DCSS students place in State Educational Technology Fair
The Georgia Educational Technology Fair (GaETF) is an annual student technology competition produced by the Georgia Educational Technology Consortium. Fifteen of the 21 winners from the Dougherty Regional Technology Fair traveled to Macon on March 8 for the state competition. The following students won in their categories:
— 1st place Digital Photography Grades 7,8 – Olivia Higgins (Merry Acres Middle School). Teacher, Linda Clarke
— 1st Place Digital Video Production Grades 9,10 – Alexia Singleton and Chelsea Pittman (Albany High School). Teacher, Stephanie Burke
— 2nd Place Multimedia Application Grades 11, 12 – Kaliq Davis (Dougherty Comprehensive High School). Teacher, Dororthy Lewis
Albany High student wins gold and silver at Academic Decathlon
The Albany High School Academic Decathlon team participated in the Georgia Academic Decathlon state competition the weekend of February 21-22 at Berkmar High School in Gwinnett County. Team members competed in ten events for a chance to win team awards and individual rankings. Albany High’s Stephanie Frampton brought home a gold medal in varsity math and a silver medal in varsity science.
Sherwood students’ art work selected for state capitol exhibit
Art work created by Sherwood Acres Elementary School students LaCorria Gervin and Amiya Jenkins was chosen for the 2014 Capitol Art Exhibit at the Sloppy Floyd Building in Atlanta. Art teacher and Georgia Art Education Association member Erin Mathis submitted their pieces for the exhibit. This annual event is the largest student art exhibit in the state and included 216 pieces this year. The event, co-sponsored by the Georgia Art Education Association and the Office of the Secretary of State, kicks off Youth Art Month with the theme this year of “Folk Art on My Mind.”
“Got Milk” mobile dairy visits Live Oak Elementary
On March 11, Molly the Dairy Cow and the “Got Milk” mobile dairy, representing the Dairy Farm Families of Georgia, visited Live Oak Elementary School. Presenter Nicole Karstedt talked to the kindergarten and first grade students about the dairy process including where milk comes from, pasteurization, milk products, and the jobs of dairy farmers in Georgia. This was a lesson planned by school counselor Kyla Lee to go along with the first grade career cluster of agriculture. Pictured are Live oak counselor Kyla Lee, a group of Live Oak first grade students, and Molly the Dairy Cow.
Sherwood kindergarten teachers host “Kindergarten Cafe”
The kindergarten teachers at Sherwood Acres Elementary School hosted a “Kindergarten Café” on February 27 to celebrate their young authors. Each kindergarten class chose a topic and each student wrote a story for their class book. Parents were invited to the café to receive a copy of the book written by their child’s class. Each teacher presented her class’ book. The titles of the books, published by Student Treasures, are Peace, Kindergarteners in the Kitchen, My Pet, Wild About Animals, Wooden Nickels, and Mrs. Harrison and Ms. Davis’ Kindergarten Class. The parents expressed how pleased they were with the books and what they will mean to their families. Sherwood Acres kindergarten teachers are Donna Anderson, Susan Harrison, Veronica Reese, Detrich Sanchez, Sherrina Stephens, and Tia White.
Albany Early College participates in the Big Read
Albany Early College participated in this year’s Albany-Dougherty County “Big Read” Initiative hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. This year’s novel selection was Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, a story in which the main character, Janie, undergoes evolving self-awareness as the novel unfolds.
Through Albany State University, the Big Read committee hosted a number of events including open book discussions, film screenings, radio broadcasts, lectures, and dramatizations. Early College freshmen participated in a book club designed specifically for them with Their Eyes Were Watching God as the selected novel.
Along with the 9th grade book club advisor, Adrianne Harris, students read and discussed the book and submitted their for the creative and essay competitions associated with the Big Read. A group of AEC 9th graders including Isaiah Chestang, Destiny Green, La’Treasure Jackson, Dedreonna Jenkins, Jaela McDonald, Corinthia Simpson, Jala Spurling, and Prishawna Smith created a rap based on the plot of the novel winning first place for their creative project. In the essay contest, 12th grade student Jasmine Randall won first place and 9th grader Keaundra Woodall won second place.
This year’s Big Read included a Latino committee with DCSS Spanish and French teacher Anedith Clark as the school system liaison. The Latino committee sponsored a project in which students were asked to create a project comparing the communities of Eatonville and Albany. Tyceonia Weaver, an AEC 10th grader, won the competition.
Albany High observes National CTAE Month
Albany High School celebrated “CTAE Superheroes” throughout National Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) Month in February. Several activities were held to promote and celebrate CTAE while exposing students to real-world job experiences. Events included giving a tour of the Albany High CTAE labs to Merry Acres Middle School students, participating in the Alice Coachman Elementary School career fair, and completing a job shadowing experience at the Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base.
Students also experienced a week-long guest speaker series that included Kerri Cappelo (WFXL meteorologist), Victor Camp (Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit), Mary Martinez (Lily Pad), Darrell Jenkins (DJ Images), and Clint Bush (MCLB). The emergency medicine, law, and fire science classes performed a mock disaster drill during which they were assisted by Dougherty County Police, Albany Fire Department, and Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services. The month concluded with the announcement of the Albany High School CTAE Student of the Year, Bianca Ashley.
Monroe High students attend leadership presentation
On February 28, members of the Monroe Comprehensive High School Student Leadership Team attended a presentation at Sherwood Baptist Church entitled “Preparing the Next Generation” facilitated byJay Strack. He is the president and founder of Student Leadership University which provides leadership training for students. With more than 30 years of volunteerism as a speaker in high schools and universities, Strack has a unique understanding and perspective to inspire students. During the session, Strack encouraged everyone to become leaders in their communities and provided them with self-motivational tips.
Black History Month observance at Westover High
To commemorate and celebrate the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week in 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month. During this year’s observance, several guest speakers were invited to speak to students in Westover Comprehensive High School’s media center each Friday during February. The first speaker for the month was Hildred Peggy Lyons, a native Albanian and author of Getting to the Good. Lyons’ story contains the unusual twist of a mother’s acts of kindness in the midst of the death of her son.
During her visit, Lyons shared excerpts from the book with students. Two speakers, Sabrina Caldwell, procurement officer, and Ira Thompson, deputy inspector general and president of Blacks in Government at the Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base (MCLB), spoke on the topic, “Culture and Diversity.” Shirley Paramore is Westover High’s media specialist and Cheryl Little is media secretary.