Addison Elementary students from several grades combined their language arts skills, artistic abilities, and creativity with the culinary skills of third grade teacher Angie Allison to show appreciation to the Public Safety team at Cobb County Fire Station #12. Their after school field trip was possible due to parent involvement affording students the opportunity to thank our fire fighters for their commitment to our safety each day. Not only did they deliver cards and letters, but also home baked cookies, tea, milk and other yummy treats!

Submitted by Freida Frady, parent liaison

Austell Intermediate School in Powder Springs has been going green during the school year.  Beginning in August, the staff purchased  green cloth bags to provide a means for used paper to be recycled in the classroom. After School Program students empty the bags daily into bins provided by Partner in Education Caraustar Industries.

After school Science and Earth Savers Clubs were organized and sponsored several activities during the school year. The Earth Savers had a bake sale before a PTA meeting in order to adopt an infant gorilla as well as collected used cell phones to send to Zoo Atlanta for gorilla research.  The Earth Savers and Science Clubs have been helping care for an established garden and identifying areas on the school grounds that need beautification.  The Science Club made birdhouses to attract native birds.

Teachers planned and taught environmental lessons to help obtain Green School distinction. Austell Intermediate earned Gold status their first year of participation in Keep Cobb Beautiful’s Green School awards program.

Cobb County Water System presented Water Conservation lessons to second and fourth graders helping them realize even students can help save our county’s water supply.

In March, 102 students, parents, siblings and teachers planted 14 trees to help provide shade for the school’s sunny playgrounds under the direction of Joe Burgess from the Georgia Forestry Commission and the Cobb Tree Program. Classrooms “adopted” a tree to water weekly.

Classrooms participated in different Earth Day activities on April 22 and were encouraged to wear blue or green to celebrate.  In conjunction with ideas from an environment movement “No Child Left Inside” and Earth Day, the science classes spent the week transforming an eroded, rocky portion of the school grounds into an outdoor discovery area.  With the goal of restoring habitats destroyed during the construction of the school, students placed rocks brought from home and cement borders donated by Austell’s GMS company to form pathways over the eroded areas. Planters were also made from cement cap blocks for native plants.  The paths were filled with mulch provided by Greystone EMC with hopes of enriching the soil. The Science Club birdhouses were hung as well as a bat and ladybug house during the week.  This area is now habitat friendly.

Austell Intermediate is very appreciative of the support of county and community organizations and businesses who have enabled students to experience Georgia Performance Standards in true life. Students will now be able to observe habitats, life cycles, water conservation, and the effects of human intervention on the environment.

Contributed by John Stafford, Harrison High School
Saturday morning. 8 a.m. Teenagers yawn as they greet the day, grabbing coffee and breakfast. Chores await. But this day is special. On this morning, 610 high school students volunteered at non-profit venues around town. Daily Grind donated the coffee they drank. The breakfast they ate was sponsored by Chick-fil-A, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wal-Mart. In the truest sense of community service, 12 Cobb County School District bus drivers volunteered their time, driving the buses on which students rode, not receiving payment for these four hours.

On Harrison High School’s Fourth Annual Community Service Day, the HHS School Council provided 23 venues from which students could choose to spend their day, helping others. These morning chores varied from mucking stalls and pulling weeds at McKenna Farms, to painting fences and loading a dump truck with roofing shingles at Calvary Children’s Home, to painting residents’ nails and participating in what turned in to competitive Bingo at several assisted living facilities.

Over 250 students spent the day with more physical efforts, clearing brush and debris from the Bullard property at Old Hamilton Road and Dallas Highway, the 112-acre site of a new Cobb County park. School council member and HHS parent Dutch Bickley, who helped arrange this venue as a volunteer site and chaperoned the event, said that he was proud of the spirit of cooperation among Harrison students, chaperones and park officials. “The kids worked together well, responded to the officials honorably, and all pitched in their fair share,” he said. Volunteers worked to clean up the property adjacent to the old farmhouse, which was built around 1845. “In fact, there was so much work accomplished that they had to bring in additional dumpsters to carry off the debris,” Mr. Bickley said. “Harrison students did their jobs with a degree of maturity and dedication that is not common for the average teenager. I was very impressed and so were the other chaperones.”

As the number of student volunteers increase each year, Community Service co-chair Nora Moulton, English teacher, arranged this year for more venues to meet the needs of students who want to work with animals, the elderly or at outside venues. A large group of football players worked at the Special Needs Park in Acworth, assisting six special needs baseball teams by helping them run the bases, play the field, and hit the balls. Each high schooler assisted a player, one on one for each game. “The kids were awesome. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had a lot of fun,” said head football coach and PE teacher David Hines, who first encouraged his players to participate and then chaperoned the event. “It teaches the kids that life isn’t always easy and gives them an attitude of gratitude.”

Although the School Council rewarded the participants with the free breakfast and a t-shirt, this day offered more for the volunteers. “What kids get from this is an intrinsic satisfaction and personal pride in helping others,” said Community Service co-chair Stephanie Rainey, assistant administrator. “It’s not about the free t-shirt or the chicken biscuit, but for these 610 kids, it was truly about providing service to others.” A chaperone who worked with students at McKenna Farms, English teacher Darcy Cearley agreed that this day is valuable. “Our students, who live relatively privileged lives, get to give back to those less fortunate,” she said. “It makes them appreciate the ease of their lives a little more.”

William T. Boyd IV, senior at Sprayberry High School has earned the meritorious Eagle Scout rank, the highest award bestowed by the Boy Scouts of America. A member of Boy Scout Troop 008, chartered by Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, Boyd has enjoyed the best of what Scouting has to offer young men. William joined scouting as a first grade Tiger at Addison Elementary School. He has already earned a total of 43 merit badges, exceeding the 21 merit badges required for the Eagle rank.

