In Focus @ GWA

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Email: info@gwa.com
Website: www.gwa.com
Phone: (678) 635-3800
Facebook: facebook.com/GeorgeWaltonAcademy/
Twitter: @georgewalton

• LS Christmas Parties: Friday, Dec. 17
• Early Dismissal Day MS & HS: Friday, Dec. 17 @ 10 a.m.
  
• Early Dismissal Day LS: Friday, Dec. 17 @ 10:30 a.m.
• Christmas Break: Dec. 20 - Jan. 3
• Teacher Workday: Jan. 3
• Spring Semester Begins: Tues., Jan. 4
• HS Winter Term: Jan. 4 - Jan. 21

It’s been a great semester, Bulldogs! We enjoyed community events, school-wide events, performances, athletic events, fellowship with our Bulldog family and most of all, watching students thrive academically. We can’t wait for 2022! Help us finish the year strong with a year-end gift to GWA!

By Holly Atkinson, Global Health teacher

GWA Honors Global Health students have been working hard learning some medical skills that will allow them to screen for hypertension, diabetes, and malnutrition. This class typically culminates with a trip to Belize to screen part of the population there during Winter Term. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the students will not be able to travel this year. Instead, the students will have a chance to practice their skills by screening a faculty member as their final skills check-off. The students have practiced many times on each other, but now have the chance to practice on someone less familiar, or possibly even a stranger – in order to simulate a similar experience to screening in Belize.

During the screening, students take temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, height, weight, calculate body mass index, blood pressure, and blood glucose. Then, the harder part comes when the students need to give advice on lifestyle modifications that will improve the “patient’s” health. We have worked on being relational and compassionate when giving advice and not just giving textbook information. These students have worked hard this semester and are already putting their knowledge to use daily in making their own choices that influence their personal health.

Mrs. Jones' graphic design students were assigned to mock "clients" (faculty and staff members) that needed logos and a promotional piece for their "business" (some real and some theoretical). Each faculty member met with their student designer to tell them about their business. They provided a description of their business, the name of the business and what they wanted to achieve with their logo and promotional piece. They met multiple times to give feedback and work on revising their designs. Through this process, students were able to understand what it takes to design and create for a business while strengthening their abilities to interact with adults and receive constructive criticism. Students had the challenge of creating a logo using the skills they've learned throughout the semester to cater to a specific client. The project offered students real-world learning through design and communication.

Eighth-grade English students learned to sample books and find options that interest them. They will choose a book to read at the start of the new semester with one group making their selection from the unit “A Deep Study of Characters” and the other choosing a book offered in their unit, “Dystopian Book Clubs.” The goal of “book tasting” is for students to be able to choose something that interests them so they will be more invested and independent in their reading.

Mr. Jameson’s upper school art students recently completed their first portrait pieces using drawing basics and their understanding of value scales as well as light and form to execute their projects monochromatically. During the semester, they succeeded in rendering basic shapes, to complicated scenes and still life(s) in various drawing media and techniques. Following Mr. Jameson’s demonstration of subtractive charcoal technique on toned paper, students paired up with a classmate to create their portraits. They had the freedom to choose which technique to use (one learned during the semester) and worked to make a full-value rendering in monochromatic tones accurate to the likeness of their classmate models as their final project.

The sounds of the season filled the Nicholson Center on Tuesday night as the GWA bands presented their “Deck the Halls with Music” Christmas concert. Congrats to our band directors and all GWA band students on their wonderful performances!

GWA Bulldogs were thrilled to help out with last Thursday's downtown Monroe Candlelight Shopping event. Our amazing student ambassadors, glee club and Awgie the Bulldog all contributed to the festive event. It was great to meet and greet both GWA families and local shoppers while providing all the ingredients for making s'mores by the giant fire pit.

After 30 years of service and friendship, Vickie Rollins has decided it is time to retire from GWA. She has worn many hats during her time here and we will miss her greatly. Thank you, Vickie and best wishes in retirement! Please see her message below.

Dear GWA family,

Retiring is such a tough decision to make, and my time has come to do so. I want to say thank you for the many years of memories and happy times here at GWA. A lot of you know GWA is my extended family, and I will miss seeing everyone. I want to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Blessings to all!

Vickie

Congratulations to GWA softball coach Katherine Meeks and her players on all of their accomplishments this season! Well done, Lady Dawgs!

Our middle school swim team wrapped up their season last Saturday at the 42nd annual Middle School Championship at Marist School in Atlanta. Congrats to Anthony Pham on his first-place championship win in the 200 IM – he finished first out of 26 teams! Coach Power is proud of the middle school swim dawgs and the improvement they demonstrated over the course of the season, “I am so proud of these swimmers. Each one has shown perseverance, dedication, and resiliency in their own way this season. I look forward to the years to come with this talented group of swimmers.”

Today's In Focus is proudly sponsored by Snellville Heating, Air & Plumbing (www.snellair.com). Interested in advertising through our Corporate Partnership program? Contact Jeanie Beach at jbeach@gwa.com or call 678-635-3812.