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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, March 16,2022
During the March 8 meeting of the Dawson
County Board of Education, the board members
were recognized as part of School Board
Appreciation Week.
During the March 8 meeting of the Dawson
County Board of Education, the board recognized
the winners of the 2022 HOBY awards.
Photos courtesy of the Dawson County Board of Education
During the March 8 meeting of the Dawson
County Board of Education, the board recognized
the school and district spelling bee winners.
School board holds recognitions for students, faculty
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
During the March 8
meeting of the Dawson
County Board of
Education, the board held
recognitions for several
groups of students, faculty
and board members.
HOBY Award
Winners
Debbie Borovitcky, pres
ident of the Dawson
County Woman’s Club,
came before the board to
present three DCHS sopho
mores with the 2022 Hugh
O’Brian Youth Leadership
(HOBY) Award.
“The Hugh O’Brian
Youth was founded by
Hugh O’Brian in 1958 as a
nonprofit organization
whose mission is to inspire
a global community of
youth to a life dedicated to
leadership, service and
innovation,” Borovitcky
said. “Each year the
Dawson County Woman’s
Club awards scholarships
to students from the sopho
more class to attend the
Northwest Georgia HOBY
Leadership Conference.”
At the conference, the
scholarship winners will
learn how to explore their
unique leadership skills,
she added. This year’s con
ference will be held in
June. A selection commit
tee from the Dawson
County Woman’s Club
selected three sophomores
from DCHS to send to the
conference.
“The three students this
year impressed our selec
tion committee with their
academic accomplish
ments, their achievements
and extracurricular activi
ties and sports, and their
involvement in volunteer
FROM 1A
Star
the candidates after me
had very written out
speeches and so after lis
tening to them talk about
all of their achievements I
was a little bit intimidat
ed,” Wright said. “So I
was very surprised.”
Wright said that, while
she knew she had a high
SAT score, she wasn’t
expecting to beat out all of
the other competitors at
the region banquet.
“Leading up I was not
very confident in the fact
that I was going to win; I
knew I had a good SAT
score but I’m not as much
of a public speaker and a
lot of the kids there were,”
Wright said. “So it felt
really good — I was sur
prised because there were
a lot of very impressive
people there.”
Wright added that she
took the SAT three times,
and while her first scores
were high too it was the
third time that pushed her
score to the very top.
“I had a high enough
score the second time and
I decided to take it a third
time just to see, and I’m
glad I did that because
otherwise I wouldn’t have
won district,” Wright said.
“I only improved by like
20 points but that was
enough to get to where I
am.”
Wright tied with the stu-
dent representing
Gainesville City from
Lakeview Academy, and
both students will go on to
the state competition in
Duluth on April 25.
During the meeting, the board recognized mem
bers of the eighth grade girls basketball team.
activities,” Borovitcky said.
“It seemed to us that each
of these students spends
every waking minute
enriching either themselves
or others. We’re so proud to
have these wonderful
young people represent us
at HOBY.”
This year’s three HOBY
scholarship winners are
Trinity Jade Brooks, Owen
Evan Walls and Alex
Bordeaux.
Borovitcky called each
winner forward, told the
board and audience mem
bers a littie about each one
and their academic and
community achievements,
and presented them each
with plaques honoring their
award.
School Board
Appreciation
In celebration of School
Board Appreciation Week,
Superintendent Damon
Gibbs took a moment to
recognize all of the mem
bers of the Dawson County
Board of Education.
“It’s interesting when
you’re in the position that
I’m in that I work so close
ly with each of our board
members and I’ve worked
with a few that are not with
us anymore,” Gibbs said,
“and to see the work and
dedication that the board of
education has in all the
decisions that they make,
it’s really unfortunate that
there’s only a week a year
that we stop and pause to
celebrate our board of edu
cation and say thank you.”
Gibbs thanked the mem
bers of the board for their
hard work, and the faculty
and staff in attendance at
the meeting applauded in
agreement.
“On behalf of our chil
dren and our community
members in Dawson
County, thank you very
much for your service to
our county,” Gibbs said to
the board members.
School and district
spelling bee winners
Several of the winners of
the recent spelling bees
were present at the meet
ing, and Director of
Instruction Support
Secondary Schools Nathan
Hand introduced the win
ners and read the names of
those who weren’t there.
“This year we get to do
something we weren’t able
to do last year, and that’s
recognize our amazing stu
dents and their talents for
spelling bee competitions,”
During meeting, the board recognized members
of the school system's maintenance and custodi
an staff.
Hand said. “Our fourth and
fifth graders compete for
elementary, and then we
have a middle school spell
ing bee and a junior high
eighth grade spelling bee
championship and our dis
trict spelling bee.”
