Westwood Schools

Varsity Cheerleaders Capture Camp Champ Title!!

2008-07-16T09:09:00.001-04:00

The Varsity Cheerleading squad attended the Universal Cheerleading Association’s Stunt and Performance camp at Jekyll Island last week and brought home the titles of Over-all Camp Champions, Stunt Champions, and Superior Squad. They also received two spirit sticks for their enthusiasm and hard work during the camp week. Sara Ann Willingham and Victoria Chambless were selected as Allstar Cheerleaders. The squad has been invited to perform again at the Capitol One Bowl and Walt Disney World. We are proud of our Varsity Cheerleaders!

Local Businesses will sell Winn Dixie Grocery Vouchers for Westwood

2008-06-17T10:24:00.003-04:00

Earlier this year Winn Dixie stopped selling the Westwood Winn Dixie Vouchers in their store. Some of our local businesses have been kind enough to help our families by making the vouchers available at their businesses. The following businesses will sell the Winn Dixie vouchers during their normal business hours: Camilla Lawn & Garden, Eighty Five Broad, Kate & Jane's, and Simply the Best. The vouchers are also available at the Westwood offices. School office hours are Monday - Thursday 9am - noon.

CLASS OF 1998 DONATES GIFT

2008-05-21T16:19:00.000-04:00

The Westwood School Class of 1998 recently made a $500 donation to the literary department in memory of Lyle Gandy. Lyle was a gifted young man who was very active in both drama and literary events. He was chosen Most Talented by his class. Many of the Westwood family remember the entertaining performances of the school quartet composed of Lyle, Richard Sharp, Cliff Atkinson, and Dean Atkinson. The four were filled with enthusiasm and a love of the performing arts. Lyle was not only active in the school quartet, he was behind the scenes in several performances of the one act play. It is those students such a Lyle, filled with a desire to perform, who continue the Westwood tradition of hard work and success. Many thanks to the class of 1998 for such a generous donation. Members of the class of 1998 are: Sarah Adams, Cliff Atkinson, Dean Atkinson, April Bentley, Mandy Butler, Josh Campbell, Emerson Chew, Lee Etheridge, Leslie Faircloth, Christy Forrester, Jennifer Fudge, Lyle Gandy, Joni Godwin, Chad Grogan, Stacy Hayes, Alicia Kirbo, Bobby Sue Lawrence, Lisa McGahee, Josh McGalliard, Alana McNair, Natalie Malcom, Lucas Morrell, Jackie Mulliford, Hattie Palmer, Tripp Phelps, Lori Powell, Steven Rankin, Richard Sharp, Amanda Snipes, Bill Tyson, Judson Vann, Deanna Warren, Amy Welch, Michelle West, Christy Westbrook, Justin Williams, Nikki Williams, Taffy Winfield, and Marci Worsham.In the last four years, the Westwood Literary department has been extremely successful. Our students have earned four consecutive Region 3A championship trophies, two GISA State championship trophies, and two state runner-up trophies in spring literary. The one act play has earned three consecutive Region 3A championships. Westwood finished second in the state in 2005 and 2007, and third in 2006. Beginning this year, state one act play judging is on a good, fair, excellent, rating system. Westwood was one of only two schools that received an excellent overall rating at the state competition.Currently, the literary department is preparing for the fall production of The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree. This swashbuckling musical adventure will feature a 35-member cast. In the story, Captain Jennings' crew jumps ship upon sighting the pirates in the distance and he is left with a makeshift crew of motley prisoners and Fergus, a sailor who can't swim, to protect his wealthy passengers. As the lady pirates take over the defenseless Kayla May, you're in for a musical comedy with a host of hysterical characters on deck and a spectacular score. The production is set for early November.

Sr. Portraits Scheduled for August 6th

2008-05-15T12:26:00.002-04:00

Senior Portraits for the Class of 2009 have been scheduled for Wednesday, August 6th at Westwood's auditorium. Owens Studio will mail all of the details to the students.

