Bridging the Communication Gap

One Warren County teacher is going over and above when it comes to serving the Warren County community. Spanish teacher, Jimy Dominguez, has started a class for adults who are interested in learning English.

The idea for a class for adult learners came to Dominguez when he was introduced to a Warren County family at open house who had a student in the elementary school. While their daughter speaks English well, both parents did not. Mr. Dominguez asked the parents if there was anything he could do to help. They let him know that they really wanted to learn English, and that was all it took. "I thought about it and came up with the plan. Mr. Roberson and Mrs. Carey were all for it," said Dominguez.

Dominguez teaches the class three days a week during his planning period. The class started with just three students, but Dominguez hopes to grow the program as more of the area's Hispanic population hears of the program. The class is scheduled to run for the remainder of the school year.

If you know of anyone that could benefit from by joining the class, Mr. Dominguez asks you to encourage them to contact him at the school.

WCHS Seniors Visit Federal Reserve

Members of the senior class of Warren County High School got the opportunity Thursday to see first hand what they have been studying in the classroom. The students, who have been studying the Federal Reserve in Mr. Swann's Economics class, traveled to Atlanta to tour the Federal Reserve Bank.

While at the bank, the students toured the museum and learned about the history of money and banking, viewed and felt the weight of a gold brick, learned about the different denominations of U.S. currency, and got a sneak peek into the five story money vault and money sorting room.

WCHS students in the board room.

The group also got the opportunity to visit the board room and sit at the same table that the Atlanta board of directors gathers around to discuss the monetary conditions of the area.

The Federal Reserve's main mission is to work to maximize employment and stabilize monetary value by regulating banks, controlling interest rates, and processing the transfer of payments for financial institutions around the country.

New Safety Measures For Warren County Schools

Warren County administrators and safety officers have been investigating ways to improve campus safety for students and teachers. Changes are being implemented after hearing from stakeholders including the Governing Board, teachers, and parents.

The first upgrade is already underway. The fence division of Maner Builders Supply arrived this week to begin installation of a fence around the playground of the elementary school. The fence had been requested by teachers to make it easier to keep an eye on students when they are at recess. The new fence will also add to safety by insuring that no child chases a ball out into the driveway and into possible oncoming traffic.

Additional fencing and possible new walls are planned for the breezeways connecting the auditorium and gymnasium to the main building. Plans are also being formulated for enclosing the walkway between the elementary wing and the cafeteria as well as enclosing the walkway between the high school wing and the middle school wing.

Plans are also being formulated to install a buzzer system at the front door of the building and to lock down all other doors during the school day as well. WCHS principal Trevor Roberson stated, "No one ever wants to think that a tragic event can happen here at our school, but we must take every measure to prevent it just in case."

Warren County Schools welcomes any input from the community regarding the safety of its students. Anyone with a suggestion or concern about the safety of Warren County students is encouraged to contact either school administrators or BOE staff.

New Look for Warren County Schools Website

Warren County has freshened up its internet presence for the new school year. For the 2015-2016 school year, Warren County Schools has created a website that they hope is more visually appealing, more informative, and easier to navigate. The new site also includes some new features that should hopefully make communicating with the community much easier.

One such feature is the addition of the Parent Portal on the high school page. Parent Portal allows

parents and students a real time look at a student's grades and attendance. Students and parents were issued a username and password at the beginning of the school year. So far, reception to Parent Portal has been overwhelmingly positive. If you interested in Parent Portal and have not gotten your username, please contact the guidance office for more information.

Another new feature to the website is the addition of teacher pages. Teachers are still being trained on the development of their pages, but once training is complete, each teacher will have the capability to maintain a virtual classroom on the internet. This will allow teachers to post assignments, announcements, and reminders for both parents and students via the school website.

Visit Warren County Schools on the web at www.warren.k12.ga.us for a first hand look at the updated website. Check back regularly as we continue to improve our new look on the internet!

Freeman Elementary Participates in Ice Bucket Challenge

Freeman Elementary recently put their own spin on the ALS ice bucket challenge. Principal, Kathy Hinesley, responded to Coach Dustin Shirey's challenge in a creative way. Mrs. Hinesley turned the challenge that has been sweeping social media into a teachable moment and a way to get the student body involved as well.

Hinesley allowed the students to be present when she was drenched with ice water provided they donated a dollar themselves to ALS. A large number of students gladly handed over $1 each to be a part of Hinesley's ice bucket challenge.

Principal Hinesley also encouraged students to go home and research exactly what ALS is. Watch the video below as Tybricia Young explains what ALS is and Mrs. Hinesley gets her ice bath. Freeman Elementary donated $135 to ALS.

Students Return to Class in Warren County

The administration and faculty of Warren County schools spent the summer preparing for a new
school year that would begin with all students in grades 1-12 under the same roof. The first day of school finally arrived today, and administrators couldn't have been more pleased with how well things went.

The day began with students arriving by bus, being dropped off by parents, and in their own vehicles. Teachers were on hand early to help direct students to their new classes and acquaint parents and students to the new layout of the school.

