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House committee okays career-path delay
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ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Education would be able to wait a year before having to follow a law requiring that students pick a career path by ninth grade under a bill House lawmakers gave preliminary approval to on Thursday.

Members of the House Education Committee voted unanimously to send the bill forward to the Rules Committee, which will decide whether the legislation gets a vote on the House floor.

Rep. Randy Nix, R-LaGrange, said he filed the bill at the request of the education department, which wanted the requirement pushed back until the 2013-2014 school year. The law, passed last year, originally took effect next fall.

"I think that's a reasonable thing for them to ask," Nix, who sponsored the bill, told fellow lawmakers.

While there was little dissent, Rep. Alisha Morgan, D-Austell, said she wanted more details on how the curriculum changes will be implemented. She said state education officials are making multiple policy changes close together.

"How will all these things be rolled out and how will they all come together?" she said in an interview. "I don't have a problem that it's been pushed back a year because it's a lot."

The law requires ninth graders to settle on a job in one of 17 broad fields, or career pathways, such as agriculture, education and finance. Then throughout high school, the students would take at least some courses geared toward their career interests.

Under the plan, Georgia students would take the same general core of classes with basics like algebra, English and history. But at the end of their sophomore year, students would then choose one of 17 clusters to determine what advanced classes they will take.

A student interested in health sciences could take classes that include nutrition and wellness as well as chemistry and possibly go into a job after graduation. A student interested in becoming a physician would take Advanced Placement biology, physics and biotechnology classes, then go to a four-year college.

Students could change their minds and enter a different cluster.

The focus on workplace preparation reverses a previous academic approach taken by former state schools Superintendent Kathy Cox that assumed all students would attend college.

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Groups hand out scholarships
RH theater scholarship
Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer shows her Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. With her are Tom Harris, Ashlee Farris, Brett Berry and Kim Diebold. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016. - photo by Photo provided.

Three reports recently presented scholarships

Richmond Hill High School senior Jacey Shanholtzer received the Dawn Harrington Berry Spotlight Award, which was awarded by the Richmond Hill Community Theatre and includes a $500 scholarship. The award was created in memory of Dawn Harrington Berry, a long time RHCT member and president who died in 2016.

Garden Club

The Richmond Hill Garden Club recently awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Katherine Wood and a $500 scholarship to Carly Vargas, both seniors graduating from Richmond Hill High School.

The awards were presented May 8 during Honors Night at RHHS.

Wood plans to attend Green Mountain College in Vermont and major in environmental studies.

Vargas plans to attend Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, to pursue a degree in either environmental studies or biology.

The garden club awards a $1,000 scholarship annually to a local high school senior who plans to major in a field related to environmental concerns, plants and/or gardening.

This year, due to having two exceptional candidates, the garden club awarded an additional $500 scholarship.

Exchange Club

The Exchange Club of Richmond Hill recently named Caroline Odom as its student of the year.

The club each month during the school year names a student of the month, and the student of the year is chosen from among those winners.

Awards are based on academic performance, community involvement and leadership.

Monthly winners receive $100, with the annual winner getting a $1,000 scholarship.

The Exchange Club has been recognizing students for more than 30 years.

Odom will go on to compete in the Georgia District Exchange Club against students from across the state.

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