• Teasley Middle School principal Dr. Susan Zinkil is the Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year. Dr. Zinkil was appointed the principal of Teasley in 2010. Under her leadership, it has been recognized as a "Distinguished Breakout Middle School" by the Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals in 2013, a finalist for the Georgia Family Friendly Partnership Award in 2014 and a Title I Reward School in 2012 and 2015 by the Georgia Department of Education. The Technology Association of Georgia named Teasley Middle School as a finalist in its State STEM Awards in 2015.
• Ken Yant, Gwinnett County Public Schools' director of school nutrition, won a 2016 Silver Star Leadership Award at the 2016 Foodservice Achievement Management Excellence Awards. "Gwinnett County Public Schools is very proud and fortunate to have a leader like Ken Yant," said GCPS chief financial officer Joe Heffron. "Ken understands the importance of teamwork and puts a high emphasis on empowering employees by providing the necessary training to do their job." The FAME Awards specifically recognized Yant's ability to turn ideas into realities and cited his ability to increase competition for the district's business while procuring items that let menus to stay fresh and increase student participation.
• North Gwinnett High School's Mary Troung won first place in the Advocacy Poster Design Contest for her poster "Art Matters." Troung, a senior, earned a $300 gift certificate from Nasco Arts & Crafts, and her teacher, Yvette Kim, received a one-year subscription to Davis Digital Art Images. Additionally, Troung's work will be published in the March issue of SchoolArts Magazine and will be reproduced and distributed at the 2016 NAEA National Convention in Chicago this March.
• Gwinnett County Public Schools earned nearly a third of the 13 awards presented at the FIRST LEGO League State Tournament at the University of Georgia. The first place Overall Champion's Award went to Osborne Middle School and the third Place Overall Champion's Award went to Puckett's Mill Elementary School. Lilburn Elementary School placed first in the project presentation category, and Hull Middle School placed first in the Project Research category. Teams are challenged to develop a solution to a real-world problem, such as this year's, trash disposal. They also must design, build, and program a robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology. Nearly 500 teams from around the state competed, after working their way through regional tournaments. Winners at the state level will move on to the national competition.
• Brookwood High School students Evan Butterworth, Eunice Choi, and Ruby Lee; Mill Creek High School students Jonathan Moon and Kevin Alford, as well as Zander Sugarman of Mountain View High School took part in the 2016 High School Honors Performance Series at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. More than 750 high school students were selected from 18,000 worldwide to perform in one of three instrumental or two vocal groups. The selected student performers represented 49 states, 4 Canadian provinces, Guam, Armenia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.
• Whitewater High School drama teacher Susan Simich has been selected as the Georgia Theatre Educator of the Year by the Georgia Thespians, a chapter of the Education Theatre Association that sponsors the International Thespian Society. Simich was nominated for the award by one of her students, Cymbre Davis, who attended the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Georgia Thespians Conference to present Simich with the award. Simich also received a $500 grant.
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