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Coweta County board honors student projects, AP-recognized high schools, JROTC rifle team and CEC Emmy winners
Summary
At its April 1 meeting the Coweta County Board of Education recognized student work across the district, including an eighth-grade engineering project at Madras Middle School, AP honors for three high schools, East Coweta High School’s rifle team and multiple student awards from the Central Educational Center.
The Coweta County Board of Education on April 1 recognized student work and program achievements across multiple schools, including an eighth-grade engineering project at Madras Middle School and districtwide advanced placement and career-technical honors.
The recognitions began when Dr. Herbert Betts, principal of Madras Middle School, described an eighth-grade physical science project in which students built ping-pong-ball catapults to study energy transformation and Newton’s laws. "We at Madras Middle School have identified the need to give students meaningful, real life learning experiences that encourage working together and thinking critically," Betts said. Teacher Miss Berry and several students demonstrated the prototypes and described how the assignment connected classroom standards to real-world engineering work.
The board also recognized East Coweta, Newnan and Northgate high schools for Advanced Placement honors. Dr. Chase Puckett, director of instruction and gifted education, said all three high schools were named 2025 Georgia Department of Education AP honor schools and that each school also qualified as an AP STEM school and an AP STEM achievement school, which the district defined as offering at least five STEM-related AP exams and having at least half of test takers score a 3 or higher on those exams.
Major Pete Merrill and East Coweta’s JROTC rifle team were honored after finishing first in the state rifle competition and third nationally. Merrill praised the students’ commitment and parents’ support and introduced individual team members, noting the team’s service activities and long history of success.
Students and staff from the Central Educational Center were recognized for regional Student Production Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Mark Whitlock and AVTF instructors highlighted five total nominations and two first-place wins, including a nonfiction short-form award and a win in graphics and animation. AVTF instructor Beth Hawkins described the awards as industry recognition for student-crafted work used to support classroom standards.
Board members and district staff praised the breadth of student accomplishment. The recognitions did not prompt formal board action; they were presented as ceremonial acknowledgements.
Board staff said the awards and projects illustrate the district’s strategic emphasis on applied learning, creativity and career-technical instruction.
