Celebrations 2005
   
  2005-2006
Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) would like for the school board to recognize both of the PCMS Nettes basketball teams for winning their regular season and regional basketball tournaments for the 2005-2006 season. The coaches were Head Coach Lana Callahan and Assistant Coach Dale Seay. The winning 8th grade girls team members were Abbey Callahan, Sarah Turner, Jordyn Hammontree, Lindsey Hammontree, Kimbal Kapuscinski, Ansley Patterson, Jessi Padgett, Karina Baggs, Addie Wofford, and Danielle Tidwell. Sarah Turner was awarded the regional tournament MVP for the 8th grade tournament.

The 6th and 7th grade team members were Kayla Byrom, Jamie Waterman, Jazmine Goss, Chelsea Coleman, Shelby Estes, Madison Eubanks, Kristen Garner, Kelli Johnson, Emily Fields, Carlee Prather, Kayla Barnard, Ellie Fields, and Emma Fox. Jazmine Goss was awarded the regional tournament MVP for the 6th and 7th grade tournament.

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Pickens County Middle School would also like for the school board to recognize the PCMS 6th grade math team for winning the 2006 Berry College Spring Math Contest on February 21st at Berry College. The PCMS 6th grade math team's teacher and sponsor was Mrs. Carrie Stephens. The 8-person team included students Alyce Cuilla, Brooke Smith, Damien Allen, Brandon McClain, Ben Duncan, Chandler Cook, Hannah Keeter, and Shannon O'Dell. Student Alyce Cuilla was rewarded with the highest individual math score medallion at the contest.
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Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) would like for the school board to recognize student Stephanie Berndt for making the 2005-2006 Georgia All State Middle School Chorus. Her chorus director was Ms. Clara Pantazopoulos.
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Mr. Jerrold Young of ETC is shown presenting a check for $1000 to Mrs. Rhonda Shaddix, Mrs. Jackie Nation, and Assistant Principal, Mr. Bruce Godfrey at Pickens County Middle School. The generous donation will help pay the cost of the annual eighth-grade Washington D.C. field trip. The funds will benefit eighth graders at both Pickens County and Jasper Middle Schools. The students tour our nation’s capitol and bring home a lifetime of memories. Pickens County Schools offers a special thanks to Ellijay Telephone Company ( ETC) for their continued support of education in Pickens County.
(click photo for larger image)

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Jerrold Young, Public Relations Director for the south market of Ellijay Telephone Company, is shown presenting a check for $27,000 to Mike Ballew, Superintendent of schools for Pickens County. This donation is from the Harrison Foundation, Inc. and will be used for scholarships for students in the Pickens County School System.

Mike wants to thank the Harrison Foundation, Inc. and the Ellijay Telephone Company for their continued support of the Pickens County School System. Each year this organization has donated generously to the Pickens Partners for Educational Excellence Fund, and this money is used to assist the students of Pickens County when they attend college.
(click photo for larger image)

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The Big Dragon Heart award was awarded to Ginger Willingham and Teresa Harrington in appreciation of there service as School Bus Drivers. Ms.
Willingham and Ms. Harrington were awarded certificates from the board of education.
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Tate Elementary School student Qasim Raza participated in the district Spelling Bee on February 25, 2006 in Marietta. He successfully completed five rounds in the district Spelling Bee. Qasim is the Spelling Bee winner for Pickens County.
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Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) would like to offer congratulations to both of the PCMS Nettes basketball teams for winning their regular season and regional basketball tournaments for the 2005-2006 season.
Special thanks to Head Coach Lana Callahan and Assistant Coach Dale Seay for their hard work and dedication to the PCMS girls' basketball program.
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Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) would like to offer congratulations to student Stephanie Berndt for making the 2005-2006 Georgia All State Middle School Chorus. PCMS would like thank her chorus director, Ms. Clara Pantazopoulos, for her hard work and dedication to the PCMS chorus program.
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Pickens County Middle School would like to offer congratulations to the PCMS 6th grade math team for winning the 2006 Berry College Spring Math Contest on February 21st at Berry College. PCMS would like thank their math teacher and sponsor, Mrs. Carrie Stephens, for her hard work and dedication to the PCMS math team.
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Of the 72 FIRST Lego League teams that competed statewide, Pickens County Middle School Team #3348 (a/k/a Fire Storm) finished 10th at the state tournament held at Georgia Tech University on January 14, 2006.
Climbing from 24th place last year to 10th, this accomplishment marked a quantum leap for PCMS Robotics. PCMS would like thank the sponsors, Jeanne and Bill Beecken for their hard work and dedication to the PCMS robotics team.
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Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) would like to offer congratulations to our 2005-2006 PCMS Band Program for qualifying 22 individual PCMS students to participate in the District Honor Band conducted at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia on February 11, 2006.
PCMS would like thank the band director, Mrs. Mary Land, and assistant band director, Ms. Clara Pantazopoulos, for their hard work and dedication to the PCMS band program.
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Launch Pads for Literacy has given 80 families refurbished computers at no charge. They recently won the Keep Pickens Beautiful Award for recycling computers.
Launch Pads For Literacy is a joint program supported by Pickens County Schools and the community. L.P.F.L. refurbishes computers to be used to support educational goals.
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The Big Dragon Heart award was awarded to Judy Cunningham in appreciation of her service as Learning Support Specialist at Tate Elementary School. Mrs. Cunningham was awarded a certificate from the board of education.
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Pickens County School attendance rate for the month of December was 95% or better.
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Pickens County Middle School is ranked number one in the RESA region
for the 2005 8th grade Writing and Social Studies state test results.
Super congratulations is order for last year’s 8th grade students and teachers for their outstanding academic achievement on the mandatory state writing and core academic tests. PCMS 8th grade students ranked number 1 in the RESA region in the areas of social studies and writing. The RESA region includes 16 schools from Cherokee, Gilmer, Pickens, Murray, Fannin, Dalton, and Whitfield school systems. The RESA ranking is based on the percentage of students who do not pass the state writing and core academic tests. Additionally, the 2004-2005 PCMS 8th grade was ranked number five in language arts and number four in math. This is the second consecutive year that the PCMS 8th graders have ranked #1 in writing in the RESA region.
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Congratulations to the Pickens County Middle School 6th grade math team for finishing a close second at the Fall 2005 Berry College Math Competition.
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January 2006

All Pickens County schools participated in a can food drive. There were 18,000 plus items donated.
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Curriculum Director Peggy Andrews was presented with a certificate of recognition from the Pickens County Board of Education for being chosen as Educator of the Year from Educational Resources, Inc.
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On December 10, 2005, three Pickens County Middle School (PCMS) First Lego League Team competed in the Northwest Regional Qualifier against 27 other teams. One of the PCMS robotics teams, Fire Storm, qualified to advance to the state tournament to be held ar Georgia Tech on January 14, 2006.
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Hill City Elementary School for received the Platinum Award from the Georgia Department of Education.