Tuscaloosa City Schools honored student achievement and recognized school-board members during the Jan. 14 board meeting.

The board briefly recognized a state-level winner in the Alabama Association of School Boards (AASB) Diamond Legacy 75th anniversary student art contest. Miss Skinner, art teacher at Tuscaloosa Magnet School, described a lighthouse project that tied to the contest’s “guiding education” theme and noted the state prize carried a $1,000 award. The student winner, identified as Scarlett, was not present; district staff took photos and shared that she and her family had traveled to Montgomery to receive the award.

The board also honored the superintendent’s K–12 writing contest winners. District staff said every grade K–12 participated, each school selected top submissions and the district judged winners from those finalists. Twelve district winners were named (one per grade). The meeting recognized winners by grade, including:

- Jaylene Wickerson, kindergarten, University Place Elementary (not present)
- Ryan Maccabee, 1st grade, Rock Quarry Elementary (present)
- Landon Hayward, 2nd grade, Martin Luther King Elementary
- Juan Cortez Malue, 3rd grade, Martin Luther King Elementary
- Taylor Napier, 4th grade, Martin Luther King Elementary
- Margaret Garrison, 5th grade, Rock Quarry Elementary
- Denia Coleman, 6th grade, Westlawn Middle School
- Emeril Zhang, 7th grade, Northridge Middle School
- Christian Aureo, 8th grade, Tampa Middle School
- Madison Lee, 9th grade, Northridge High School
- Kennedy Cooper, 10th grade, Northridge High School
- Aubrey Pigler, 11th grade, Central High School
- Stephan Thurman, 12th grade, Paul W. Bryant High School (present)

Stephan Thurman described his winning essay about performing trombone at Carnegie Hall, calling the experience life-changing and saying it helped solidify his desire to pursue music as a career: “Once I was actually, like, there, like just hearing the music live... it was like nothing I had ever heard before,” Thurman told the board.

District staff said each winner received a book (provided by a district IAL/ grant team), a medal and a certificate. Board members and district leaders used the recognition to underscore the district’s literacy and arts priorities and to thank teachers and central-office staff for supporting the contests.

Later in the meeting, principals and central-office leaders presented tokens of appreciation to the board for School Board Recognition Month; speakers praised the board’s leadership and its role during the district’s recent referendum campaign.

The recognitions were presented as ceremonial items; no formal board votes were required.