Westwood Literary Team Wins Honors

2008-03-20T13:41:00.000-04:00

Teams from 20 GISA schools competed in the state meet, held Thursday, March 13th at Valdosta State University. Event judges were professors from the university. State winners are as follows: Kyli Lamar's winning essay was written on the topic "What should the federal government do in response to the crisis on illegal immigration?" Graders of the event noted that Lamar "had a great writing style with good, clear focus." Her plan was "well-articulated and the use of quotes strengthened the style of the paper." Casey Cox, who finished second in state spelling last year by only one word, captured the state title this year. She won by correctly spelling 72 of 100 words. The closest competitor was 65. Tyler Thompson's humorous interpretation of "Love is a Fallacy" by Max Schulman was another state winner. Thompson portrayed three different characters in this monologue. Judges noted that Thompson had" good vocal distinction between characters," and that he "communicated both emotion and humor exceptionally." Andrew Stargel successfully defended his state title in International Extemporaneous speaking. Stargel's speech on the United States' exit strategy in Iraq earned him top honors. Judges noted that "delivery is a strength area" for Andrew and he "successfully cited at least three sources on the topic." State runners up are as follows: Gillian Ford placed second in the Girls' Solo competition. She sang "My Lord, What a Morning" and "Beware, Oh Take Care" Westwood Quartet, James Ealum, Andrew Gay, Trent Hester, and Jamie Carnegie, placed second. Selections sung were "Bound for Jubilee" and "Lydia the Tatooed Lady" Grace Ann Bostick placed second in the United States division of extemporaneous speaking. She presented a speech on steps that should be taken in order to prevent the spread of harmful staph infections. Trey Harrison placed second in Dramatic Interpretation. He presented a monologue portraying Judas Escariot entitled "Thirty Pieces of Silver." Other participants are as follows: Taylor High received third place in Boys Argumentative Essay, Girls' Trio of Jan Jones, Sarah Holton, and Gillian Ford placed fourth. John Vereen placed fifth in piano, while James Ealum placed 7th in boys' solo. Westwood won the Region 3-A literary meet, held at ABAC on Friday, March 7th. Westwood won with a score of 83 points. Crisp Academy placed second with 40 points, while Terrell was third with 37.

Every person on the Westwood literary team placed first or second at the Region 3-A meet, and thus qualified in their event to participate in the state literary meet. Azalee Vereen is the sponsor for the Westwood literary team. Instruction in national and international topics is given by James Lee Adams. Susan Akridge directs the music events.

Letter from Alumnus Oliver Gunter

2008-01-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

I received this e-mail last week from alumnus Oliver Gunter and he gave me permission to share it with the Westwood Family. (Vicki Davis)

Dear Vicki,
You probably don't know me as I'm a not so recent graduate of 1991. The reason I'm contacting you is that you can imagine my surprise as I'm reading through Friedman's book The World is Flat and find a section in there about Westwood Schools in Camilla, GA.
It was quite an inspirational story, but I think it only confirms what we’ve known now for a while: the access to and dissemination of information is no longer limited by infrastructure and physical location. Small towns and small schools now have access to just about everything that their larger counterparts do.
What you do with that information is up to your imagination and the limitations of the 24 hour day. It’s a great leveling force for students at any level, and I’ve seen this develop from the days of CompuServe with a dial-up connection on my Commodore 64 in the early to mid 80’s to coming up with ways to apply that technology to my current life and career.
Keep up the good work, the world is watching! If anyone else is left there from my times, please tell them I said hello.

Oliver L. Gunter, Jr., M.D.
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine
Department of General Surgery
Section of Acute and Critical Care Surgery
St. Louis, MO

Listen to the National Public Radio Show including Westwood's Blogging Program

2007-12-24T08:40:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve Morning at 7:20 am, National Public Radio aired a story about the anniversary of the blog. If you wish to hear an explanation of this technology, it is a great introduction.

