Four Cobb County ninth grade girls worked together as Team Shift to win the Formula One In Schools National Championship last Saturday! Congratulations to Anna Awald, Kelly Fitzgerald and Claire McCoy of Wheeler High’s Center for Advanced Studies in Science, Mathematics and Technology and Sabine Saldanha of Campbell High School’s International Baccalaureate program. F1 in Schools was initiated in the United Kingdom in 1999, challenging students to engineer their own Formula One model race cars.

Watch the video below to learn more about Team Shift:

See East Cobb Patch for complete coverage!

UPDATE (3:08 p.m.): Blackwell Elementary, Hightower Trail Middle, and Palmer Middle also received the ‘No Place For Hate’ recognition this school year!

Three Cobb County schools – Wheeler High, Mabry Middle and Davis Elementary – have earned the ‘No Place For Hate’ designation from the Anti-Defamation League!  Teams of students and educators from each school completed the five steps required to demonstrate the school’s efforts in combatting bullying behaviors and educating students on diversity and acceptance.

In April, Wheeler High was the first Cobb high school to earn the recognition and won the V103 ‘Highlight Nice’ award for its efforts to promote diversity.

Mabry Middle celebrated its ‘No Place For Hate’ School status during a special ceremony May 11. Atlanta Braves mascot ‘Homer’ was on hand to get students excited and ADL Southeast Region education project director Holli Levinson presented the school with the ‘No Place For Hate School’ banner. Watch a video from the event below, courtesy of Northeast Cobb Patch:

Davis Elementary held its own ‘No Place For Hate’ assembly earlier Friday, with Ms. Levinson of the ADL in attendance to present the award to the Davis student body. See Patch for photos and coverage.

The school naming committee for Austell Intermediate has concluded its evaluation of name submissions for the school and narrowed the selections to three, per the guidelines in Administrative Rule FF. The top three choices for the school’s new name are:

1st Choice – Hendricks Elementary School (George Hendricks)
2nd Choice – Seven Springs Elementary School
3rd Choice – Cole Elementary School (Sollie C. Cole)

Area 1 Assistant Superintendent Robert Benson will prepare an agenda item for the Board of Education, incorporating the committee’s three top choices; the committee’s first choice will be presented as the Superintendent’s recommendation. The Board may accept one of the committee’s three (3) names, or it may vote on and approve another name.

As part of the south county elementary redistricting approved by the Board of Education in February 2012, Austell Primary (currently serving grades K-1) and Austell Intermediate (currently serving grades 2-5) schools are being reorganized into separate K-5 schools for the 2012-2013 school year. Since Austell Primary is on the site of the original Austell Elementary, it will retain the original name and Austell Intermediate will receive a new, unique moniker.

See the gallery for clips of information submitted about George Hendricks and Sollie Cole.

U.S. News released its rankings of the nation’s Best High Schools this week, now based on data from nearly 22,000 public schools nationwide. Four Cobb County schools earned spots in the national rankings: Walton High (ranked #191 nationally, #3 in Georgia) and Lassiter High (ranked #311 nationally, #7 in Georgia) are among the top 500 schools in the U.S. for college readiness; Wheeler High (ranked #686 nationally, #13 in Georgia) and Campbell High (ranked #1606 nationally, #27 in Georgia) received ‘Silver’ level recognition for high-performing schools with lower college readiness ratings.

U.S. News determined the rankings through a three-step process that determines overall student performance on math and reading, proficiency rates for economically disadvantaged and minority students and ultimately, college readiness performance.

Congratulations to four Cobb schools that have demonstrated school-wide commitment to Fuel Up to Play 60 by completing all six steps toward a healthier school environment! Birney Elementary, LaBelle Elementary, Lovinggood Middle, and Pebblebrook High schools have earned the  Fuel Up to Play 60 Touchdown School designation for the 2011-2012 school year! Each campus will receive a banner to proudly display in their school to showcase their achievement in creating a healthier school environment. Only 21 schools in Georgia received this designation.

