Carver HS&R Debate Team wins state HOSA title

Carver’s School of Health Sciences & Research mixes real-world experience and classroom instruction to prepare students for college and career. Sometimes the training also causes butterflies, sweaty palms and a bit of nausea. But the results are worth the effort.

On March 4-6 members of the Carver Health Occupation Student Association (HOSA) competed in 12 events during the organization’s State Leadership Conference in Athens, Ga. Students Dasjah Bledsoe, Orane Douglas, Toyia Gray and Julia Davis won first place as part of Carver’s Biomedical Debate Team One.

Team One debated whether high school students should undergo random drug tests. Students sacrificed countless hours of sleep preparing for the competition. They studied both sides of the issue, and learned their position on the big day. Students had to sweat it out for another day before receiving the verdict. It was like anticipating the arrival of a newborn baby. When the winners were announced, Carver’s team cheered until they were exhausted.

Twin brothers Bryan and Keith Jones also earned second place in CPR during the conference. Both teams have the chance to compete in the national competition June 23-26 in Orlando, Fl.

Carver will be raising money to send both teams to Florida. For more information about the team, email Melanie Smith, Carver’s HOSA advisor, at mksmith@atlanta.k12.ga.us.

Kudos to South Atlanta grad Derrick Favors, the ACC Rookie of the Year

Yes, it’s official: Georgia Tech freshman and South Atlanta High grad Derrick Favors — a projected Top 5 pick in the NBA Draft — has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year! Favors, you may recall, was the AJC prep player of the year last year when he led South Atlanta to the Class AAA boys’ basketball title. Here’s the lowdown from the AJC on this year’s honor …

The 6-10 forward averaged 11.9 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets, who will play North Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the ACC tournament in Greensboro. Favors has declined to say if he will be leaving Tech after the season for the NBA. He said last week that he will sit down after the season and make a decision.

Congrats, Derrick! You make South Atlanta and APS so proud!

Carver and Therrell students honor the Bard with weekend performances at the Shakespeare Tavern

Audiences got a peek at the incredible theatrical talent in APS by checking out two separate productions at the Shakespeare Tavern the previous weekend. Students from the Therrell Educational Complex performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while students from The New Schools at Carver’s School of Technology performed Macbeth. The professional actors at The Shakespeare Tavern provided an eight-week residency at Carver. This residency was facilitated through the Extended Day Afterschool Program. The main focus was to expose high school students to the theatre through the work of Shakespeare. The production presented to the students this year was the tragedy of Macbeth. The experience was very rewarding and uplifting for all students and staff involved.

At the end of the eight weeks, the students at the School of Technology performed the play at school assembly for their peers along with on the professional stage at the Shakespeare Tavern. Check out this amazing photo gallery from both productions at the Shakespeare Tavern. For background, check out this news release and an AJC story on last year’s Therrell production of Romeo and Juliet.