School News

Chattahoochee Tech Board Receives Role Model Award

For the seventh consecutive year, the Chattahoochee Tech Foundation Board of Trustees received Role Model Foundation Board Certification from the Technical College Foundation Association.

The Chattahoochee Tech Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that partners with businesses, alumni and community leaders to support higher education for students through initiatives like scholarships and emergency funding. Board members provide valuable insight with respect to community engagement, management and strategic planning.

In order to achieve Role Model Board Certification, all members of the Chattahoochee Tech board must be actively engaged in the work of the board through participation in organizational meetings, college events, leadership activities, fundraising initiatives and professional development.

Front row, from left: Advancement Coordinator Amanda Henderson, Vice Chair Rick Kollhoff, Susan Stephens, Vice President of Advancement Jennifer Nelson, Board Chair Mark Goddard, Darion Dunn and Robert Stephens. Back row: Henry Molient, Snehal Doshi, Chris Mosley, Jeff Butterworth and Marty Hughes.

Taste of Woodstock Raises Funds for Woodstock High

Visit Woodstock staff presented the Woodstock High School Band Program with a check for $7,500 from funds raised at Taste of Woodstock last September. The event was started in the school's cafeteria by the booster club before relocating to downtown and partnering with the Visit Woodstock organization. These funds are used by the booster club to offset equipment and operational costs for the bands.

Cherokee County School Board Chair Kyla Cromer accepts the Georgia Leading Edge Award.

Social and Emotional Learning Initiative

For the third consecutive year, the Georgia School Boards Association awarded the Cherokee County School Board its Leading Edge Award for innovation practices that make a significant impact on students. This year, the district-wide Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) initiative earned the honor.

SEL services and support were created in response to an alarming trend among students: rising rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideations and suicide. Since the initiative was implemented in 2019, additional phases of services and support have been rolled out, including bringing recently retired top educators in part time to work with the mental health counselors and school counselors in developing SEL curriculum unique to Cherokee County schools, and the development of a district wide employee wellness committee with representatives from all schools and central office operations.

“As a superintendent, my top job target on paper is to graduate students who are prepared for college or to begin their career. The real top job target, for me and for all of us as educators, is to help prepare every child we serve for a purposeful, successful and joyful life. When the days are dark, this is the light that carries us through to the next challenge — this is the ‘why’ in our hearts. This is what SEL does and is,” Superintendent Brian V. Hightower said.

The Cherokee County School District has earned the 2021 Governance Team of the Year Award for large districts, which are those with more than 10,000 students.

School districts are invited to apply for the award based on high scores on the state’s system that measures how well students are prepared for college and career success. The judging committee reviews the application, supporting evidence and the impartial review team’s report, made up of national educational experts and leaders.

Cherokee County School Board members accepting the award are, from left: Patsy Jordan and Kelly Poole, Chair Kyla Cromer and Superintendent Brian V. Hightower.

Carolina Ayerbe, Sonya Breaux, Patty Sloan and Melanie Salas make up the Roughing It Smoothly team.

Woodstock High Places in Wellness Challenge

Cherokee High Schools’ Walk This Weigh team is the winner of the Northside Hospital Cherokee Fall Wellness Challenge, a community competition sponsored by the hospital with prizes for teams that met health, fitness and wellness goals. Roughing It Smoothly from Woodstock High School, with Carolina Ayerbe, Sonya Breaux, Melanie Salas and Patty Sloan, was next in the rankings for Cherokee County School District.

Somers Named Georgia STEM Scholar

Mill Creek Middle School’s AnnMargaret Somers, who teaches eighthgrade science and physical science and serves as the school’s science department chair, was named a 2022 Georgia STEM Scholar by the Georgia Youth Science & Technology Centers (GYSTC).

Somers was selected for her excellence in teaching students about STEM and her innovation in integrating STEM lessons in elementary and middle school education. She will receive $500 to purchase classroom STEM supplies, as well as free admission to GYSTC’s 2022 Summer STEM Institute professional development program.

This honor follows Somers’ recognition last year as a Teacher Fellow, one of 26 teachers nationwide selected by the Northrop Grumman Foundation and National Science Teaching Association.

Somers.

Mountain Road Students Collect Donations for MUST Ministries

The Mountain Road Elementary Student Council engaged its school community in a service learning project to help with MUST Ministries’ Thanksgiving food drive. Students collected canned and boxed foods that they sorted and packed up for MUST.

Mountain Road’s student council members display the donation to MUST Ministries’ Thanksgiving food drive. Ann-Margaret Somers