• The Alpharetta High School speech team scored a victory at the recent Sequoyah High Speech and Debate Tournament, winning 14 bids to the state championship. Winners included Deja Holmes in dramatic interpretation, Lara Strydom in humorous interpretation, and Nalah Hill and Milx Barbosa in duo interpretation. Other students winning bids to the state championship include Nalah Hill, Kiara Harris and Brandon Kim in dramatic interpretation, Conner Kocks, Coyvan Greer, Emma Svitil, and Kelly Lumpkin in humorous interpretation. Tate Rehklau and Sarah Curtis took state bids in poetry and prose, as did the team of Sarah Curtis and Alex Atchison in duo interpretaion.
• Roswell High School orchestra teacher Sara Payne was recently selected to receive the Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction Award by the National Society of High School Scholars. The NSHSS was formed in 2002 by James Lewis and Claes Nobel, the senior member of the family that established the Nobel Prizes. The society boasts over 1,000,000 members in more than 160 countries. RHS student Nikolai Sidon nominated Payne because of her "significant contribution to student's academic careers, leadership as a role model and source of inspiration, and lasting influence on the lives of her students."
• An elementary teacher who refers to herself as "a successful product of Gwinnett County Public Schools" is the 2015 Gwinnett County Teacher of the Year. Sharon Smith of Brookwood Elementary received school system's highest honor. Before that, Smith was first named the 2015 Gwinnett County Elementary School Teacher of the Year. She was selected as Gwinnett's top teacher from a group of six finalists, which included two teachers from each level. Cindy Apley Rose of Couch Middle was named the 2015 Middle School Teacher of the Year and Randi Hill of Gwinnett Online Campus won the 2015 High School Teacher of the Year honor.
• Bear Creek Middle School planned on Nov. 21 to present 30 to 40 deserving families a basket filled with items to complete a Thanksgiving meal. These families would receive "Baskets of Thanks" as a result of a student body coin drive and donations from the school's educational partners.
• Denise Detamore, founder and director of Kids 4 Coding, was chosen by Fulton County Schools and the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce to be Principal of the Day at Hembree Springs Elementary on Nov. 21. Detamore is a former Fulton County Schools teacher who turned entrepreneur and started Kids 4 Coding & Advantage Learning Cooperative, a year-round technology center focused on STEM education: science, technology, engineering and math. Last summer, Kids 4 Coding held half- day technology camps for 386 campers.
• Georgia Perimeter College was named among a "Best for Vets College" by Military Times magazine. GPC was among 140 colleges nationwide achieving this distinction. The rankings, now in their fifth year, factor in the most comprehensive school-by-school assessment of veteran and military students' success rates.
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