CCSD Students Give Back Sixes Elementary School recently celebrated Care for Animals Week with a Hat Day to raise funds for animals in need. The campaign raised more than $400 to buy supplies for the Cherokee Animal Shelter.Knox Elementary Schools Make A Change Club recently sponsored a Wonderful Wacky Wednesday dress-up day to benefit St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital. Students sported wacky hair and clothes, raising more than $300 for St. Jude, and the staff raised another $750 for a total of $1,050!
Instructional Lead Strategists Provide Support in CCSD Classrooms Cherokee County School District (CCSD) launched multiple new initiatives this year to increase student achievement, and District leaders knew that teachers would need additional support, as they integrated these new programs into their daily classroom activities. To help teachers meet the challenge, CCSD created a new position called an instructional lead strategist (ILS) at each elementary school as well as targeted middle and high schools. These elite teachers underwent extensive training to prepare for their new roles, and they continue to train throughout the school year. The ILS acts as a coach for teachers, helping guide them in implementing new programs as well as classroom basics such as creating lesson plans and meeting curriculum standards. The ILS also makes sure that new initiatives, such as the Balanced Literacy approach to reading in the primary grades, are being implemented seamlessly in each classroom.The ILS is a resource that teachers can go to for insight and advice as well as hands-on help if they feel they are struggling. Since the ILS is not tasked with conducting teacher evaluations, which are handled by the principal and assistant principals, teachers dont have to be concerned that their requests for assistance will be reflected in a job evaluation. A brief video about the initiative can be found here: Bit.ly/CCSD-ILS.
Cherokee County Educational Foundation Raises Significant Funds for CCSD Schools At a recent meeting, the Cherokee County Educational Foundation Board (CCEF) presented the Cherokee County School District with a check for $45,0018 for special grants and to help the county target areas of need that align with the Foundations strategic plan: Graduation coaching assistance for the special needs high school seniors throughout the District, and targeted course credit recovery for high school seniors. CCEF President Billy Hayes is pictured with Superintendent Brian Hightower, School Board Chair Kyla Cromer, and other Foundation Board members. The Foundation raises money through their annual Gala as well as a golf tournament, a 5k road race, and annual t-shirt sales.
Sequoyah HS Hot Rodders Compete at Nationals Sequoyah High Schools Hot Rodders team recently competed at Nationals, and they are now ranked 25th in the U.S. and third in the state.The eight-member team vied for honors and scholarships in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Dual National Championship held in Las Vegas. For the competition, students deconstructed a V-8 engine and reassembled it to manufacturers specifications. Groups are timed on how quickly they disassemble and reassemble the engine in its entirety. The teams are scored on speed and accuracy.
Reinhardt University School of Nursing & Health Sciences Named for Retired Canton Physician Reinhardt University nurses will now and forever be known as students, later graduates, of the Dr. John A. Cauble School of Nursing and Health Sciences.Dr. Cauble, a longtime, highly regarded Canton physician who practiced family medicine for more than forty years, and his daughter, Sally Forest, have made a lead gift that will support operations, scholarships, and the growth and development of the nursing school.Reinhardts decision to establish a School of Nursing is certainly a timely one, for the medical community at this time does not have enough qualified nurses to meet demand, Dr. Cauble said.
Local CCSD School Spelling Bee Winners Several Cherokee County School District (CCSD) schools recently held their school spelling bee. The school level winners advanced to the CCSD Spelling Bee, which was held at Cherokee High School on January 25. AJ Zebley, fifth grade student, won Knox Elementarys Spelling Bee; Braden Flouroy, seventh grade student, won Freedom Middle Schools Spelling Bee; and Callum Gannon, fourth grade student, won Hickory Flat Elementary Schools Spelling Bee.
Creekland MS Academic Bowl Team Qualifies for Nationals Creekland MS entered two teams in the Georgia Academic Team Association Fall North Tournament at Brookwood High School. In the competition against 24 teams from metro Atlanta school systems, Creeklands rookie team finished with the record of 5-2, while its veteran team finished 9-0, earning the team first place at the tournament and qualifying them for the National Academic Quiz Tournament Nationals in Chicago next May.
Five CCSD High School Seniors Named National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalists Five Cherokee County School District high school seniors were recently named 2018 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists: Etowah HSs Joseph Young, River Ridge HSs Simon Yang and twin sisters Claire and Irene Chen, and Woodstock HSs Preston Alsup.Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower exclaimed, Congratulations to these extraordinary students, their families and their teachers! We are proud of your continued academic achievement on the path to college and career success. Our Merit Scholar semi-finalists are known for their accomplishments in the classroom and through extra-curricular and community activities, and we look forward to seeing them progress through this process and, we hope, to earning scholarships!The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which oversees the prestigious competition, has named 16,000 semi-finalists, who were selected from a pool of 1.6 million students, based on outstanding 2016 PSAT scores. Less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors are named semi-finalists. To be considered as a finalist, the students will now have to submit a detailed application, noting their academic achievements, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors; an endorsement and recommendation from a high school official; and an essay. Students also must earn SAT scores that confirm their PSAT performance. The anticipated 15,000 finalists will compete for 7,500 scholarships worth about $32 million, which will be awarded in the spring.
Georgia Writers Association Honors Reinhardt Faculty/Guest Faculty Members Reinhardt University faculty and guest faculty of its Etowah Valley Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing were among those honored at the 53rd annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards. Ray Atkins was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Rome resident is an instructor of English at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and has been a part of the Etowah Valley MFA in Creative Writing since its inception. Atkins also was honored as a finalist in the Essay category for South of the Etowah: The View from the Wrong Side of the River.Anne Corbitt was a finalist for the First Novel category for her book, Rules for Lying, and Ann Hite earned an honorable mention nod in the Literary Fiction category for Sleeping Above Chaos.
Hasty Elementary Agricultural Project Sponsored by the Farm Bureau and Laurel Canyon Optimist Club After another banner year with three very successful fundraising projects, which included the Annual Raffle Ticket Sale, the Ninth Annual Pancake Breakfast, and the Belk Charity Day Sales, the Laurel Canyon Optimist Club has begun its yearly campaign of giving back to the children in the Cherokee County community.In conjunction with the Cherokee County Farm Bureau, the Laurel Canyon Optimist Club donated a check for $1,000 to Hasty Elementarys fifth-grade garden club for their ongoing agricultural project, which includes a tower garden for vegetables and herbs as well as outside raised vegetable garden beds. The garden club students meet every Wednesday and have planted many vegetables and herbs including tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, bok choy, carrots, corn, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, arugula, cilantro, oregano and mint.