In Focus @ GWA

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

• Young Person's Concert: TONIGHT @ 7:30 p.m., LS Gym
• Cheer Parent Meeting: March 2 (see below)
• Lucky Dawg Gala & Benefit Auction: March 11
  
• Lower School Spring Photos (optional): March 15
• Jr./Sr. Prom: March 17 (no school for grades 9-12)
• Grandparents' Day: March 17 (early dismissal/NO aftercare)
• Book Fair: March 20 - 24
• MS Dance: March 24
• Volleyball Interest Meeting: March 30, 3 p.m. in The Commons

By Kellie Watts

Honors Physics students were challenged to research, design, and construct bridges given specific constraints. Students were provided only 60 popsicle sticks and basic school glue and asked to construct a bridge, given dimensional constraints, that could support at least 2 kg. Seniors Liz Jahns and Emily Music won the challenge by supporting more than 17kg, which is 37 pounds, without failure! We always conclude a physics unit with a real world application. Students studied bridges from around the world to gain inspiration for their own designs. The class recently completed the unit on forces in equilibrium and students applied this knowledge in their planning process. They were very excited to watch their bridges stand up to the competition and sometimes crumble under the massive weights!

Abigail Mack has been chosen as the Rotary Student of the Month for January. She has selected Cara Benfield as Teacher of the Month. Abigail has earned the AP National Scholar Award as well as the GWA Best of the Best Award and has made the Head of School list throughout high school. She demonstrates her leadership through her club involvement. Abigail is a member of the National Honor Society, Beta Club (vice president), Student Council (class president), Interact Club (president), Mu Alpha Theta (president), Spanish Club, and Bible Bulldogs. She serves as a GWA Student Ambassador and plays on the varsity tennis team (co-captain). She serves her community through Team Up Mentoring and her youth group at Monroe First Baptist Church.

Abigail will attend the University of Georgia in the fall and plans to major in biology.

Congratulations to Abigail and Ms. Benfield!

Mia Smith has been chosen as the Student of the Month for February. She has selected Jessie Croft as Teacher of the Month. Mia has earned the GWA Best of the Best award and has made the Head of School list throughout high school. She is a member of the National Honor Society (secretary), Beta Club, Gavel Club, and Spanish Club (co-president). Mia has been a member of the varsity tennis team (co-captain) and varsity cross country team (co-captain) since ninth grade. She serves her school as a GWA Student Ambassador and volunteers in her community through her church, Conyers First United Methodist Church.

Mia will become a University of Georgia Bulldog in the fall, and she plans to study risk management. Congratulations to Mia and Sra. Croft!

Seventh and eighth graders Phillip Akin, Scarlett Tammaro, Carrie Ann Plyler, and Constance Trinh successfully represented GWA at the Northeast GA chapter competition of MATHCOUNTS last Friday at the FOCAL Center in Forsyth County. These students have been training and practicing all year to hone their problem-solving skills and solve unique math challenges. They competed against over 120 other students from 20 different schools in two individual rounds and a team round. GWA also won a free year of the MATHCOUNTS training program OPLET (a $300 value) to help train our mathletes next year. We are so proud of the hard work and incredible thinking of our middle school competition math team!

Students in Ms. Lovett's fifth-grade science class participated in building plant cells and animal cells out of modeling clay. They had to build and label all the parts of the cell. It was a fun hands- on activity to review the parts of the cell and their functions!

Third graders in Mr. Gasaway’s technology class recently learned about NASA’s first African-American female scientist, Katherine Johnson, and how her math calculations helped the first Apollo astronauts go around the moon. As part of their lesson, students had to measure the distance to the sphere and had to program their robot to fly to the moon. The robot needed to make an orbit around the moon and return to where they started. The class had to use their programming and math skills to make it come together and complete the mission.

Click HERE for details and to RSVP and HERE to send us favorite pictures with your loved ones.

Are you interested in being on the yearbook staff? Listed as "Publication Design" in the course catalog, the yearbook staff is a semester-long course open to grades 9-12. You must be pre-approved to take the class.

If you have any interest in joining the yearbook staff, fill out your application now! You will not be committed to taking the class if you fill out an application, but you won't be able to join the class later if you haven't been pre-approved.

Click HERE to apply (link is only accessible to those with a GWA email address because the student should be filling out the application). Applications due on Tuesday, March 7!

As a follow up to our Vaping Presentation during LINX, we are gauging interest in a parent information meeting where you can get some information to help you have conversations about these topics at home. If you are interested in attending, please click HERE to fill out the form. If we have enough interest, we will plan this meeting.

Thank you,

Amber Thomason

Director of School Counseling

Our varsity basketball teams are looking for state championship wins as the boys' team takes on St. Anne-Pacelli tonight in the Final Four and the girls' team plays in the championship game in the GIAA State Tournament at Mercer University. Tickets may be purchased online - click HERE and paid live stream access is available through giaasports.org. Come out to cheer on our Bulldogs as they fight for their championship titles!

Our varsity tennis teams are off to a great start for the season with a 2-0 record from their wins over Social Circle and Bethlehem Christian. Way to go, Bulldogs!

Need a happy pick-me-up? Come visit everyone's favorite show! Award-winning artwork from our county's elementary school students is on display through March 16 at Monroe-Walton Center for the Arts in downtown Monroe. A reception to honor the artists will be held on Thursday, March 16 from 6 - 7:30 p.m.

Today's In Focus is proudly sponsored by Your Pie (www.yourpie.com). Interested in advertising through our Corporate Partnership program? Contact Mike Elmankabady melmankabady@gwa.com or call 678-635-3812.