Osborne High School was the buzz about town June 20, as the team from Microsoft search engine Bing and DoSomething.org made the school one of its four sites for the ‘Summer of Doing’ campaign! OHS teacher Erin Thaler and administrative assistant Jennifer Glendenning nominated OHS to benefit from the program, designed to inspire young people to give back to their communities during the summer break.

Current and former Osborne students, several OHS staffers and volunteers from the Kennesaw State University Teacher Quality Partnership served as the workforce for the ‘Summer of Doing’ projects. Teams worked on beautification projects, an indoor mural for the cafeteria, an outdoor mural adjacent to the bus lanes and on final preparations for the ‘Cardinal Community Classroom,’ a newly-purchased mobile learning environment! The mobile classroom will be used for community education programs in the neighborhoods, community centers and churches surrounding Osborne.

Late in the afternoon, the volunteers received assistance from some famous faces – rapper Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, R&B star Keri Hilson and pop group Far East Movement! The celebrity guests assisted with application of decals to the mobile classroom, helped paint the outdoor mural, and spent time meeting Osborne High School students.

All of the projects for the ‘Summer of Doing’ event were funded by Bing. See more photos at the KSU TQP blog and on the OHS ‘Summer of Doing’ Facebook page!

waterSmart, a conservation education campaign initiated by Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA), congratulates two Cobb County elementary school classes for their outstanding achievement in its Rain Barrel of Fun contest ­­­­­– an annual competition supported by CCMWA and Cobb County Water System that challenges students to decorate rain barrels while learning about the importance of water conservation.

A third-grade class at Dowell Elementary – led by Lindsey Tyus, Lynn Sullivan, and Barbara Nalley – received the most votes from the judges and was honored with the Supreme Rain barrel Award. The rain barrel featured bright and colorful flowers representing the types of potted plants that will benefit from the barrel’s water.

The Junior Water Warriors Award went to Heather Soucy’s second-grade class at LaBelle Elementary for the students’ efforts to teach others about conservation. The classmates created a series of podcasts, which were later turned into a video and broadcast to the entire school on its closed circuit television network.

“We are excited to provide an interactive learning platform for students in Cobb County,” said Becky Mixon, waterSmart’s program director. “Both teachers and students showed enthusiasm and creativity in their approach to learning and sharing the value of water conservation.”

More than 150 children from eight school groups and scout troops in Cobb County participated, with only one month allotted to concept and decorate the barrels. Supplies were donated by Cobb County Water System.

The panel of judges for the 2012 Rain barrel of Fun contest included Board of Education representative Alison Bartlett; Jenny Hoffner of American Rivers; and Walter Reeves, Georgia’s gardening expert and host of Your Southern Garden on GPB.

Information courtesy of Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority

Anthony Pearson, Cobb County school counselor since 2005, recently had his first picture book Baby Bear Eats the Night published by Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books of Tarrytown, NY. In his story, a young bear cub is terrified of the night and decides that the best way to overcome his fear is to physically pull the night out of the sky and eat it! While this is his first foray into fiction, he is also the author of the school counselor workbook Guidance with Good Measure (published by Youthlight Books in Chapin, SC).

Mr. Pearson’s two professional passions are school counseling and writing. He is extremely happy that he has found a way to reach high goals in both fields. Regarding writing, Mr. Pearson says, “The Picture Book market is one of the most competitive in the book industry. You have to be willing to face rejection over and over again and be willing to constantly rewrite, reexamine, and redraft your work. Baby Bear Eats the Night went through 18 different drafts before finding its published form. It’s a dream come true to have a story I wrote available for parents and children.”

As for his day job as a school counselor, Mr. Pearson says, “I am excited to go to school every morning. The opportunity to impact student achievement, assist communities, and help create a positive environment in the school is demanding, but also very rewarding. How can someone not love a job where they get a chance to make a difference everyday?”

In June 2012, Mr. Pearson received notice that he was the Georgia School Counselor Association Writer of the Year for 2011-2012. He is currently scheduling readings/performances/signings of Baby Bear Eats the Night, available at major book retailers.

Students in Joe Green’s horticulture program at Pope High School used the influence of music to raise funds supporting proper labeling of genetically-altered foods! Students wrote and recorded 13 songs about plants, healthy food and environmental issues, compiled the tracks onto an album called Hembree Road (a riff on the Beatles’ Abbey Road) and made the CDs available for sale to the Pope student body!

Horticulture students also conducted an outdoor CD release party May 17, promoting awareness of genetically-modified foods. All proceeds from the sale of Hembree Road were donated to the Organic Consumers Association to back its ‘Genetically Engineerred Right To Know’ food labeling campaign.

Teacher Joe Green retired at the end of the 2011-12 school year, after 11 years working with Pope students and 14 total in Cobb County. Green focused his students’ studies on food, labeling, sustainable agriculture, and citizens’ rights to know what they are buying and/or consuming. Prior to his teaching experience, Green worked in a variety of agriculture and arborial fields, including fishing in Alaska, fruit picking in New Zealand, managing a greenhouse in southern California and researching plants in south Florida. Visit Joe Green’s personal website to keep up with his post-retirement activities!

UPDATE: Blackwell Elementary, Daniell Middle, 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.
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.