Good News from the Sequoyah Zone!

Sequoyah High School

Sequoyah High School assisted with this year’s Holiday Lights of Hope fundraiser for the Anna Crawford Children’s Center.  The community event is held every December at Hobgood Park in Towne Lake.  Sequoyah High students, including senior and football team quarterback Lex Lauletta, assisted by providing such help as painting backdrops. 

Sequoyah High School’s Junior ROTC also partnered with Mountain Road Elementary School this holiday season to collect canned goods for MUST Ministries

The Sequoyah High School Lady Chiefs recently were named the 2013 State Runner Ups in the AAAAA Volleyball State Championships by the Georgia State High School Association. 

Team members are: Emily Ryan, Jensyn Wells, Kayla Morris, McCall Allen, Kali Jones, Lane Lauletta, Kate Mann, Lauren Hartman, Kelsey Goran, Kelley Hartman, Logan Page, Kyli Schmitt, and Ashlyn Brandon.

Kali Jones and Logan Page were named to the All-State Team, and Kelley Hartman was named All State Honorable Mention.  Coaches are Head Coach John Edwards and Assistant Coaches Lori Little, Morgan Little, Stephen Pate and Hillary Turner.

Sequoyah High School won the Region 7AAAAA One-Act Play Competition and earned fourth-place at the State Championship.

Sequoyah High won regionals with its production of “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail”; students Leslie Roberston (as Ellen Sewell) and Travis Gore (as Henry Thoreau) were named to the Region All Star Cast.

This is Sequoyah’s ninth region championship since it opened in August 1990, and the school has placed in the top three every year for 23 consecutive years.  The school has placed in the top three twice at state competition.  The play is directed by teacher Gerald Parker, with guest direction by Janice Lewis, who directed the school’s drama program prior to Mr. Parker.

Sequoyah High School's Air Force Junior ROTC Color Guard Team has been chosen to perform the opening ceremonies at the Atlanta Falcons - Washington Redskins football game on Dec. 15 at the Georgia Dome.

The unit’s drill teams won first-place honors at the annual Master Sergeant Chuck Gilbert Invitational Drill Meet recently held at Ridgeland High School in Rossville.  Sequoyah won overall first place in both of the main categories of drill and a total of 17 trophies.  Cadets also won numerous top honors at the Cadet Officer Leadership School held this summer at the prestigious Citadel in Charleston, S.C. 

Sequoyah High School students now are able to take advantage of classes in video production thanks to the 2011 voter-approved Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (Ed-SPLOST) and a State grant for Career Pathways programs.

Ed-SPLOST funds for school construction were used to retrofit existing classroom space for use as a new video editing lab, as well as production and broadcast space to enable students to produce original digital projects and learn specifics of sound, light, editing and other technical aspects of video production.  Career interest surveys among CCSD students show that Arts, Audio/Visual Technology and Communications is the third most popular career cluster for Sequoyah HS students as well as for students throughout the Cherokee County School District.

“I want to thank the Superintendent and the School Board for supporting my request for a Broadcast/Video Production Program studio at Sequoyah HS,” Principal Elliott Berman said.  “Our students and parents are very excited about the state-of-the-art facility that we now have and the new Broadcast/Video Production Program that we have added to our curriculum.”

Two existing classrooms were converted into specialized space for the video classes, including divided bays for editing, glassed-in interview rooms, and a large production room, which is being outfitted for broadcast capabilities.  The School District pursued a Vocational Capital Equipment grant from the State, which has enabled the District to fully equip the labs with state-of-the-art Apple computer equipment and video software, plus the purchase of digital video cameras. 

The State Department of Education made the grants available specifically for Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) programs across the state to support workforce readiness skills through the purchase of industry standard equipment for courses within the State’s Career Pathways. CCSD is one of 35 school systems in Georgia awarded funds through the program for 2013.

