Education Committee Report

The Adel-Cook Chamber Education Committee’s top initiatives each year are focused on lowering the illiteracy rate, improving high school graduation rate, providing a variety of post-secondary educational opportunities to high school graduates, and preparing young people with valuable skills to enter the workforce. The Chamber Education Committee sponsored or co-sponsored the following initiatives in 2019:

Once again, BASF Corporation and the Adel-Cook Chamber co-sponsored the STAR Student and STAR Teacher recognition program for Cook County. The STAR Student for 2019 was Daniel Ogletree, who named Becky Futch as his STAR Teacher. The STAR Student and STAR Teacher, their family members, and representatives from the School System, Chamber, and BASF attended the annual Regional STAR Banquet held in Valdosta, GA in March.

The Cook High School Juniors traveled to the Valdosta Wiregrass Campus last Spring and attended the annual “Geekfest” event that features all the Wiregrass business and computer technology programs of study. The students learned about low cost technical college training and financial aid options as well as other assistance to help them obtain an affordable college education and skills for an entry level job.

The Cook High Juniors also attended the College Education Matters Day at our Cook Wiregrass Campus. This was a very successful opportunity for area high school students. Working with funds provided by Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Cook High School juniors toured the Cook County Workforce Development Center and attended information sessions covering topics such as Personal Finances, Hiring Expectations from Employers, Enrollment and Hiring Information from Wiregrass, and Community Service-Giving Back. We would like to thank Jeff Taylor from Citizens Bank, BASF, and the Wiregrass Cook Staff for facilitating the sessions! The Education Committee awarded its annual college scholarship to four deserving 2019 graduates. From Cook High School, the Chamber awarded Daniel Ogletree and Emily Hass scholarships and from CCA, Jada Lynch and Noah Moore were awarded. A scholarship to attend Wiregrass Georgia Technical College was also given. Chamber Scholarships are awarded through the Cook County Scholarship Foundation and Wiregrass Foundation South.

Teachers and staff from throughout our Cook County School Sys

Bill Tillman

Joi Williams

tem were honored at the annual “Back to School Breakfast” held at Cook High School. The breakfast event was held on the first day for teachers and staff to report back in August. The Chamber and Cook Medical Center co-sponsored the event.

The Retired Teachers of Cook County were also honored by the Chamber at a luncheon held in October. Cook Medical Center additionally co-sponsored this event along with the Chamber as part of their continuing support of educators and the community.

Throughout the 2019 school year, the Adel-Cook Chamber provided scooters to Cook Primary School students randomly chosen who displayed positive behavior and good attendance at the school’s Bee Hive Bash days.

This past year we also graduated our 2019 Leadership Cook Class and our 2019 Future Leaders of Cook County Class. We were excited to have 9 in the Leadership Class and 24 in the Future Leaders Class. These were wonderful opportunities to have these community members learn more about Cook County and build leaders within our community.

The Chamber is very grateful to all our area educators, as well as business and community leaders who served on and assisted with the work of the Education Committee throughout the 2019 year!

Job Shadow Day