• Renfroe Middle School's Hover Dogs team won the biggest trophy at the first "Drones for Good" competition for middle school students March 14, organized by Grady High school's G3 robotics group. Team Zentic Potato, also of Renfroe in Decatur, won the second-largest trophy, the research trophy. The teams had only six weeks to prepare for a competition that required building a drone from scratch. Team members were Kriston Esnard, Joshua Torrance, Jack Egger (obstacle course pilot), Ashton Simpkins, Anthony Ford (spotter) and Harper Rhett. Team coaches were parents June Torrance and Joseph Esnard. Team mentor this time around was Scott Torrance.
• Two Woodward Academy Middle School students, eighth-graders Max Seidel and Mary Clayton, received national recognition in the 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. They will be honored in a ceremony for all national winners at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 11. Max earned the Gold Medal in the fashion category for his piece, "The Lorax." This is the highest honor for individual art, and his work will be exhibited in New York. For "Looking Good," Mary received the Silver Medal in photography, signifying high honors on the national level. Each year students in grades seven through 12 submit writing and artwork to the competition. It is presented by The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, which partners with more than 100 regional affiliates in the nation's longest-running recognition initiative for creative teens and the largest scholarship source for young artists and writers.
• The Georgia Adult Education Association named Nancy DeLisle-Brown the Outstanding Adult Educator for 2015 during its annual conference March 9 in Augusta. DeLisle-Brown is a longtime instructor at Kennesaw State University's College of Continuing and Professional Education. She specializes in English as a Second Language, leading classes for local adult learners as well as international educators who train at the College.
• Beacon College, the nation's first accredited college to offer both bachelor and associate degrees exclusively for students with learning disabilities, will offer "Write into College," a college-level composition class at Roswell's The Cottage School. The three- week, non-residential course begins June 22 and will be available to all Atlanta-area rising seniors or students who have graduated in the spring and are heading to college in the fall. The three credit course qualifies for both high school and college credit.
• Sixteen of 22 participants in Alpharetta High School's first-year chapter of Health Occupations Students of America made it to the second round of the recent state competition. Three of those became finalists and one student made it to the national competition.
• The National Art Education Association has named Drew Brown of Roswell the 2015 National Elementary Art Educator of the Year. This award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding NAEA member annually within his or her division. NAEA members include elementary, middle and high school art teachers; university and college professors; education directors who oversee education in art museums; supervisors who oversee art education in school districts, state departments of education, arts councils; and teaching artists throughout the United States and many foreign countries.
• The Cherokee County School District has again received national recognition for its academic school choice program. The school district's Cherokee Academies program has been named an honorable-mention winner in the 21th annual Magna Awards program sponsored by the National School Boards Association's flagship magazine, American School Board Journal (ASBJ). An independent panel of school board members, administrators and other educators selected the 33 honorees from 250 submissions.
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