This Week:
Sports Issue 31
Volume 10
From the Oconee to the Apalachee
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Football
Photos from OCHS v. Hart
theoconeeleader.com
Sports
ROB PEECHER/Oconee Leader
Speaking at the ribbon cutting and Oconeefest last week were (left to right) Mac McConnell, UNG’s vice-president of business and finance, Chancellor Hank Huckaby, President Bonita Jacobs and CEO of the Oconee Campus Eric Skipper. BY ROB PEECHER
Softball
Elite Eight Page 4
Rotary
The Oconee Leader
Last week’s Oconeefest at the University of North Georgia’s Oconee Campus was kicked off with the ribbon cutting of a 14,000 square foot addition to the campus that adds classroom and office space. Both UNG President Bonita Jacobs, and University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby attended Oconeefest to help Eric Skipper, the CEO of UNG’s Oconee Campus, cut the ribbon on the new addition. Underscoring the crowded conditions already present at the Oconee Campus that made the new space necessary, Skipper told the crowd, “You’ve heard the phrase ‘build it and they will come.’ Well, they’re already here.” “We are extremely proud of our campus here
in Oconee,” Jacobs said. “We pride ourselves in the success rate of our students.” Huckaby, who lives in Oconee County, said that he noted the crowding at the UNG campus during a visit not long after he became Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. “I was struck on that visit by how crowded this campus was,” Huckaby said. “But the faculty stayed committed and the students kept coming. This is a great day, and I’m very impressed with this facility.” The new construction is an addition to an existing building. The addition includes three classrooms, a language lab, a multi-use science lab, a learning commons for tutoring and supplemental instruction, and two study rooms. The space also includes offices for full-time faculty and an additional cubicle work area for part-
time faculty. The event last week was not just an opportunity to open the new classroom and office space, but also was the second Oconeefest – an annual fundraiser designed specifically to raise money for UNG students from Oconee County. Scholarship money raised during Oconeefest is available to Oconee County students on any of UNG’s campuses.Scholarships may be used for tuition, fees and scholarly opportunities. Jacobs noted that “the financial barriers are huge for students across the state.” “We pay attention to the cost of education on our campuses,” Jacobs said. “We are among the leaders in using e-textbooks and we have dou‘UNG’ Page 3
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RBES teachers present at Character forum BY MIKE SPRAYBERRY The Oconee Leader
Roadside
Trash pick up Page 2
Schools
Athens Academy
Project Safe Page 3
As members of one of only 64 National Schools of Character for 2015 (and the only one in Georgia), faculty from Rocky Branch Elementary School presented at the National Forum on Character Education in Atlanta October 15-17. Several months after receiving the honor, Rocky Branch teachers found inspiration at the conference as they not only shared their experiences and techniques with peers, but also learned from other Schools of Character. “I think from a staff standpoint, (being named a National School of Character) validates our work the last several years and inspires us to go forward,” said Dr. Evelyn Wages, Principal at Rocky Branch Elementary School. “It gave us the opportunity to learn more and meet authors that are doing more research on character education. “Most teachers that attended the conference say that it validated what we are doing completely. When our teachers presented, a lot of teachers from other schools came up to them and told them what great work they were doing and how it encourages them.” Character.org, the national character education organization behind the conference and the honor, is based in Washington, DC, but fortunately for the Rocky Branch attendees, the conference this year happened to be in Atlanta. “We would have sent teachers anyway, but because we were named a National School of Character, we got to present,” explained
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Sam Murphy (left) and Sheril Morgan (right), representatives of character.org, present a banner to RBES staff: front, (left to right): Chelsea Palmer, Teresa Granger, Stephanie Jenkins, Laura Mason, Kristy Rogers, Mobley Brandenburg; back: Beth Porter, Jennifer Cannon, Evelyn Wages, Kim Williams, and Tiffany Hancock.
Wages. “We took more to Atlanta because we knew we had been named a National School of Character last spring.” The selection process was a rigorous one that assessed on a rubric the school’s implementation of eleven principles of character education. Once selected as a Georgia School of Character, Rocky Branch received a visit from the national committee that extended to every corner of the school community. “Those schools that are state eligible have a visit from the national
committee, so last year we were visited by the national Character.org committee,” Wages said. “They met our students, parents, bus drivers, cafeteria staff and custodians to make sure we were all on board with the same character traits.” Building that kind of consistency in just one of the eleven principles of character education can take years, said Wages. “When we opened in 2002, one of the things our kids needed to work on was self-efficacy, taking
responsibility for their actions and an ownership of their learning. Our teachers have been studying along the way how to help kids build intrinsic motivation instead of motivation by external rewards. Our teachers have studied a lot. “It has been a ‘years long’ process. We have had multiple years studying together and coming to a common language among teachers. That is a strength in that the staff built intrinsic motivation ‘Character’ Page 2
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