This year’s spelling bee
winners were:
• Black’s Mill
Elementary School:
Brody Houseweart,
fifth grade (district
runner-up)
• Robinson
Elementary School:
Charlee Bishop, fifth
grade
• Riverview
Elementary School:
Annabelle Clark,
fourth grade
• Kilough Elementary
School: Amaleena
Miller-Alien, fourth
grade
• Dawson County
Middle School:
Merik Wilkins, sev
enth grade
• Dawson County
Junior High School:
Aiden Taylor, eighth
grade (district cham
pion)
8th grade girls
basketball team
The board recognized the
eighth grade girls basket
ball team for winning the
Mountain League
Championship. Head
Coach Natosha Beary
brought the members of the
team up in front of the
board, introducing them
and commending them for
their hard work this season.
“One thing we really try
to talk about is it’s not an
‘all about me’ team,” Beary
said. “This is a very hard
working group, we had to
weather the storm quite a
few times this year but they
were able to do that, they
built themselves and built
up each other to where
when we were having a
bad day, bad game, what
ever... they were able to
weather through it, pick
each other up and finish out
strong.”
The assembled board
and faculty applauded the
team on their win, and all
of the members of the team
walked forward to shake
hands with each member of
the board.
Maintenance,
custodian staff
The board recognized
members of the Dawson
County Schools mainte
nance and custodian staff,
thanking them for their
hard work in the school
system. Several members
of the staff were in atten
dance and came forward to
introduce themselves and
shake hands with the mem
bers of the board.
“We got a good group,
we’re blessed, and I really
appreciate all of them,”
Director of Facilities and
Maintenance Scott Morgan
said.
^ortt^Georg/cj
Hair Cutters
Wright’s Region 2 win
this year marks the first
time that a student from
Dawson County has won
the region competition
since the STAR program’s
inception in 1958.
Wright’s counselor,
Cherie Ferguson, said that
the win is not only a huge
honor for Wright, but for
the school system as a
whole.
“This is the first time
that Dawson has won the
region, so it’s a big deal
for Megan and for our
school system,” Ferguson
said. “I knew if we had a
shot it would be with her
and she did it; and I know
she’ll do great at state so
it’s exciting.”
Hope Honea, Wright’s
STAR teacher, said that
hearing her student’s
name called as the region
winner was an incredibly
exciting and emotional
moment for her and the
rest of the school staff at
the banquet.
“When they announced
it Mrs. Negley (DCHS
principal) and I were so
excited and I started cry
ing,” Honea said. “I felt
like when we got there we
saw all of the prowess
when we came in, and
Megan is so humble so
she said ‘oh no they’re
really smart’, but then she
beat them all so I’m super
super proud of her.”
At the state competi
tion, Wright will go on to
compete against all of the
region winners for the
title of the state STAR
student. For the state
competition, she and the
other competitors will be
interviewed in front of a
panel of judges, so she
said that between now and
then she’ll be practicing
interview techniques and
other public speaking
skills.
“At this point I’m not
going into state expecting
to win, I’m going to try
my hardest but state is
even more competitive
than region was,” Wright
said. “I’m going to go
into state and do my best
but I’m not expecting that
to make me a state winner
and I’m okay with that
because it’s such an honor
anyways to get to state.”
Auditions for
Talented, Professional
Hair Artisans
North Georgia Hair Cutters will be holding auditions for
talented professional hair artisans in the spring of 2022.
For information on what to expect, deadlines, and to sign
up for an audition, please visit our website at
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706-482-0541
2375 BURNT STAND ROAD
(BETWEEN DAWSONVILLE & DAHLONEGA)
Dawson County Humane Society
a no kill shelter
Doggy Spotlight
Meet our sweet Bowser! This boy is nothing but a
hunk of love in need of a family. Bowser came to us as a
stray pick up so we don’t have much information on his
temperament however, from what we’ve seen, we can tell
that he is extremely loving and affectionate. This guy is
higher up on our energy scale and we imagine he would
do best in a home with middle aged kids to run and romp
around with. Bowser also has excellent potential to go to
a multiple dog home so long as proper introduction are
made at our facility first to ensure compatibility.
If you’re looking for your typical family friendly, go on
a run, take a hike kind of dog, come see Bowser today. He
is two years old and weighs 55 pounds.
706-265-9160
Bowser
For more information contact the 706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Rd, Dawsonville
Dawson County Humane Society Adjacent to the Rock Creek Sports Complex
Visit our RESALE SHOP & BOUTIQUE
Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | 54 S. Lumpkin Campground Rd.
All proceeds benefits
the Humane Society
Dawsonville
Veterinary
Hospital
706-265-8381
ANH Collision
Specialists
706-216-0992
103 Industrial Park Road,
Dawsonville
Bradley M. Maple
CPA, PC
706-216-2362
2390 Thompson Rd • Ste 100
Dawsonville
