Carrollton City Schools * 106 Trojan Drive * Carrollton, GA 30117 * August 25 ,  2017
IB students Pate Duncan, left, Adeline Lewis and Emily Chesser study the butterfly/pollinator garden they helped create as part of their CAS capstone project.
International Baccalaureate students partner
with city, club to create butterfly garden

What started out as a small service project for three International Baccalaureate students at Carrollton High School has turned into a true partnership with the City of Carrollton that will provide years of pleasure for visitors to the Greenbelt and help the environment in the process.

The collaboration, initiated by IB seniors Adeline Lewis, Emily Chesser and Pate Duncan last school year, has produced a butterfly/pollinator garden at Laura's Park on Hay's Mill Road. Loved by butterflies and bees, the plot of perennials and annuals is colorful and bright, welcoming visitors to the park, a trailhead for the Carrollton Greenbelt walking/biking path.

Kent Johnston, superintendent of the city's Parks and Facilities Maintenance Division, said the garden idea the students presented to the city was a great complement to his department's efforts to improve parks with pollinator gardens to attract beneficial bees and butterflies.

"Our plans just morphed together to create this great feature for the park," said Johnston, who also shared the city's plans to expand the park's garden to include more native plants and seating areas. The trailhead park is the site of the long-gone Hay's Mill that operated on Buffalo Creek there for many years. MORE

THE GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE
Students from Mrs. Kasey Austin's class at Carrollton High School share a presentation about the solar eclipse with students in Mrs. Amanda Kelly's third grade class at Carrollton Elementary. The presentation was then followed by a question-and-answer session led by the presenters.
Science takes center stage during eclipse

Carrollton City Schools took full advantage of Monday's Great American Eclipse by prepping and teaching students about one of nature's most spectacular viewing events. Every student on campus had the opportunity to view the eclipse during the school day - and the weather was perfect, allowing for an unobstructed view.

"Every class was a science class this day," said Anna Clifton, Carrollton City Schools assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning. "I want to especially thank our science teams, districtwide, who pulled together a comprehensive toolkit of resources for all of our teachers to use. Monday was a phenomenal experience for everyone."

Below, CHS science teacher Tim Hawig took ecology students out in the field to collect data during the eclipse. In addition to taking temperature and observing the little eclipses created through the trees, they used a Vernier light probe to detect light variances. As the the climax of 95% was approaching, the device showed the decreasing light output received from the sun. At 2:32 p.m., his class set it to take 10 minutes of data, with the resulting graph pictured at right recording exactly what everyone's eyes had seen! Check out all district Facebook pages for more eclipse photos, including this album posted here.
RECYCLE TO HELP OTHERS

Still have your eclipse shades?  DONATE them to CHS! Carrollton High School students are collecting eclipse glasses to donate to  Astronomers Without Borders . They will be sent to schools in South America and Asia when eclipses cross those continents in 2019.
STEM program at CMS 
electrifies participants

Carrollton Elementary STEM teacher Annette Perkins, right, was eSTATIC to have the opportunity to participate in the Sustainable Energy Expo held at Carrollton Middle School this past Saturday.
 
The West Georgia Youth Science & Technology Center, along with partners Carrollton City Schools, Southwire, Carroll EMC and the University of West Georgia Fusion Center, hosted more than 200 people from west Georgia and east Alabama. About 50 volunteers worked the event and included CCS students, UWG students, college professors and CCS faculty and staff. Families completed a scavenger hunt as they walked from station to station answering questions related to energy. Every child received a mini solar-powered car.  See more photos on Facebook . Saturday STEM programs sponsored by GYSTC are held throughout the year, with most held at the University of West Georgia. Learn more
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