Seven Cobb County twelfth graders will have their college education paid in full after being named 2012 Gates Millennium Scholars! Among the most competitive scholarship programs in the nation, the Gates scholarship covers tuition, room and board to any college or university for 1,000 outstanding students from throughout the United States.

Cobb’s 2012 Gates Millennium Scholars are:
Tayo Akigbogun, Campbell High School
Summer Ford, Campbell High School
Dorothy Stearns, Kennesaw Mountain High School
Andres Murillo, Pope High School
Amber Hubert, South Cobb High School
Uduak Obot, South Cobb High School
Chinonso Ogojiaku, South Cobb High School

The Gates Millennium Scholarship was established in 1999 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program is designed to provide outstanding minority students with the opportunity to pursue higher education, especially in the critical fields of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences. The scholarship award is renewable annually, based on Gates scholars’ demonstration of continued academic progress. Since its inception, the program has provided more than $600 million in scholarships to over 16,000 deserving students.

Cobb County Schools celebrated our retiring employees Tuesday, May 1 during the annual Retirement Luncheon at the Roswell Street Baptist Church meeting center. Cobb will bid farewell to more than 180 employees at the end of the 2011-2012 school year, with many retiring after more than three decades of service.

The retirees were joined by their families and building principals and were greeted by members of the Cobb Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa before being served lunch. Each retiree received a special plaque for their service. Entertainment was provided by the Hillgrove High School orchestra.

See below for a gallery of images from the 2012 Retirement Luncheon.

Click here to view the complete list of 2012 retirees.

Campbell High School freshmen basketball coaches James Gwyn and Josh Kimball took their ninth grade team to the “Inside the NBA” studio at TNT in Atlanta on April 25. Players met studio host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal.

Pictured above4, from left to right are Coach James Gwyn, Kiyah Collins, D. J. Wilkins, Jaylin Evans, Johnny Reed, Kelly Robinson, Julian Wright, D’ Marcus Andrews, Calvin Triplett, and Coach Josh Kimball.

McCleskey Middle School will become the first Cobb County middle school to receive the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) designation during a special ceremony June 25 at the American School Counselor Association’s annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. McCleskey school counselors Helen Nguyen and Dawn Densmore will represent the school’s outstanding program.

The RAMP designation, awarded to schools whose counseling programs align with the criteria set in the ASCA National Model, recognizes schools that are committed to delivering a comprehensive, data-driven school counseling program and creating an exemplary educational environment. More than 400 schools have received the RAMP designation since the program’s inception.

Alan Burkard, ASCA’s 2011-12 president, said this year’s recipients are to be commended for their dedication to serving all students and demonstrating how effective school counseling programs can make a difference in students’ lives. “This year’s RAMP honorees have shown their commitment to students and the school counseling profession,” said Burkard. “This designation distinguishes these schools and encourages school counselors nationwide to continue to strive for success.”

RAMP applications are reviewed once a year by a panel of school counseling professionals. For more information on the program, visit www.ascanationalmodel.org/ramp.

The American School Counselor Association (www.schoolcounselor.org) is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Va. Founded in 1952, ASCA supports school counselors’ efforts to help students focus on academic, personal/social and career development so they not only achieve success in school but are prepared to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of society. The association provides professional development, publications and other resources, research and advocacy to over 30,000 professional school counselors around the globe.

McCleskey’s school counseling program joins the school teams from Lassiter and Walton High Schools as 2012 RAMP award recipients.

Dodgen Middle School seventh grader Sahr Singh won the National Geographic state geography bee March 30th in Milledgeville, Ga. She competed with 100 other fourth through eighth grade students from throughout Georgia. The National Geographic society is providing an all-expenses-paid trip for Sahr to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national championship rounds May 22-24! The first-place national winner will receive a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the Society and a trip to the Galapagos Islands, courtesy of Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. The PlumTree lumber company will be flying Sahr’s parents to Washington to attend the bee.

“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek will moderate the national finals on May 24th. The finals will be aired on television.

The kickoff for this year’s Bee was the week of November 14, with thousands of schools around the United States and in the five U.S. territories participating. The school winners after answering oral questions on geography, took a written test and up to the top 100 scorers in each state were invited to the state competition.