With so many grade levels under one roof, administrators braced for unexpected problems, yet were pleasantly surprised to find that few popped up. The biggest problem of the day appeared to be only a five minute delay getting all

students through the cafeteria for breakfast. High school principal, Trevor Roberson, summed up the day by saying, "At times, there was chaos in the building this summer, but those headaches kept us from having major headaches today." Roberson went on to say, "Of course, there were some glitches and hiccups today, but all-in-all, this was a very good first day of school."

The administrators of all three Warren County schools would like to thank the cooperation of parents, teachers, and students who helped to kick off an exciting new school year.



YEA! Program Holds Investor Panel

YEA! students await their turn to present their business plan to investors.

Warren County High School Young Entrepreneurs Academy students gathered in the WCHS media center Tuesday morning to pitch their business ideas to a panel of investors.  Joining the students and investors was a large audience of parents, community members and students for the special occasion.

Investor, Dan Crumpton, questions a
student entrepreneur.

 The day marked the culmination of months of hard work preparing monthly and yearly cost analysis, sales projections, marketing plans, competition analysis, and plans for the future.  Students had six minutes to pitch their ideas to investors in the hopes of receiving the needed funds to get their business off the ground.  Investors then had the opportunity to ask questions of each entrepreneur.

The investor panel included business people from the Warren County community and included Dan Crumpton, Tommy Phelps, and Allen Shapiro.  Each investor volunteered to invest their own money into the student businesses.  Carl Haywood of the Warrenton Clipper served as the emcee for the event and Michael Huebener provided technical support.

Student businesses included Flight T.V., an internet broadcasting company that is focused on high school sports.  Flight T.V. is owned and operated by Ed'Ricus Williams and Tianca Evans.  Tyjah's TLC is owned by Tyjah Hill and is a business that provides child care at special events.  Higher Emphasis is a decorating service owned by Aquala Pritchard.  Cortez Wentz and Tobias Wentz also presented the business plan for their company, Exposure.  Exposure produces highlight films for high school athletes.  Matthews Peters presented his business plan for Image-N-Nation, a business that sells orginal artwork.  The final presentors of the day were Quantesha Boykin and Deborah Spence pitching their plan for Dupree's Cleaning Services.

The investors were also given the task of choosing one business to represent Warren County at a national gathering of student entrepreneurs.  Tyjah Hill was chosen to receive an all expense paid trip to the University of Rochester and will present her business plan at the yearly Saunders Scholars Bright Ideas Business Plan Competition.  At the competition, students will compete for scholarship money as well as the opportunity to present their business at Imagine RIT:  Festival of Innovation.

WCHS teacher, Scott Swann

The program closed with both Mrs. O.B. McCorkle and Mr. Scott Swann thanking everyone involved for their participation.  Mr. Swann especially thanked the Chamber of Commerce and community.  Swann stated, "Last year during an advisory board meeting, I expressed a desire to get the community more involved in the Entrepreneurship class.  Little did I know how much Mrs. McCorkle would get involved."  The YEA! program is a partnership between chambers of commerce and schools across the country.  "There is no way this program could have experienced this level of success without the involvement of the community," added Swann.

Students will now begin work implementing their business plans.  Each student went to work during class the next day to develop lists of potential suppliers and customers.  They also began work on plans to contact potential customers.

Warren County High Announces New Website

WCHS has been working to upgrade its website.  The new site is now up and running.  The site can be accessed by going to the system site at http://www.warren.k12.ga.us/ and clicking on the link for Warren County High School on the left hand side of the page.  The site can also be accessed directily clicking here.

We hope that this new site will better serve to keep you updated with all that is going on at Warren County High School.

Black History Program Caps Black History Month

Warren County Middle & High School closed out their their celebration of Black History Month with an assembly February 29th.  The event, held in the George Holliman Auditiorium, included performances by the Warren County Voices, the WCHS band, as well as literary readings by Warren County students.

The highlight of the program was an address by Deanna Brown-Thomas.  Mrs. Brown-Thomas is the daughter of the Godfather of soul, James Brown.  She related to those in attendance the life story and struggles of her father.  She also shared that although Mr. Brown did not continue his own formal education past the 7th grade, he always valued education and worked to ensure that young people placed learning above all else.

Mrs. Brown-Thomas is also actively working to keep her father's legacy alive through the James Brown Music Academy.  Students from the academy travelled to Warrenton with her and performed several James Brown selections for the students in attendance.  The performers brought the students to their feet and left the audience shouting for more.

WCHS Participates in ASU Math Competition

Ten Warren County High School students travelled to Augusta March 2 to compete in the Augusta State University math competition.  The competition consisted of two rounds.  The students competed individually in round one and combined to form teams for round two.

Srinivas Akella, Warren County math teacher and team leader, described the competition as, "a great experience."  Akella added, "We definetly plan to participate again next year and this year's experience will only make us more prepared."  Mr. Akella stressed the need for Warren County students to gain more exposure to such competitions with students from various school systems.

Participating students include:  (Standing, left to right) Jonathan Hall, Chance Lee, Cortez Wentz, Anfernee Ferrell, Jeffery Gillyard, and Durrell Burley, (sitting, left to right) Daniel Spence, Jessica Wynn, Krystle Wilburn, Briceton McNair, Srinivas Akella (coach and math teacher)