• A team of students from Mill Creek High School and Gwinnett School of Mathematics Science and Technology placed fourth at the World Finals of the Odyssey of the Mind competition. The team, consisting of Mill Creek High ninth-graders Emma Beguhn and Bailey Martinez, as well as GSMST ninth-grader Benjamin Breer, and Kyle Patel, a 10th-grader at GSMST, also won the coveted Ranatra Fusca Creativity Award. The Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. At the world finals, the team competed against top teams from around the U.S. and 17 countries. In all, more than 830 teams (20,000 people) were at the event.
• A Peachtree Ridge High School student has been selected as a member of the All-National Honor Ensembles Mixed Choir. Keshav Kalathoor, a junior at Peachtree Ridge, will sing Bass 2. The 2015 All-National Honor Ensembles program will take place in conjunction with the National Association for Music Education National Conference at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Conference Center in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 25–28. The final performance will be at the historic Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
• A recent graduate of Gwinnett School of Mathematics Science and Technology has been elected a leader of one of the top universities in the country. Colin Webb, a 2014 graduate of GSMST, is the 2018 class president at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of his campaign platform, Webb proposed an initiative to pair members of the MIT Class of 1968 with the Class of 2018 in community service efforts and a seminar series. Webb hopes the initiative will create supportive networks between students and alumni and provide students with the chance to meet mentors in their fields of interest.
• Peach State Health Plan has donated $10,000 to the Girl Scouts of America, in support of programming in science, technology, engineering, and math. "We are proud to be partners in helping children in our community take the next step on the path to success," said Debra Peterson-Smith, vice president of operations, Peach State Health Plan. Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta has more than 42,000 girls and 16,000 volunteers in 34 counties in metropolitan Atlanta, northwest Georgia and Polk County, Tenn. The Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta's Super STEM Expo is Oct. 24 at the North Atlanta Trade Center. For more information about STEM, how to join, volunteer, or donate to Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, call 800.771.1139, or visit www.GirlScoutsATL.org
• The Southern Regional Education Board has selected Lanier High as its Outstanding High Schools That Work Assignments Award winner. Lanier High received the award, in part, because of the collaboration between career technical education and academic teachers as students participate in project-based learning in the school's academy programs. Lanier is one of five Gwinnett high schools to launch academies last school year to better prepare students for college and careers. Dr. Reuben Gresham, the principal, who was presented the award at the 29th Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference in Atlanta, said that ensuring a school "culture where students' desire to learn outweighs our current structure … takes hard work, flexibility, and a passion for learning. Our teachers have responded to this challenge in an honorable way."
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