However, Westwood families have another reason to listen. Admist an interview with the person who invented the term "blog" and another who was one of the first bloggers, Mrs. Vicki Davis, Westwood technology teacher talks about Westwood's Blogging program and the importance of teaching online safety.

Listen to the show by going to this page and clicking "Listen Now."

Spread the word, we have many great things happening at Westwood.

Several Westwood Students Win Awards in the International Flat Classroom Project

2007-12-19T14:43:00.000-05:00

The project that has won Westwood recognition in Thomas Friedman's best selling book The World is Flat and in many national newspapers has just concluded with many Westwood students included as award winners.

This project included seven classrooms from five countries: USA, Qatar, China, Australia, and Austria. The 2007 Awards show was held today and you may listen to the show with our live recording.

See the Awards show slides here:

| View | Upload your own

See the awards page for hyperlinks and below to view the videos.

First Place Winners in the Video Competition

Winner 4.a.20
Title: Semantic Assistant
Student Name: Sarah H. - Westwood, USA

Winner 5.b.31
Title: What is Web 2.0?
Student Name: Betsy B. - Westwood, USA

6.a.35 Title: Teens and Outsourcing
Student Name: BrayAnna - Westwood, USA

Video Runner Up Winners

2.a.9 Title: How the WWW Has Changed the World
Student Name: Jamie C. - Westwood, USA

Runner Up 5.a.27
Title: iCoach
Student Name: Tayler B. - Westwood, USA

10.a.65 Title: The Shutterbug Sidekick
Student Name: Hilliary J. - Westwood, USA

Video Honorable Mention Winners

Honorable Mention 4.c.26
Title: Uploading the Beginning of Blogs
Student Name: Mitch B - Westwood, USA

11.c.79
Title: Can You See Me Now?
Student Name: Sumner - Westwood, USA

Student Awards
The students nominated and voted on the awards which were as follows:

Winner 10.a.65
Title: Shutterbug Sidekick
Student Name: Hilary J - Westwood, USA
Second Place 1.a.1
Title: A Ring For Jimmy
Student Name: Amalia B. - LACHSA, USA

Third Place 1.a.2
Title: Treckster and the Lamp
Student Name: Gillian F. - Westwood, USA

Teacher Awards from Mrs. Davis are as follows:

Westwood Schools

Vicki Davis, Teacher
Online Learning Award - Sarah H
Design & Innovation - tie Hilliary J and Gillian F
Story & Empathy - Betsy B.
The Fun Factor - Sumner W. and Coley W.

"I am very proud of the education of our Westwood students. Their strong verbal and logical reasoning skills and our rigorous academic program really shine through in these international projects," says Mrs. Davis!

tag: flatclassroomproject2007

Internet Presentation Available for Viewing

2007-12-18T14:09:00.000-05:00

Today, Westwood tenth graders, Coley W., Sumner, W., Hilliary J, Joseph D, Tayler B, and Mrs. Vicki Davis presented online about Internet Safety and the current activities and websites being created for Westwood. If you wish to watch this presentation, you may View the Elluminate Live! recording.

You'll also see the virtual online classroom environment that the students and teachers use to meet with others around the world.

They talk about several projects and tips for staying safe online.

Free Online Internet Safety Class Led by Students on December 18th - RSVP now!

2007-12-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

The tenth grade computer science class is planning events to promote Internet Safety for Westwood parents and staff during the month of December.

On Tuesday December 18th at 1:30, several student facilitators will be conducting a thirty minute online mini-training class using their virtual classroom called elluminate. During this session you will learn about online safety in our school's Wildcat network (that we will unveil during the session) and will be shown how to use our school's new private social network which will be unveiled during the class.

This is completely online and you can log in from your computer as long as you have speakers or a headphone. (If you want to ask questions, you'll need a mike or keyboard!)

