Newspaper Page Text
6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, April 6,2022
DCHS College and Career Academy holds first ‘Adulting Day’
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
On Wednesday March
30, Dawson County High
School’s College and
Career Academy held the
first-ever “adulting day”
event, allowing high
school seniors to spend
their day learning a vari
ety of useful skills useful
for transitioning from high
school out into the adult
world.
The day kicked off
bright and early in the
Performing Arts Center
with a presentation from
Dale Alexander, a local
financial advisor who
spoke to all of the seniors
about finances, how much
money to save and donate
out of each paycheck and
how to handle the money
coming in from each pay-
check.
The students then split
up into groups and trav
eled through several dif
ferent stations covering
different topics and skills
that are useful to know in
the adult world as they
transition into college or
into the workforce.
The stations available
for the students included:
• Parenting: different
stations covering
the basics of diaper
changing, feeding,
car seat installation,
and other useful
tips pertaining to
being a parent
• Legal issues: a pre
sentation by local
attorney Ronny
Hulsey of Smith
Hulsey Attorneys at
Law, covering some
of the legal issues
that students should
be aware of as they
move past high
Photos by Erica Jones Dawson County News
DCHS students learn about and practice cooking omelets during the high school's "adulting day" on
March 30.
school into adult
hood, like the con
sequences of what
making one choice
to drink and drive
could lead to
• Culinary: basic
kitchen safety prac
tices and a chance
for students to try
their hands at cook-
ing their own
omelets
• Personal safety: a
presentation by
Chris Carpenter
from the Dawson
County Sheriff’s
Department on
keeping yourself
aware and safe on
campus, in an
apartment or other
places in the adult
world
• Auto maintenance:
lessons from Lanier
Technical College
students on how to
change a car’s oil,
jump a battery,
change a flat tire,
check fluids and
other basic auto
maintenance tasks
• Tool safety: lessons
about how to use
items like nail guns,
hammers, screw
drivers and other
tools
• Health science: pre
sentations and prac
tice in first aid prac-
tices, including
stopping bleeds,
splitting, using an
AED, CPR and
using an Epipen
• Life hacks: demon
strations of fun and
useful life hacks
including how to
make laundry pods
out of dry deter
gent, laundry and
dishwasher hacks
and other tips and
tricks
• Home maintenance:
demonstrations on
basic plumbing,
drywall and electri
cal wiring repairs
Out of the nine total sta
tions available, each stu
dent was allowed to select
four stations to attend and
spent an hour at each one.
According to DCHS
Work-Based Learning/
Youth Apprenticeship
Coordinator Kristy
Moore, this allowed each
student to personalize
their day and to attend the
skill classes they were
most interested in.
“They’re in each room
for an hour and then they
rotate to their next station;
everybody has a lanyard
with their schedule so they
know where to go when,”
Moore said. “We let the
kids pick which stations
they wanted to go to...
we’re hoping if we do this
again we’ll be able to
have them go to more but
for now we let them sign
up for which ones they
wanted to go to.”
In several of the sta
tions, underclassmen vol
unteered to help teach
the skills, including
FCCLA students at the
parenting station, HOSA
students at the health sci
ence station and engi
neering students at the
tool safety station. They
were also given a “prize”
to take home from each
station, like a set of mea
suring cups at the culi
nary station and a first
aid kit at the health sci
ence station.
At the end of the day,
all of the seniors were
treated to a special cook-
out for lunch, with ham
burgers, hotdogs and a
time to spend time with
one another.
Moore said that the
goal of “adulting day”
was for it to be a fun way
for the seniors who are
about to graduate to learn
about the real world and
some of the skills they
may need along the way.
“You know in high
school you don’t have
field day and all of that
stuff, so we hoped it
would be a day for our
seniors to hang out with
each other — they’re
about to graduate and
some of them won’t see
each other again — so
we thought it could be
something where they
could learn but also have
fun and it could be some
thing special for them,”
Moore said. “I hope they
all take something away
from it, and at the end of
the day it’ll be a fun
day.”
Moore added that she
and the other College
and Career Center
administrators hope to
make “adulting day” an
annual event that can be
repeated in future years.
DCHS students learn the basics of repairing drywall during the high school's
"adulting day" on March 30.
DCHS students practice CPR during the high school's "adulting day" on
March 30.