During the spring of 2008, William completed his Eagle Scout Service Project by constructing rain barrels & stands for Addison Elementary School to help curb erosion problems & provide water sources for on-going outdoor beautification projects at the school. He was able to demonstrate service & leadership garnering money, supplies, expertise and labor to execute the project. This service project not only helps protect the ground cover & physical building at Addison, it benefits the East Cobb community that uses the property near the school, in addition to the students & staff that use the water sources for their educational projects.

William is the son of Tara and Bill Boyd of Marietta.

The Campbell High School PTSA is presenting a “Cooking Healthy School” in the new Culinary Arts Studio. The four workshops will be held in the commercial-grade kitchen. Subjects discussed include cooking techniques, nutritious food choices, and money saving hints. The program shows how to create simple, popular recipes in healthy ways. Chef Joe Englebird will present the workshops, which are scheduled from 7:00-9:00 p.m. on the following dates:

Thursday, April 2, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009

For advance registration for the “Cooking Healthy School,” call 404-447-8946. The free workshops are open to the students, parents, faculty, and the community.




Students at the Fitzhugh Lee Center of HAVEN Academy have a new way to learn social and job-related life skills – a brand new greenhouse, funded by a special federal grant. The Georgia Learn and Serve “Growing Green” grant is focused on improving students’ voices in the process of learning and enhancement of civic responsibility.

The greenhouse will be an outdoor interactive classroom for students at the Fitzhugh-Lee Center. Activities will include growing plants, fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse, packaging food, and preparing foods from the produce. The produce grown will be used in a variety of ways, including food preparation at school and donations to a local food bank. Students will have an active voice in what they would like to grow and have an opportunity to be a part of a student advisory group.

The Fitzhugh-Lee Center has enlisted its Partners in Education, The Optimist Club and Smyrna Assembly of God, to assist with the project. The volunteer program at CSX transportation of Lithia Springs has also pitched in to help construct the greenhouse.

Before the end of the 2008-09 school year, Fitzhugh-Lee will host an open house for the community and parents to show how the “Growing Green” grant benefits students. For more information about this project, please contact Debbie Adelman, building administrator at Fitzhugh Lee School.

A student group at Campbell Middle School is immersing themselves in a cultural tradition that spans from England to China and beyond. The popular girls-only group the Lady Spartans held their first High Tea event on March 11, dressing in formal attire to share desserts and exotic teas.

Under the tutelage of advisers Luella Jacobs, Marsha Powells, Meta Rome, Brenda Sellers, Glenda Spring and Rose Wilkins, the Lady Spartans participate in many extracurricular activities, ranging from a pampering Spa Day to the Evening Etiquette dining experience to a Poetry Stomp event. The group is also active in community service activities; during the holiday season, the Lady Spartans served residents at the Del Mar Gardens nursing home.

The Lady Spartans provide an excellent outlet for Campbell Middle School’s female students, promoting social, mental and physical development.

Submitted by Stephanie Rosekrans

On Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009, members of Daniell’s School Council, Daniell School Administration, CrossView Baptist Church, and Piedmont Church all volunteered to help provide a little rejuvenation to the school’s gymnasium, theatre lobby and concession stand area. The walls were painted and the concession stand gate was cleaned. Thanks to the efforts of this group of Saturday volunteers the gymnasium and theatre lobby received some much needed attention.

Principal David Nelson stated that the goal of the project was to provide a face-lift to an area of the school where thousands of parents and students enter and use each year – keeping the 47 year old school campus in a healthy condition and making sure the parents and students of Daniell are proud of their local school.

The Weekend Warrior project was an idea of Council Chair Lisa Lehman, the parent of an eighth grade student at Daniell. Special thanks go to Pastor Greg Belcher of Crossview Baptist and Community Pastor Steve Crowley of Piedmont Church for their assistance in completing this project. The School Council’s objective was to have the area completed by March 10, 2009, for “Daniell After Dark” when hundreds of guests are expected to be on site for a look at student work completed with their teachers. Many of Daniell’s Partners in Education will also be on site to represent their business during the event.

For more information about “Daniell After Dark” or ways you can support the school, please contact us at 678-594-8048 or visit our website http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/~daniell/

Congratulations to Lovinggood Middle School and Belmont Hills Elementary School, winners of $200 environmental mini-grants from Keep Cobb Beautiful. The purpose of the mini-grant project is to increase awareness about the environment through hands-on learning activities to improve and beautify the outdoor environment and increase recycling in Cobb County.

Both schools will use the funds for outdoor environmental improvement projects such as outdoor classrooms, discovery trails, National Wildlife Federation habitat certification, sensory or educational gardens, beautification projects or recycling programs.

Compton Elementary School is a little greener, thanks to community volunteers from Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse. On Tuesday, Sept. 30, more than 200 local Lowe’s employees and community members came to Compton to create a WaterSmart garden and learning environment.

The crew brought out heavy equipment to grade area for the garden, which will offer Compton students relevant, hands-on experience to supplement in-classroom educational materials and curriculum.

The WaterSmart garden features water-wise plants that can survive without the use of a sprinkler system or watering hose. The program is funded by $57,000 from the Lowe’s Heroes and Toolbox for Education programs, and in support of Cobb County’s water conservation awareness program.  In addition, Lowe’s upgraded bathroom facilities at Compton with water-saving fixtures.

The ‘Compton Hideaway’ had its grand opening Oct. 22 with a water festival featuring conservation-related activities for Compton students and their families. A video about the garden is available on the school Web site.