Two Class of 2023 Seniors Win National Merit Special Scholarships
Nandita Bipin of River Ridge HS has been selected as a winner of the Truist Scholarship, sponsored by Truist Financial Corporation. Rhiannon Crisante of Cherokee HS has been selected as a winner of the ADP Henry Taub Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by ADP Foundation. They are among the 800 distinguished high school seniors nationwide to win special scholarship awards financed by corporations, company foundations, and other business organizations.

Selection is made based on review of academic records and college entrance exam scores, leadership and service in school and the community, and personal essays and letters of recommendation. Other factors also may apply such as a winner’s parent being employed with the corporation, living in the corporation’s service area, or planned pursuit of a specific career or college major.

Woodstock HS Announces New Girls Head Basketball Coach
Woodstock HS Girls Basketball Program is excited to welcome its new head coach, Tiffany Leak. Coach Leak will begin her teaching and coaching responsibilities at the start of the 2023-2024 school year. She will be teaching math at WHS.

Coach Leak earned her Bachelor of Education in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of West Georgia and holds a Master of Arts in Education in Special Education as well as her specialist degree. She comes to WHS from Paulding County HS where she has been the girls head basketball coach and served as an assistant coach for flag football and volleyball since 2020.


CCSD Earns National Grant for STEM Learning
The district is one of only 10 school systems nationwide to earn the 2023 Make a Change grant from the national Argument Driven Inquiry educational organization. The $75,000 grant will fund “Future Ready Graduates: Elementary Integration with ADI,” an expansion of CCSD’s successful argument driven inquiry program (ADI), already in place for grades 6-12, into elementary schools to further enhance science and math instruction. The research-based instructional model increases students’ math and science knowledge while also developing their writing, presentation, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.

The grant will be used to fund training and materials for fourth- and fifth-grade math and science teachers to begin using the ADI instructional model. Six CCSD elementary schools currently are piloting the ADI model, and the grant will fund bringing the program to all elementary schools.

School District, Superintendent Named National Award Finalists
For a third time, CCSD has been named a national finalist for the Varsity Brands’ Spirit of St. Jude recognition. Only two finalists were named from nominees nationwide. The Spirit of St. Jude award, named for the children’s research hospital, honors schools and school districts that engage the majority of their students in fundraising for the charity, which is a major recipient of Varsity Brands’ philanthropy.

As a Varsity Brands “Team Up” for St. Jude school district, the CCSD community has raised $350,000 since 2016 to support the hospital. Woodstock HS earned the Spirit of St. Jude Award in 2022.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower has been named a finalist for the 2023 Most Spirited Superintendent Award, which honors leaders for exemplary commitment to “elevating and improving the student experience.” He is one of only seven superintendents nationwide selected as a finalist. It is the second time Dr. Hightower has made the finalist list for the national honor, having previously been recognized in 2020. Award winners in both categories will be announced this month.


River Ridge HS Student Wins National Writing Award
Baileigh J. Borna earned First Class honors in the prestigious 2023 National Council of Teachers of English Writing’s Achievement Awards in Writing Program contest, which is a school-based writing program that was established in 1957 to encourage writing and to recognize the nation’s outstanding young writers. Entries are scored by a panel of independent judges on expression of ideas, language use, and unique perspective and voice. Borna is one of only 114 students nationwide to earn the top honor of First Class.

Borna’s award-winning entry was about education and the United Nations address by Malala Yousafzai in which she shared the now famous quote: “Let us pick up our books and our pens; they are the most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.” You can read her entry at CherokeeK12.net.

New Principal Announced for Cherokee HS
Andy Hall, Cherokee HS’s new principal and a 19-year educator, was appointed to his current role after serving five years as an assistant principal at River Ridge HS. He previously taught English at Cherokee HS, Woodstock HS, and Polaris Evening Program and coached cross country, track, and basketball. His numerous accolades include the Superintendent’s Game Changer Award for Instructional Leadership, Woodstock HS Teacher of the Year, and Woodstock HS STAR Teacher.