Law runs in the family for newest juvenile court judge in Dawson, Hall
Scott Rogers Dawson County News
Assistant Public Defender Matt Leipold was named as the fourth judge on
the Juvenile Court bench for Hall and Dawson counties.
By Ben Anderson
DCN Regional Staff
Matt Leipold comes
from a family of lawyers,
but the former salesman
who reads William
Faulkner in his downtime
has had a less than con
ventional path to his new
juvenile court judgeship
position.
On March 15, Leipold
was named the fourth
judge on the Juvenile
Court bench for Hall and
Dawson counties.
Previously an assistant
public defender, he was
appointed by the Superior
Court judges and was
sworn in Monday.
The courts received
American Rescue Plan
funding in December to
add a fourth judgeship,
which they had otherwise
planned on doing in 2024.
Juvenile court judges
deal primarily with cases
of delinquency and
dependency. In the for
mer, judges hear cases
involving a child who is
charged with an act that
would be a crime if that
child were an adult. They
decide if the child is
guilty, and if so, what sort
of punishment, treatment
or rehabilitation is appro
priate. They also hear
dependency cases involv
ing child abuse or
neglect. Parents may be
ordered to undergo coun
seling or their child may
be placed into foster care
if they are deemed unfit.
Having earned a bache
lor’s in English and
Spanish from the
University of Georgia,
Leipold was not initially
set on pursuing a career
in law, though he said the
prospect always sat in the
back of his mind.
A liberal arts education
and a passion for reading
have informed his prac
tice in some ways. In col
lege, he immersed him
self in the novels of clas
sic Southern authors like
William Faulkner.
He is proficient in
Spanish, and when he’s
not working or spending
time with his one-month
and 18-month-old chil
dren, he takes to reading
creative fiction. It serves
as a break from the hustle
and bustle of the court
room, but it has also
sometimes made its way
into his practice.
“It was always useful
up until now when I’ve
been a public defender
and I’m representing peo
ple in court, because
when you're an advocate,
you're really a storytell
er,” he said. “I think nov
els and more creative
writing do a good job of
both entertaining you and
kind of — this probably
sounds pretentious — but
teaching you a little bit
about human nature and
sort of opening your mind
a bit.”
Leipold was born in
Atlanta and grew up in
the Tucker-Stone
Mountain area. The sec
ond of four children, his
older brother is a federal
prosecutor for the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in
Atlanta, and his younger
brother works as an attor
ney at his father’s Decatur
law firm, Leipold Law.
“A lot of lawyers,” he
said. “And actually all
three of my siblings are
married to lawyers also.”
On the one hand, he
had some desire to follow
in his family’s footsteps,
but on the other, he want
ed to carve a different
path.
In college, he consid
ered a career in academia
and pursuing a graduate
degree in linguistics.
Instead, he found himself
in Raleigh, North
Carolina, selling account
ing software.
The experience pushed
the boundaries of his
comfort zone, he said, but
he soon discovered that
he belonged in the court
room.
He recalled the moment
he realized that he wanted
to pursue a career in law.
He and his colleagues
were celebrating his
strong sales numbers.
“When you're on a
sales force everybody
gets really excited about
sales, and everybody’s
pumping you up,” he
said. “It should have been
a really happy moment,
and it was, but at the
same time, I was like, I’m
not cut out for this month
after month, year after
year. This is just not ful
filling for me.”
All the while, he had
enjoyed reading about the
law. He returned to UGA
and earned his law
degree.
“I really enjoyed the
law school experience
and found that it was
something that I was
going to want to do for
my whole career,” he
said.
He imagined a rather
solitary career in appel
late court.
“Where you kind of
just sit down in a room by
yourself and research and
write briefs for appeals,
that kind of thing,” he
said. “But when I started
working in the public
defender's office, I real
ized I really liked being
in the courtroom and
interacting with clients.”
He began working in
the public defender’s
office in 2013, and he
said he spent the first six
months or so working in
the juvenile court.
“I was mostly in juve
nile court,” he said. “And
since then I've periodical
ly handled cases here and
there.”
But he said working as
a public defender has also
prepared him to be a
juvenile court judge.
“I’ve developed a lot of
knowledge about the law,
which is important, but
I've also developed a lot
of life experience about
how the law applies and
how it actually impacts
people,” he said.
See Judge110A
