During its Academic Awards Night, Greater Atlanta Christian School (GAC) named its Valedictorian and Salutatorian of the Class of 2023.
Sophia Nguyen of Duluth was named class valedictorian. She will attend the University of Georgia as a Foundation Fellow in the Fall and plans to pursue international law. She is the daughter of Ben and Kelly Nguyen.
During her time at GAC, Sophia has completed 11 honors courses, 14 advanced placement courses and one dual credit course. She was captain of the Varsity Academic Team for two years, leading the team to a state championship and qualifying for the High School National Championship.
Sophia was vice president and then president of the GAC Literary Magazine and serves as recording secretary of the Culture Club and was a Georgia Governor’s Honors participant in Communicative Arts last year.
Cecile Nguyen of Alpharetta has been named class salutatorian. She will attend the University of Georgia in the Fall and plans to double major in Psychology and Biology. She is the daughter of Paul and Tiffany Nguyen.
While at GAC, Cecile has completed 11 honors and nine advanced placement courses. She is the student manager of the Mock Trial Team and was selected to be the prosecutor for this year’s Gwinnett County case. Cecile is also a sought-after peer tutor.
GAC has 149 students graduating on May 20 at the Long Forum on the campus of Greater Atlanta Christian School.
On Friday, September 8, Peachtree CornersMayor Mike Mason visited the BIA Charter School to read to the kindergarten class of Meredith Huxtable.
The mayor visited BIA as part of the Mayor’s Reading Club. Launched in August, the program is designed to support literacy skills and early reading success for children in Georgia cities.
During his visit, the mayor read “Georgia Caroline Visits City Hall,” and answered student questions. Following his reading of the book, the mayor took part in an interview conducted by the school’s morning news team, that was broadcast to the entire school.
The Mayor’s Reading Club was developed by Georgia City Solutions and is designed to foster partnerships between the city, county, local nonprofits, schools, libraries and businesses. Other elected officials, city staff, youth and community members can participate in the program as guest readers.
Top Row from left, Juliette Ball, Paige Glass, bottom row from left, Suzanne Ragains and Laura Riester (Photo courtesy of Wesleyan School.
The Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) recently named four Wesleyan School faculty members GISA Master Teachers.
After completing a comprehensive application process through GISA this past spring, the following teachers were honored:
Juliette Ball, lower school lead teacher;
Paige Glass, lower school lead teacher;
Suzanne Ragains, a high school modern and classical languages teacher and
Laura Riester, middle school math teacher.
To be accepted into GISA’s Master Teacher program, candidates must submit a portfolio featuring three examples of outstanding work related to the classroom and collaborating with other educators.
The final part of the application is an unedited video of the candidate’s classroom teaching as well as five letters of recommendation from colleagues, administrators, parents and students.
“We are delighted that GISA has acknowledged the hard work of these committed educators through the Master Teacher program,” said Chris Cleveland, Wesleyan Head of School.
“Juliette, Paige, Suzanne, and Laura are outstanding classroom teachers and have been impacting the lives of Wesleyan students for many years. They are each deserving of this honor.”
From June 28 to July 2, the Paul Duke STEM High School Technology Student Association (PDSTSA) chapter left a lasting mark at the 2023 National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Louisville, Kentucky. The group’s dedication to their work and unwavering support from chaperones and advisors led to nine Top 10 finishes and four Top 3 placements.
The Technology Student Association (TSA) is a national Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) compiled of passionate students who are thoroughly involved in STEM. TSA has over 200,000 members nationwide and 2,000 involved schools across 49 states.
The theme of this year’s conference was “A Legacy of Innovation,” a theme that the PDSTSA chapter certainly excelled at.
The PDSTSA chapter competed in the following areas: Data Science and Analytics, Video Game Design, Manufacturing Prototype, Future Technology Teacher, On Demand Video, Virtual Reality Visualization, Biotechnology Design and Geospatial Technology. Within each respective area, Paul Duke STEM High School (PDHS) had great success.
Aside from regional and state-wide competitions, the PDSTSA chapter competed at the annual National Conference where expert judges score groups and individuals on more than 70 different STEM-based educational challenges that covered topics such as architecture, communication, engineering, leadership and technology research.
Pursuit of excellence
Within their group, the PDSTSA chapter had an impressive four awards given out to groups and individuals within places first through third.
Notably, members Donald Iwejuo, Rohan Kumar, Hannah Le, Caleb Odunade, Mihir Pai, Rohan Pai, Phuong Truong and Keon Wilson won an astounding first place for their work in the Manufacturing Prototype category.
Manufacturing Prototype Team
For their challenge, they were asked to create a Fourth of July-themed decoration. The team problem-solved and worked to create a customizable condiment and utensil holder with replaceable tops that incorporated the shapes of fireworks and the Liberty Bell, and symbols of the American flag, winning PDSTSA their first national title.
Additionally, within the realm of Data Science and Analytics, PDSTSA members Oswin Cervantes, Meagan Harris and Rohan Kumar took home third place by using and studying data found online and provided by them through science experiments involving Blue Zones teas, JASP (an open source program for statistical analysis) and the aging of Saccroymeces cerevisie (more commonly known as brewer’s yeast or baker’s yeast).
Data Science and Analytics Team
In the category of Biotechnology Design, Chloe Au, Brandon Auyoung, Meagan Harris, Joshua Odunade, Quincy Robinson and Phuong Truong won third place for finding a solution to adequately address food preparation, storage and sustainability issues in space, specifically for a trip to Mars.
After creating a rocket-shaped display containing their solution, the team was awarded based on their problem-solving abilities.
Biotechnology Design Team
Caleb Odunade won third place in the solo category of Future Technology Teacher. For this category, competitors were required to choose an application that could be used for teaching and then demonstrate how to implement it in the classroom.
Odunade made a video for the preliminary round on how to use TinkerCAD, an engineering and 3D design application, and was challenged to also present a lesson plan he had designed.
Caleb Odunade Future
Technology Teacher
More notable accomplishments
However, the accomplishments didn’t end there. Others include:
Fourth place in Video Game Design for members Ali Akbar, Frank Hammock, Varun Iyengar, Rohan Kumar, Joshua Odunade and Sahana Parekh
Fifth place in Virtual Reality Visualization for members Aqil Afsar, Charlie Boalch, Rohan Kumar and Mihir Pai
Sixth place in Geospatial Technology for members Aqil Afsar, Mihir Pai and Rohan Pai
Sixth place for Future Technology Teacher awarded to member Myra Wu
Tenth place award in On Demand Video by members Baylor Brown, Abigail Donkor, Princess Igwe, Tristan Kim, Rohan Kumar, Caleb Odunade, Joshua Odunade, Rohan Pai and Landon Shell
Video Game Design Team
Virtual Reality Visualization TeamGeospatial Technology Team
Myra Wu Future Technology Teacher
On Demand Video Team
More to come
This was only the PDSTSA team’s second time participating in the NLC. The team is excited with their success and are looking forward to working towards even greater success in the future.
Check out the PDSTSA Instagram at @pdstsa. Learn more about TSA at tsaweb.org.