Beginning next week, Scotland High School’s administrators and staff will open the lines of communication with the community in a series of meetings.

“Everything You Need to Know About How to Be Successful in High School” will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Gibson. The meeting will be the first of six community informational sessions to continue throughout August at various churches in Scotland County.

“We’re trying to break down a barrier that may exist between the high school and the community so that people can see what we’re doing to try to help out the county,” said Scotland High School Assistant Principal Amber Watkins.

The meetings, the first of their kind, will aim to inform students, their parents, and the community at large of school programs and what students need to do to graduate prepared for the world beyond high school.

“We are going to cover things such as transcripts, we’re going to look at career paths, colleges, paying for colleges, and how to prepare for scholarships,” Watkins said. “We’ll also talk about discipline and some of the school board policies, as well as the fun things that we do to reward students and recognize them for their hard work in and out of the classroom.”

The meetings will be comprised of presentations from various school staff members, as well as a question and answer period. Presenters will include Scotland High School Principal Beth Ammons, the school’s assistant principals, guidance counselors, career and technical education instructors, College Central staff, and representatives from Richmond Community College.

The meetings will be held in churches due to the strong religious presence in Scotland County.

“Mrs. Ammons has met with the Scotland County Ministerial Alliance, and this is something that came out of that,” Watkins said. “Churches are very strong in the Scotland County community in rallying people together.”

While middle and high school students and their parents are invited to the meetings, community members who do not have school-aged children may also find them to be of interest.

“We want to speak to community members, those who don’t even have students at the high school so that they know what we’re doing to prepare students to give back to the county,” Watkins said. “Everybody is wondering and wants to know what we’re doing for the kids.”

The meetings will also serve to familiarize younger students with the high school’s policies and the resources available to them there, so that they may know what to expect when they enter the ninth grade.

“We strongly encourage everyone, especially ninth graders coming up so that they can find out how high school is different from middle school,” said Watkins. “For those in middle school, it’s important as far as career paths - those are things that they’re going to need to know as far as what they need to do in middle school to prepare for high school.”

Scotland High School will also host meetings for specific grade levels in September, for parents to ask questions specific to their children’s grade level.

Other meetings will be held at 5 p.m. on Aug. 1 at Union Grove Baptist Church in Laurinburg, 6 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Higher Dimensions Ministries in Laurel Hill, 6 p.m. on Aug. 15 at Northview Harvest Ministries in Wagram, 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 15 at Unionville Baptist Church in Wagram, and 7 p.m. on Aug. 22 at St. Luke Methodist Church in Laurinburg.