There are four courses in the Broadcast/Video Production Pathway, and the other five CCSD high schools have been offering the sequence at their respective schools for several years.  Sequoyah HS began offering one class this year and will add more courses next year as students gain experience and interest in the program grows.  Business and Computer Science teacher Alan Johnson, instructor for the new class, is excited to be starting the course offering at Sequoyah.  He foresees students creating a newscast for the school and covering various Sequoyah sports and student activities.

“I think it will add tremendous opportunity for Sequoyah students to gain exposure in the film/broadcast industry,” said Johnson.  “With all of the tax incentives for TV and movie filming here in the state of Georgia, it is a career choice that can be personally fulfilling and abundant in opportunity.”

Recent research shows jobs in broadcast and sound engineering are expected to grow by 10 percent nationwide by 2020, and jobs in film and video editing are expected to grow by 4 percent.  Rapidly changing technology means that occupations in this industry will go to people who are highly skilled in computer networks and sophisticated in the use of the latest software. 

Note:  Course descriptions for the Broadcast Video pathway courses can be found on p. 80-81 of the CCSD High School Course Selection Guide. http://www.cherokee.k12.ga.us/parentinfo/Documents/High%20School%20Course%20Selection%20Guide.pdf

For more information on Georgia’s Career Clusters/Pathways, see the State DOE website at http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/CTAE/Pages/CTAE-Georgia-Career-Clusters.aspx

Dean Rusk Middle School

Dean Rusk Middle School this holiday season students collected 83 boxes of food for MUST Ministries and $500 for needy families.

Hickory Flat Elementary School

Hickory Flat Elementary School continued its Parade of Toys tradition this holiday season, led by its Teacher of the Year Nancy Hunter.  It grew from collecting 750 toys for children in need to more than 1,000 this year, with support from business partners including Delta Community Bank, Hickory Flat McDonald’s and Hickory Flat Publix.

Hickory Flat Elementary School's Student Council and AIM Homeless Pet Club recently coordinated a school-wide cat and dog food donation drive for the Cherokee County Animal Shelter.  About 100 pounds of pet food was collected and delivered to the animal shelter.  

Holly Springs STEM Academy Elementary School

“It has been a generous holiday season at Holly Springs Elementary School STEM Academy,” Principal Dr. Dianne Steinbeck said.

A major service-learning initiative at the school has been to sponsor 56 families in need of assistance for the holidays; to achieve this, the school collaborated with many partners including civic clubs, churches, businesses and the PTA.

Indian Knoll Elementary School

Indian Knoll Elementary School set a goal for its charitable service the holiday season of helping 167 children who are either students at the school or their siblings.  The school not only collected gifts for them, but also held a community resource fair for their parents to educate them about assistance available to their families from service agencies and organizations throughout the year.

Indian Knoll Elementary School recently participated in the Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week.  The Hour of Code is an opportunity for students to try computer science for one hour.  Indian Knoll student participants completed at least one hour of writing a computer program using child-friendly programming languages. 

Indian Knoll Elementary School switched this school year from selling ice cream to selling Kona Ice as a monthly fundraiser, and so far the sales have raised more than $900.

Indian Knoll Elementary School teacher Jan Benefield has won a two-year lease of a Chevrolet Camaro through a contest sponsored by Anytime Fitness and Bill Holt Chevrolet.  The winner was selected based on membership referrals to Anytime Fitness, which is a Cherokee County School District health club membership program participant.  Ms. Benefield signed five new members up for Anytime Fitness memberships, and, in addition to the car lease, she won $1,000 from the gym and a lifetime membership.

Mountain Road Elementary School

Mountain Road Elementary School partnered with Sequoyah High School’s Junior ROTC this holiday season to collect canned goods for MUST Ministries; gathered coats, hats and gloves for Changed 2 Ministries; partnered with Love Loud to deliver food to needy families; and donated gifts for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots; and Oak Grove Elementary School Fine Arts Academy has assisted more than 60 families through its holiday charitable program in conjunction with local partners.