Cherokee County School District Announcements The STAR, or Student Teacher Achievement Recognition, student honor is awarded to the high school senior from each Georgia public and private high school with the highest score on any single test date of the SAT and who also ranks in the top 10% or top 10 students of his or her class based on grade point average. Each honored student is invited to select his or her favorite teacher to be named that school’s STAR Teacher. An overall CCSD winner additionally is recognized for earning the highest eligible SAT score of all the STAR Students, and this year’s honoree is Kinley Sikes of Creekview HS, who also is among only 5,000 students selected as a candidate for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program from the more than three million graduating seniors in the nation’s Class of 2024. Only 207 students from Georgia were named candidates in the prestigious recognition program.This year’s STAR honorees are Finnegan Sheldon (student) and Wesley Queen (teacher), Cherokee HS; Kinley Sikes (student) and Jason Hardin (teacher), Creekview HS; Anvita Rautray (student) and Eric Burton (teacher), Etowah HS; Olivia Emling (student) and Heather Craighead (teacher), i-Grad Virtual Academy; Adrianna Musser (student) and Beckie Lee (teacher), River Ridge HS; Will Murphy (student) and Tabitha Evans (teacher), Sequoyah HS; Xavier Olsen (student) and Kellie Baglio (teacher), Woodstock HS.Three Seniors Earn Top JROTC ScholarshipsDavis Clanton of Etowah HS (top), Savannah Mouritsen of Sequoyah HS (middle), and Sydney Watson of Cherokee HS (bottom) are among only 100 students worldwide to earn the Air Force JROTC J-100 Character-in-Leadership Scholarship. This elite four-year scholarship pays full college tuition and fees at any public or private institution with an Air Force ROTC program and provides a $10,000 annual university housing allowance. Recipients are selected based on overall excellence as students and as JROTC, school, and community leaders along with their plans to pursue a service career with the U.S. Air Force or Space Force.Student Selected for All-State Art CompetitionWoodstock HS junior Kate Bean was one of only 50 Georgia high school student artists selected for the All-State Art Symposium, recently held at Columbus State University. More than 2,000 entries from students statewide were entered into the competition. She currently is studying painting as a student of Woodstock HS visual arts teacher Lori Thompson. The title of her award-winning painting is Still Life.Superintendent Presents Game Changer AwardsThe 2024 Cherokee County Superintendent of Schools’ Game Changer Award for Instructional Excellence honored Etowah HS’s media specialist Hal Funderburk in recognition of his work to support more effective use of instructional technology. The 2024 Game Changer Award for Instructional Advocacy was presented to Gwen Freeman, CCSD’s family and community services facilitator who currently leads family and community engagement for the district’s recently opened International Welcome Center after many successful years as a school-based parent engagement facilitator.Teacher Inducted Into State Coaching Hall of FameSequoyah HS teacher Matt Bartula recently was named to the new class of members of the Georgia Forensics Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. The honor is bestowed upon educators for “excellence in speech and debate and their support of high school speech and debate activities in the state,” according to the organization. Bartula, who joined CCSD in 1999, teaches advanced placement history and social studies classes and coaches the school’s nationally recognized speech and debate team.Director of Bands Earns Regional Music Teacher of the Year AwardSequoyah HS Director of Bands Casey Eubanks is the Georgia Music Educators Association’s District 9 Music Educator of the Year, which was announced at the organization’s annual conference recently held in Athens, Georgia. Eubanks was nominated by his fellow District 9 music educators.
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