Homeroom

Officials with the state Attorney General and Secretary of State offices say their inquiries into Strive to Excel continue.

Strive to Excel, a nonprofit mentoring organization that long operated out of Hilton Head Island High School, closed in December and officially dissolved in January following months of controversy over the organization’s finances and lack of oversight.

Bridges Preparatory School's board will meet at 7 p.m. today at the Wardle Family YMCA, 1801 Richmond Ave., Port Royal.

Click here for the agenda.

Students at Okatie Elementary School recently consulted a few lawyers — but not for legal aid. Instead, several volunteers with the S.C. Bar Young Lawyers Division met with the students to promote the importance of reading.

Volunteers traveled to 15 elementary schools in the state to read aloud to students and talk to them about the importance of reading. They visited Okatie Elementary on May 7.

Students made a pledge to read aloud at home with their families and received a book of their own.

The Technical College of the Lowcountry will offer a veterinary assistant course at the New River Campus in Bluffton. The 36-hour certification course will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, July 17 through Oct. 2. Cost is $619.

The course will train students to become veterinary technicians, who perform a variety of clinical and technical tasks. Students will learn new technologies used in medical treatment of animals. The course will give students the knowledge needed for an entry-level position as a veterinary assistant.

For more information, or to register: 843-525-8205.

Organizers of Bridges Preparatory School submitted their charter application to the S.C. Charter School Advisory Committee at the beginning of May.

The Beaufort County School District Board of Education will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the County Council chambers, 100 Ribaut Road in Beaufort.

Agenda items include Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Spring Report and a discussion and possible vote on the College and Career Readiness Initiative. Click here for the full agenda.

The Beaufort County School District Board of Education will meet at 5:30 Monday at the district office, 2900 Mink Point Blvd. in Beaufort. The meeting is a special session to discuss the district's 2012-13 budget. Click here for the full agenda.

A MAP testing showcase and discussion of finances is on on the agenda for the Riverview Charter School board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 14.

Members of Beaufort High School’s newest club have their head in the clouds.

The High Altitude Ballooning Club had its first weather balloon launch last week. The club sent the balloon into the earth’s atmosphere to capture images and video of the earth from the sky.

On Friday, the club launched a 1,500-g weather balloon from Barnwell High School. The balloon carried a capsule that help electronic tracking equipment, a digitial camera set to take a photo every 15 seconds, an HD camcorder, and a second camcorder angled to catch images of the balloon busting.

The Beaufort-Jasper Higher Education Commission will meet at 5 p.m. tonight at the Palmetto Electric Trust conference room in the Hargray building on University of South Carolina Beaufort's Hilton Head Gateway Campus.

The agenda is as follows:

• Call to order and welcome
• Reading and approval of the minutes
• Chairman’s Report
• University Update/Chancellor’s report
• Finance Report
• Orders of the day: executive session, unfinished business and new business

The next meeting will be Sept. 11.