The Gordon County Schools Board of Education was recognized by Superintendent Mrs. Alice Mashburn and administrators for their dedication to our schools and community as part of Board Appreciation Week (March 11-15). Board members were presented with gifts, cards, videos, and banners celebrating their work and leadership for our schools.
The March 2024 Board of Education meeting also had many recognitions honoring our students and teachers for district and state successes.
Valedictorian and salutatorian are academic titles of the highest honor for students in their graduating class. The valedictorian represents the highest grade point average among his or her peers, and salutatorian is the second-highest class GPA. These are achievements that are difficult to obtain and require extreme scholastic dedication. Gordon County Schools recognized the valedictorian and salutatorian of each high school.
The Class of 2024 Valedictorian of Sonoraville High School is Paul Duhaime. Paul is the son of Shail and Lisa Duhaime. Paul plans to attend Liberty University. Ross Stewart is the Class of 2024 Salutatorian. He is the son of Will and Dana Stewart. Ross plans to attend college and major in chemistry.
The Class of 2024 Valedictorian of Gordon Central High School is Max Stone. He is the son of Brad and Rachel Stone. Max plans to attend Dalton State College and major in Accounting. Maya Lagunas is the Class of 2024 Salutatorian. She is the daughter of April Lagunas. Maya plans to attend Oglethorpe University and major in Psychology.
Also recognized were the STAR Student and STAR Teacher of each high school.
STAR is an acronym for Student Teacher Achievement Recognition, and the STAR Student is the senior with the highest SAT score on a single test date and in the top 10% of his or her class. STAR Students are asked to select a STAR Teacher who they feel made the most significant contribution to their scholastic development.
Sonoraville High School’s STAR Student is Paul Duhaime. Paul is also Sonoraville’s Valedictorian, which is an outstanding accomplishment to be recognized for both academic achievements. Paul selected Mrs. Samantha Watson, his Biology teacher, to be his STAR Teacher. It is evident that Mrs. Watson made a huge impact on Paul to be selected for this recognition, as it reflects the trust and support Paul felt from his teacher while attending high school.
Gordon Central High School’s STAR Student is DJ Young. DJ was unable to attend last night's board meeting, but he was recognized for this great achievement. This is DJ’s first year at Gordon Central High School, and he has accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. He selected social studies teacher Mr. Alan Hughes as his STAR Teacher. Mr. Hughes quickly made a huge impression on DJ while teaching him AP Microeconomics.
Gordon County Schools also had state champions to celebrate and recognize last night as well.
The Georgia LifeSmarts State Championship was held recently at the Rock Eagle 4-H Center, where teams participate in quizzes and skills related to consumer rights and responsibilities, the environment, health and safety, personal finance, and technology. The goal of LifeSmarts is to create consumer-savvy young people prepared for adult life in today's complex global marketplace.
Gordon County's JV and Varsity Georgia LifeSmart teams both won state championships at this competition and will represent Georgia in the National Championship event. Congratulations to their coach Mrs. Carrie Greeson-Parish, who teaches Computer Science at Red Bud Middle School.
The JV team, consisting of Red Bud Middle School students, were Jet Johnston, Preslie Parish, Julio Rodriguez-Garcia, and Emma Osmanovic.
The Varsity team, consisting of Sonoraville High School students (and one Calhoun High School student), were William Parish, Blake Carey, Kaleb King, and Jonathan Sifuentes.
Gordon Central High School's SkillsUSA competitors were recognized for for their recent success at the State SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta. Students competed in Electrical, Dry Wall, Masonry, Teamworks, Blueprint Reading, and Short Film.
GC had three state champions who will go on to compete at Nationals. Hayden Hyde and Wesley Garcia placed 1st in the state in Dry Wall, and Jeff Fraire placed 1st in Masonry. Congratulations to these students, as well as their SkillsUSA coach and construction teacher Mr. Bo Dooley.
Congratulations to all of our students from last night's BOE meeting. Thank you to families who attended to help us recognize and celebrate these successes.
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