This will also be beneficial to your business as you will be shown what a blog is, and how to network safely and effectively and about virtual meeting room technology, which has applications for any business that meets virtually or person who takes classes online.

This is the online classroom that the students used to hold meetings with students around the world and is worth seeing. Mrs. Vicki Davis will also be on hand to answer questions.

We will also demonstrate how to upload and share photos on our school flickr group. If you want to attend this session, please e-mail Mrs. Davis and check the hardware requirements for using elluminate. (You will need to have a sound card so that you can listen and an updated web browser. You may go to the hardware requirements page and run a test on your computer to see if it will work.)

You will be e-mailed a link to join the live session and it will be posted on the school website. Just click on the link 5-10 minutes before "class" starts and you will be joined. The session will be recorded.

All parents, grandparents, and faculty are welcome to join the class!

Students Involved: ColeyW and SumnerW are facilitators
Co-presenters: HilliaryJ, MitchB, TaylerB, JosephD
Teacher/Facilitator: Mrs. Vicki Davis

Westwood Computer Program is a Finalist in awards

2007-11-28T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last year, Westwood's Flat Classroom project with a class in Bangladesh won the Edublog 2006 Award for Best wiki in education. (It also went on to win several other major awards and inclusion in the best selling book The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.)

Vote for Westwood's Horizon Project
This year, the Horizon Project 2007 conducted in the Spring of this year with the class in Bangladesh, one in Austria, Australia, and China is a finalist in the Edublog 2007 award for best wiki.

We need your votes. Go cast your vote.

Cool Cat Teacher is a Finalist for Best Teacher Blog in Education

Also, teacher, Vicki Davis is a finalist in the award for best teacher blog in education again for a second year for her Cool Cat Teacher Blog. You may cast your vote for her as well.

For information on all of the award winners, you may read the bio information on this page.

Parent Access available to Student Grades

2007-09-05T14:58:00.000-04:00

Parent access to the New Powerschool system is available. At last week's PTO meeting, we trained parents on how to use the system and spent one week with their testing of the system.

The system is now available to all parents 1st - 12th grade and all students 6th - 12th grade. The parent is responsible to come by the high school office and pick up their ID and an ID for their child (if the child is in grades 6-12).

After signing into the system, you can request that your child's information be e-mailed to you on a daily or weekly basis.

We encourage everyone to use the system and thank the PTO for their support of this great enhancement to our parent communication.

Westwood is in the Wall Street Journal

2007-08-23T23:55:00.000-04:00

Today, the Wall Street Journal carried an article in its personal Journal section of the paper about Google Docs. At the end of the story, you'll see a quote about how Westwood students are using Google Docs in our classrooms.

"Many newspapers continue to call us about the innovative work we are doing with technology in the classroom. We are working on plans to integrate this technology at all grade levels at Westwood. It is very exciting for our technology program," says teacher, Vicki Davis.

Mrs. Davis' classroom has recently won the award from multiple organizations including International Society for Technology educators, taking IT Global, and the Edublog award for the best Online Learning project of 2007 with the Flat Classroom Project. She writes one of the most popular educational blogs, the Cool Cat Teacher blog.

"I credit our incredible administration for phostering an environment where we can innovate and pursue high standards of academic excellence. I also credit our incredible students for their willingness to learn and be excited by these new tools. We appreciate the private donors who have made our technology program possible and are pursuing additional funding to help with even more technology integration in all classrooms," says Mrs. Davis.

Updated Student Handbooks Available

2007-08-20T10:33:00.000-04:00

We have updated elementary and Middle School/High School handbooks available by request. The handbooks include important information such as dress code, attendance requirements, general rules and graduation requirements. If you would like one, pleae call Paige in the high school office or email her at pjohnson@westwoodschools.org and she will be glad to send one to you.

The Wildcat Walk

2006-10-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to purchase your "Wildcat Walk" bricks. Forms are available in the High School office. Contact Janet Stallings at 336-0163 for further details.