In Focus @ GWA

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Email: info@gwa.com
Website: www.gwa.com
Phone: (678) 635-3800

• Fifth-grade CHAMPS graduation: Feb. 3
• GWA Open House for Prospective Families: Feb. 5
• Winter Sports Senior Night: Feb. 7
• Valentine's Day Parties: Feb. 14
• Spring Sports Photos: Feb. 15 & 22, 23
• Admissions Testing: Feb. 16 (no school for The Hill ONLY)
• Winter Break: Feb. 17 - 20
• Jr./Sr. Prom: March 17 (no school for grades 9-12)
• Grandparents' Day: March 17
• Book Fair: Mar. 20 - 24

Our middle and upper school students enjoyed a visit by guest speaker, and award-winning Chef Jacoby Ponder during their LINX period. He has cooked for celebrities including Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Laila Ali, President George H.W. Bush, and the Real Housewives of Atlanta, as well as many musical artists. He has gained wide recognition through his appearances on The Food Network.

Born and raised in Monroe, Georgia, Chef Ponder proves that no matter what your circumstances are in life, you can prosper and thrive. He shared his personal story with students, from growing up in a single-parent household with little money to serving and learning to cook in the military, studying business and culinary arts and eventually founding his Chefpreneur Academy.

Chef Ponder stressed the importance of setting goals, personal development, and knowing and believing in yourself. He engaged with our students during his presentation and his love for teaching was evident as he shared the key components of how to become the best version of yourself as you pursue your dreams.

Thank you to Chef Ponder for helping us kick off Black History Month at GWA! We are grateful for his positivity, inspiration, and mentorship!

The Interact Club hosted the Monroe Rotary Club for lunch to celebrate "service above self." Interact presented the work they've accomplished so far and the goals they have for the rest of the year. Rotary Club members shared what it has meant to them to lead through service in our community. The two groups had an opportunity to ask each other questions and discuss plans to collaborate on future service projects.

In anticipation of Grandparents' Day festivities, there is an online shop to pre-order Grandparents' Day t-shirts. The shop closes on February 16. Click HERE to purchase.

Thank you to Walton EMC for awarding two of our awesome teachers with this year's School EmPOWERment Grant and for empowering our students in the classroom. On behalf of our upper school biology program, Cara Benfield received the funding necessary to equip students with the supplies needed to complete multiple DNA labs. In honor of our lower and middle school robotics program, Mark Gasaway was awarded the funding to purchase Bitboard Rovers, Cray Circuit Programming kits, and Maker Kits.

The ASL (American Sign Language) 1 class is learning about signs for weather and seasons. As a part of their lesson on the winter season, Mrs. Gahan used pictures and a story about a polar bear to introduce new vocabulary. After some practice, students used their new sign vocabulary, and they will create videos of themselves retelling the story. As a second part of the lesson on weather, the class utilized a phone weather app to view reports of weather forecasts from across the country. They uploaded their video reports to the Google stream in order to share with their classmates.

Each year at our Gala, we randomly select a lucky winner who receives their choice of any of our four amazing trip packages offered as part of this year's raffle. Each raffle entry is $100 and no more than 200 tickets will be sold.

Scan the QR code above, or click HERE to purchase your entries!

We are excited to welcome our French exchange students – Gabrielle, Louise, Bérénice, Samuelle, and Caroline from Saint-Denis International School to GWA! They will experience life as an American teenager by spending time with their host families and as a part of our student body until February 23. Stay tuned for stories from our own students about their time in France as well as Spain in next week's In Focus.

A big congratulations to our Great Kindness Challenge winners! The lower school winning classes were Ms. Shupe (second grade) and Mrs. Gunnin (fifth grade). They completed the entire list of kind gestures and activities last week and were recognized by our school counseling office for spreading kindness and making the extra effort to complete the challenge. Fourth grader Elly Jervis was named the kindest student in lower school.

Mrs. Patti White was selected as the middle school’s kindest teacher based on student feedback and eighth grader Morgan Inman was chosen as by the middle school teachers as the kindest student.

Last but not least, Mrs. Melissa Page was named the kindest teacher in upper school and senior Keith Mims was selected by upper school teachers as the kindest student. Congrats to the winners and thanks to all for choosing positivity and kindness!

Save the date! Next Thursday, Feb. 9, the Monroe Zaxby's is hosting a spirit night to benefit the Monroe Junior Service League Scholarship Fund. The money collected will go directly to three local graduating high school seniors from Walnut Grove High School, Monroe Area High School, and George Walton Academy.

Our varsity Bulldog basketball teams continue to compete well as they approach playoffs. The girls stand at 17-2 following a decisive 61-27 over Loganville Christian this week. Leading scorers from the game were Ashley Hill with 18 points and Leila Mathis contributing 15 points.

The boys team moved to 19-5 on the season, including a 6-0 region record. They finished 49-48 against LCA on Tuesday night for an important region win. The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Chase Jocelyn with 17 points and Logan Blalock with 14.

GWA will host Lakeview Academy next Tuesday, Feb. 7 for Winter Sports Senior Night – the Bulldogs final home game before heading to Bethlehem Christian on Thursday, Feb. 9. The region tournament will kick off on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Lakeview Academy. Go Bulldogs!

Our JV girls' basketball team won the Region Championship after last night's 41-29 win over Lakeview Academy! Congratulations to Coach Grace Martin and her players!

Our GWA wrestlers competed well at Region on Saturday at Piedmont Academy. Adam Denhardt won his bracket, Evan Newsom, Nate Sharp, and David Eberly all placed third and Graydon Ferrell placed fourth. All five wrestlers advance to State (individual) this weekend. Belle Rabe will also be competing in the GIAA Girls State Championship.

Our middle school and youth wrestlers competed at Peachtree Ridge. Cash Sorrow placed first, Batch Ball placed third and Cove Mills finished fourth.

Congratulations, GWA wrestlers and good luck at State this weekend!

The countdown is on for the Daddy Daughter Dance and we encourage all to buy tickets by Feb. 7 for headcount purposes. Tickets are on sale now in the Dawgs 360 office (cash or check accepted).

Today's In Focus is proudly sponsored Snellville Heating, Air and Plumbing (www.snellair.com). Interested in advertising through our Corporate Partnership program? Contact Mike Elmankabady melmankabady@gwa.com or call 678-635-3812.