now.

“We are elated to welcome Coach Turner to the Hawk family,” Hanahan High Principal Tom Gallus said. “Our community is very fortunate to have a coach of this caliber to lead and develop our student-athletes on and off the field. Coach Turner is a proven educator and leader. He knows what it takes to build a successful high school football program and to ensure that each student is prepared for their next steps after high school. I look forward to serving alongside Coach Turner and seeing our Hawks shine under the Friday night lights.”

Most recently, though, Turner was on the college level for one season, serving as the director of high school relations for the Georgia Southern football program.

Before Georgia Southern, where he earned his undergraduate and Master’s degrees, Turner compiled a 112-43 mark over 13 seasons as a head coach for three Georgia programs: Emanuel County (2005-10), Thomson (2011-13) and Veterans (2018-21). Turner’s teams won 65 games in six seasons at Emanuel, claiming the Class A crown in 2007 and finishing runner-up in 2008. He was 24-10 at Thomson and 23-21 at Veterans, both marks skewed heavily by one rough season.

In between Thomson and Veterans, Turner was on staff at Coffee High School for four seasons. Coffee was the Class 6A runner-up in 2017. He was also an assistant for the Class 4A state champion at Warner Robins in 2004 and played for state titles as an assistant at 2A Fitzgerald in 2000 and 2A Screven County in 1994.

Turner takes the reins from interim coach Steve Blanchard, who guided the Hawks for most of the season after Art Craig stepped away mid-season and eventually retired.

Last fall, Hanahan started off 6-1 and dropped three straight to finish 6-4 after a first-round playoff loss to Brookland-Cayce.

“First, I would like to thank Coach Clay Helton and Georgia Southern University for the incredible opportunity I had to serve this year on the football staff,” Coach Turner said in a statement released by HHS. “I want to also thank Principal Tom Gallus, Athletic Director Kim Joseph, the search committee, and the Berkeley County Board of Education for this incredible opportunity to be a teacher and head football coach at Hanahan High School. I am extremely excited for the future of our school and athletic program. I cannot wait to get to work with our team and to meet the Hanahan community.”

HANAHAN, S.C. (WCIV) — Hanahan High School has named Milan Turner as the next varsity football coach.

Turner was announced as the high school's head football coach in a press release on Jan. 24.

Read more: 4 months after departure, BCSD says former Hanahan HS head coach Art Craig retired

“We are elated to welcome Coach Turner to the Hawk family,” Hanahan Principal Tom Gallus said in a statement. “Our community is very fortunate to have a coach of this caliber to lead and develop our student-athletes on and off the field. Coach Turner is a proven educator and leader. He knows what it takes to build a successful high school football program and to ensure that each student is prepared for their next steps after high school. I look forward to serving alongside Coach Turner and seeing our Hawks shine under the Friday night lights.”

According to the press release, Turner has been an educator since 1994 and has coached in six state championship games during his time at five Georgia high schools. He was most recently serving as the director of high school relations on the football staff for Georgia Southern University.

Read more: Hanahan High School announces interim head football coach in place of Art Craig

"First, I would like to thank Coach Clay Helton and Georgia Southern University for the incredible opportunity I had to serve this year on the football staff," Turner said. "I want to also thank Principal Tom Gallus, Athletic Director Kim Joseph, the search committee, and the Berkeley County Board of Education for this incredible opportunity to be a teacher and head football coach at Hanahan High School. I am extremely excited for the future of our school and athletic program. I cannot wait to get to work with our team and to meet the Hanahan community. Wendi and I feel extremely blessed."

"Thank you to Coach Helton, Staff, Players, Administration and Eagle Nation for an exciting journey this year. Thank you for letting me be a small part of something Special! The future is bright at Georgia Southern, You ain’t seen nothin’ yet! #GATA #HailSouthern," Turner's Twitter post read.