Houston County students achieve high honors at FFA convention

The Houston County Board of Education recognized Houston County students for attaining high honors from the National Future Farmers of America (FFA)Organization.

Students from Veterans High, Perry High, Mossy Creek and Northside Middle were given certificates for their accomplishments and praised by their advisors. Perry High students Ashley Denton, Paige Paschal, Jayson Wisekal, Colby Waters and Aubrey Rigdon, as a team(Nursery Landscape), placed third overall in the nation at the 92nd Annual National FFA Convention and Expo.

Paschal won national highest individual scorer in the Nursery Landscape category and Wisekal took home sixth. The Veterans Agriculture Sales team won fourth place overall and had one student score highest in the nation at the FFA convention. Team members included Bryce Wood, Makayla Bembry, Hannah Sieg and Sydney Smith. Sieg was named the national highest scorer in the category.

Mossy Creek students Maci McDermott, Carlye Green, Tess Rollins, Avery Allen, Andrew Carnley, Jackson Griffith, Summer Smith, as a team, won eighth in the nation for the Conduct of Chapter Meetings event at the 92nd Annual National FFA Convention and Expo. The team was ranked as a Gold Team for its national ranking. Northside Middle students Molly Crabb, Lacey Weddington, Gracie Bananto and Riley Mitchell, as a team placed top five in the nation for the 2019 National FFA Middle School Model of Excellence award, the highest honor that the national organization offers for middle school participants.

Board Chairman Fred Wilson recognized that Nov. 11-15 was school psychology awareness week. He announced that this years theme was “find your focus.” as a show of recognition, Wilson had all school psychologists in attendance stand and be acknowledged.

He also praised every institution’s efforts to honor veterans and thanked them for the recognition on Veterans Day. “We as veterans, we certainly do appreciate it. You all have recognized what veterans have done and what military members are doing for our country and we as veterans, we, 100% from our heart, we appreciate it.”

In his superintendent report, Dr. Mark Scott proudly announced that the Houston County School District scored an 83.1 on the Georgia Department of Education’s 2019 College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), 7.2 points higher than the state average. “Our overall district showed an unprecedented 6.5% increase in our score.” He continued his report and revealed 28 schools in the district had an average increase of 8.1 points. “Our schools outperformed the state in every single indicator across every single grade. This improvement is directly attributed to our work through our professional learning communities and I just congratulate and commend our teachers and our students,” said Scott. Through an 11-year partnership with the Houston County Health Department, the Houston County School System has offered free flu clinics to both students and adults in the public schools. Scott reported 3,600 vaccinations this year. “We really appreciate the efforts of our nurses, our med techs and the Houston County Health Department.”