Former principal Carole Kell surprised Big Shanty teacher Leslie Phillips with one of the two awards.

Retired Cobb principal Carole Kell paid surprise visits to two Cobb faculty meetings April 29 and 30 to give the Carlton J. “Corky” Kell Teacher Scholarship Award to a pair of deserving teachers. Honorees Leslie Phillips of Big Shanty Elementary and Gale Lyons of Wheeler High School each received a cash award for $1,000 in recognition of their commitment to educational advancement and service to students. The award is named in honor of Mrs. Kell’s late husband, an influential football coach, teacher and administrator in Cobb.

Miss Phillips and Ms. Lyons were selected for the honor by a scholarship committee organized by the Kell family. The honor is reserved for teachers that have completed or are enrolled in graduate study programs, to encourage and reward their personal and professional development. The Kell Scholarship Award is funded in part by donations made at the time of Mr. Kell’s passing, as well as proceeds from the annual Corky Kell Kickoff Classic football games in Atlanta.

Oakwood Open Campus High School celebrated its 30th anniversary during a special community reception April 23, reuniting three decades of educators and students who have been a part of the school’s history. Oakwood opened its doors in 1978 as Kenwood High School, an open campus high school for students having difficulty achieving in a traditional high school setting. The school serves more than 500 students per session and graduates an average of 180 students each year.

Current and former teachers, administrators and students crowded the school’s media center, enjoying refreshments and looking at scrapbook clippings from the school’s three decades.

Oakwood students Chris and Shanice shared stories of what the school has helped them accomplish.

Principal Rusty Hill introduced several special guest speakers, including former principals Dr. Carla Northcutt and Ed Thayer, Superintendent Fred Sanderson and current Oakwood students who shared what the school means to them.

Oakwood’s slogan is ‘First Choice for a Second Chance’ and the school has lived up to that slogan for three decades. More information about the school is available on the Oakwood Web page.

Annie Wang, senior at Walton High School, was named 2009 Georgia STAR Student by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators Foundation during the STAR awards banquet April 22. Miss Wang selected her AP US History teacher Jennifer Snoddy to be her STAR Teacher.

Miss Wang was chosen for the honor from 467 STAR students throughout the state. She received a $5,000 scholarship from AT&T, which she will use while attending Yale University this fall. Ms. Snoddy received a $2,500 award from the Frances Wood Wilson Foundation.

For more information, visit the PAGE Foundation Web site.

Cobb County middle and high school student actors, script writers and production assistants partied at the Northeast Cobb YMCA on April 20 to celebrate the release of their DVD. It was produced for use with the Keepin’ it REAL curriculum and as part of April 2009 Alcohol Awareness Month. More than 40 youth spent a
total of 115 service hours in the production of the film.

Participating students from Dickerson, Dodgen, East Cobb, Hightower Trail middle schools and Pope and Lassiter high schools received gift cards, certificates of appreciation and copies of the DVD. Family members, production crew, community partners and CCSD personnel joined in the fun and made an enthusiastic audience for the screening of the DVD.

The DVD was produced for use with Keepin’ it REAL, a model SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration) program. “Producing the DVD with local students and in familiar local settings will help the lessons seem more relevant and realistic”, said Katie Love-Pride, Cobb Prevention Intervention Center GRAA Program Specialist. REAL stands for; Refuse to use alcohol, Explain why they won’t use, Avoid situations where alcohol may be served, and Leave a situation where they may be tempted to use alcohol.

Keepin’ it REAL is being implemented in four middle schools and three high schools as part of a Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse, awarded to the Cobb County School District by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-free Schools. According to Georgia Student Health Survey data, 26 percent of Cobb students report their first use of alcohol between eighth and twelfth grade, with the average age of first use reported as 13 years old. “Waiting to be taught about alcohol and binge drinking until eleventh and twelfth grades places students at risk for early initiation”, said Jeff Inman, Cobb School’s Prevention Intervention Center Coordinator.

Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is an alliance of individuals and organizations which mobilizes and challenges Cobb County adults to reduce underage drinking and youth binge drinking, by advancing strategic enforcement, policy and education goals. For more information visit www.cobbat.org or call 404-791-7406.

Members of the Kell High School Robotics Team  were recognized by Gov. Sonny Perdue for its FIRST Robotics Regional Chairman’s Award during a bill signing ceremony April 22. FIRST’s most prestigious award, the Chairman’s Award honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the purpose and goals of FIRST. The award helps keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology.

Gov. Perdue invited Kell’s team to join him at the capitol for the signing of a new law boosting salaries for secondary school teachers with math or science certification. The bill is designed to attract math and science teachers to Georgia classrooms.

More photos are available on the Governor’s Office Web site.

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.

Several Cobb students showed off their oratory skills in the Theodore Roosevelt Speech Contest Feb. 16. Held at the Cobb Board of Commissioners office in Marietta, the competition required students to recite their speeches in front of a panel of local judges including Judge Adele Grubbs, Commissioner Sam Olens, Marietta Daily Journal publisher Otis Brumby and Don Johnson of State Farm insurance.

The contest winners are:

Annie Wang, Walton High School – $5,000 scholarship
Beth Boyd, Teacher

Matt Walsh, Lassiter High School – $1,000 scholarship
Kathy Nelsen, Teacher

Jordan Kazlow, Marietta High School – $500 scholarship
Scott Pritchard, Teacher

The winners are pictured above with TRA local program coordinator Harry Lembeck and Howard Erhlich, TRA Speech Contest Coordinator.

Congratulations to the Norton Park Elementary School counselors for winning the Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) award for 2009!  The RAMP award is a national designation presented by the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) for exemplary school counseling programs.  Norton Park is one of only 200 schools nationwide to receive the award since 2004.

Norton Park’s school counselors Nakia Harrison and Jackie Verner will be recognized at the ASCA conference this summer in Atlanta, and the GSCA fall conference this fall.

A graduation ceremony was held for 12 new Cobb Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members from Harrison High School on Wednesday evening, April 15, 2009, at the Cobb Public Safety Training Center in Marietta.

Cobb’s CERT program is the largest in Georgia with 847 trained and is offered to any Cobb resident who is at least 16 years of age.

This is the first class comprised soley of teenage members. The teens volunteered over 24 hours each learning fire safety, first aid, emergency preparedness, disaster psychology, teamwork, and search techniques.

According to Cobb County’s Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) Deputy Director Lanita Lloyd, “This group is filled with energy and excitement – we’ve learned as much from them as they have from us. These teens are leaders – They are willing to step up to the plate and help others should a crisis occur – these teens are leaders and will be an asset to Cobb County!”

Participant Matt Piper added, “CERT has prepared me and my classmates to step-up and help our community when faced with emergencies. I learned a great deal in the class and would recommend it to others.”

Caleb Dillingham of Kennesaw Mountain High won a $1,000 scholarship by reaching the semifinals of the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Student Competition. The YES Competition challenges students to complete original research into the behavioral, biological, environmental, and social factors that affect health and to identify ways to improve public health. Caleb’s project posed the question, “What is the Relationship Between Atmospheric Pressure and the Occurrence of Spontaneous Pneumothorax?”

he YES Competition awards up to 120 college scholarships each year to high school juniors and seniors who conduct outstanding research projects that apply epidemiological methods of analysis to a health-related issue.

Epidemiologists seek answers to why some people get sick and others don’t. In other words, epidemiology is the science of exploring patterns of disease, illness, and injury within populations with the goal of developing methods for prevention, control, and treatment to improve health.

More information is available at the YES Web site.