Cherokee County School District Announcements 06-24 2024 Yes I Can Award Winners AnnouncedThe Yes I Can Awards celebrate the achievements of children and youth with exceptionalities. The awards encourage students to seek their highest potential and increase public awareness of the abilities, aspirations, and personal qualities of those with disabilities. Each CCSD elementary school is invited to select one student to receive the Yes I Can Award, based on achievement during the year in one or more of the following categories: academics, the arts, school and community, self-advocacy, and technology. This Year’s HonoreesAcademicsArnold Mill ES, Everett Hogan; Ball Ground ES STEM Academy, Merry Marbourg; Clark Creek ES STEM Academy, Faizaan Syed; Clayton ES, Paisly Williams; Free Home ES, Banks Alexander; Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy, Darwin Ambrocio Mendez; Indian Knoll ES, Jordan Lewis; Knox ES STEM Academy, JJ Reece; Little River ES, Ryan Nguyen; Macedonia ES, Adrian Shirling; Mountain Road ES, Mary Grace Richert; R.M. Moore ES STEM Academy, Cecilia Pineda-Jimenez; and Sixes ES, Caleb Ragan.ArtsAvery ES, Cara France.School and CommunityHickory Flat ES, Caroline Connor and Liberty ES, Ansley Winfield.Self-AdvocacyBascomb ES, Lilly Holsinger; Boston ES, William "Liam" Thompson; Carmel ES, Isaiah Law; Holly Springs ES STEM Academy, Olivia Croft; Johnston ES, Madison Byrd; Oak Grove ES STEAM Academy, Christopher Molino; and Woodstock ES, Avery Becker.Woodstock HS Students Place in International Engineering CompetitionFor the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC), Woodstock HS seniors Carson Bove, Camden Browning, and Mary Hogrefe designed an award-winning unmanned aircraft system to help mitigate wildfires. They are fourth-year students in the Career Pathway: Engineering and Technology program, led by teacher Melanie Salas.The competition follows the engineering design cycle, with teams required to design and plan using a real-world approach, including analyzing costs and efficiency. The team won the statewide competition in January and then advanced to the international competition to make their virtual presentation to a judging panel.Their winning entry created CRISPI: the Compact Robotic Imagery System for Preventing Infernos, a backpack-sized drone that acts as a fire lookout, environmental scientist, and wildfire specialist. Their 50-page entry demonstrated their design would be more than six times less costly than current systems in use as well as far more portable and efficient. The students all plan to pursue careers in engineering. Bove will study biomedical engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Browning will major in mechanical engineering with a specialty in robotics at the University of Florida; and Hogrefe will attend Kennesaw State University to study biochemistry.Mountain Road ES Students Win Top Prize at State Social Studies Fair The Georgia Council for the Social Studies organization presents the annual competition that offers participating students in grades 5-12 the opportunity to research and complete a project, individually or as part of a team. Project categories are anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, and sociology/psychology. Mountain Road fifth-graders Rachael Crachi and Aubrey Quinn earned the top prize of Best of Discipline honors in the history category for their “Apollo 13” project. Their teacher advisor for the competition was Anna Jurnack.Their entry was among CCSD’s top-scoring projects that advanced to regionals for the opportunity to move on to the state competition. CCSD students earned half the Northwest Georgia Region’s spots to advance to the state competition.Etowah HS Students Place in Statewide Architecture CompetitionTwo Etowah sophomores in the Career Pathway for Architectural Drafting and Design, Hannah Oduselu and Isaac Wood, won honors in the 2024 Atlanta American Institute of Architects High School Design Competition. The annual contest is considered the most prestigious competition in the state for high school architecture students. Students are tasked with creating a solution to specific problems using their creativity and architectural knowledge. The competition features two levels to accommodate students with different experience levels. All contest entries, which top 200 each year, are evaluated by professional architects and engineers. Wood earned second place and Oduselu earned Honorable Mention in the beginner category of the competition, which was open to ninth- and 10th-grade students. Their challenge was to design a butterfly conservatory for the Blue Heron Nature Preserve in Atlanta. The judges praised Wood’s design for featuring sculptural petals centered around the conservatory, calling it “elegant and captivating.” Oduselu’s entry earned specific praise for her butterfly wing entryway.The Career Pathways program at Etowah HS for Architectural Drafting and Design is led by teacher Lindsay Dean.Three Seniors Earn National Merit ScholarshipsLaura Hand of Creekview HS and Livana and Valor Lekas of Sequoyah HS are among the top 2,500 seniors in the U.S. who were awarded a $2,500 scholarship by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They and their fellow Merit Scholar designees were selected from more than 15,000 finalists who made it through the initial rigorous selection process for the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. Merit Scholars are selected based on their accomplishments, skills, and potential for college success. The selection committee is made up of college admissions officers and high school counselors who review records submitted by finalists and their high schools including difficulty of courses and grades earned, college-entrance exam scores, contributions and leadership in school and community activities, an essay written by the finalist, and a recommendation written by a high school official.Cherokee HS Student Earns Georgia Award of ExcellenceSenior Reid Glover earned the award presented by the Georgia Department of Education to recognize graduating students who overcome special needs to achieve academic and/or extracurricular accomplishments.Reid’s teachers praise his dedication to learning, especially his talents for writing and visual art. He has excelled in art classes of increasing challenge, culminating in his participation this year in Advanced Placement (AP) 2D Art. He’s a member of the Ambassador Club, Art Club, and National Art Honor Society.Creekview HS Student Advances to National Business Skills CompetitionSenior Olivia Canada earned first place in the job interview contest at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) state leadership conference recently held in Atlanta. She now advances to the national FBLA competition in Orlando this summer.This is Canada’s second state championship win in a job interview skills contest. She previously earned first place in the contest at the DECA Student Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship Association’s state conference and advanced to international competition. Teacher Chris Jeffreys is the sponsor of the school’s FBLA chapter.
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