East Hall High School HMP student, Mayra Deras spent the day paging with Governor Nathan Deal and some time with Senator Butch Miller. Mayra is mentoring this semester with Katie Crumley with Hall County Government and has learned so much about local government.  I am so proud of her. Mayra has been accepted to Georgia Tech and will be entering there this fall.  Way to go Mayra.

All of the IB Juniors from Johnson High School, North Hall High School, and West Hall High Scool went to Lapdog on Friday, August 13thfor teambuilding in order to get ready for the challenge of 2 years of IB.  It was a day that we will always remember.  Whether we made it through the entire ropes course or not, we all had fun. We went through team building exercises either in the morning or afternoon of that day, and they helped build our trust in each other. These are our thoughts:

Flowery Branch Principal Dr. Mark Coleman has announced that the Falcons’ JV Academic Team has won the 2010 Georgia Academic Association’s AAA State Tournament. Dr. Coleman remarked, “This is the third consecutive year that our JV team has been state AAA champions. We are very proud of our students and their coaches Terri Barker and Joan Grindle in continuing a legacy of excellence.”

The Flowery Branch Odyssey of the Mind team won 1st place this past Saturday at the Regional Tournament that was held at Harrison High School in Kennesaw.  They will now compete at the State Finals on Saturday, April 10th at Columbus State University. 

The Flowery Branch High School Science Bowl Team has earned a trip to the 2009 Science Bowl State Championships in Savannah on February 28th by placing in the top 4 at the sub-regional Science Bowl held at the University of Georgia on Saturday, February 7. The Flowery Branch Team finished 3rd out of 12 teams from North Georgia Schools.

Dr. Joel Aquino's physics students at West Hall High Schools are challenged to design and construct a bridge with the highest load to bridge weight ration. The students can use no more than 100 popsicle sticks, and the bridge dimensions should be 12 inches long, 6 inches high and 4 inches wide.

This year's winning bridge, which utilized a creative downwards design, supporting an amazing 605 pounds, more than doubling the previous school record! The top bridge designers were by Sami Habacher and Stede Granger.

Honors Mentorship students from the Hall County Schools met with President Michael Adams from the University of Georgia at the office of the Gainesville Times. Students had a rare opportunity to interview and discuss with President Adams his views on issues that our students face when applying to college.

Students questioned President Adams about types of courses they should take in high school, the acceptance rate of UGA students into medical colleges, state education funding cuts and how they affect class size at UGA, and many other issues students may face when applying to the university. The students also attended a luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club where President Adams was the keynote speaker.

Harris Blackwood (The Times), Ashton Blackwood (JHS), Chase Staub (NHHS), Erin McGonigle (EHHS), President Adams, Chris Garland (FBHS), Ryan Bozarth (WHHS)