University System News:
WSB-TV
Metro Atlanta nursing student racks up 75k in scholarship money in SEC halftime contest
By Staff
A University of West Georgia student won $75,000 in scholarship money during a SEC Championship game halftime contest. Chemari Reeves, a junior nursing major, won big during the SEC Championship. The annual contest, which is sponsored by the Dr Pepper company, has become a highlight for many during halftime of football championship conference games. The contest requires participants to throw footballs through large Dr Pepper cans several yards away while timed. The person who makes the most successful throws in the allotted time is the winner. Reeves, who is studying to become a future frontline worker, needed some help to prepare for the contest. The University of West Georgia community stepped in to assist. The staff at the university built a replica of the game for her to practice. The school’s football team donated footballs for her to use in practice for the big day.
The story also appeared in The Newnan Times-Herald.
The Tifton Gazette
By Jozsef Papp
Five graduates from the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College received top honors at the recent fall semester pinning ceremony. Kyla McFarland of Valdosta received the Dedication to Nursing Award sponsored by South Georgia Medical Center, and Ansley Paulk of Adel received the Academic Excellence Award sponsored by Colquitt Regional Medical Center, college officials said in a statement. Olivia Wade of Ty Ty received the Clinical Excellence Award sponsored by Tift Regional Medical Center. Chelsie Turrubiartez of Sparks at the associate degree level and Frank Lin of Tifton at the bachelor’s degree level received recognition as the Lisa Purvis Allison Spirit of Nursing Award recipients.
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Southern Students Graduate in Savannah
Staff reports
This week, approximately 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students from Georgia Southern University’s Statesboro, Armstrong and Liberty campuses received associate, baccalaureate, masters, specialist and doctoral degrees in five Fall 2020 Commencement ceremonies.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clayton State University archiving local COVID-19 experiences
By Leon Stafford
When Americans look back at 2020, it might be remembered as much for the little challenges as the big ones, says Clayton State University archivist Feechi Hall, who this year launched a project aimed at capturing everyday stories of the pandemic. Hall decided to take her children roller skating at a local park shortly after the nation was shut down because of COVID-19. Like a lot of parents, she wanted an activity that was safe and would get everyone out of the house. The problem: every other parent had the same idea.
WGAU
Morehead: UGA vaccinations in spring or summer
By Tim Bryant
University of Georgia president Jere Morehead is updating the University community on coronavirus vaccines that will, likely during the spring semester, be stockpiled at UGA. Morehead is also, in an email to faculty, staff, and students, saying vaccinations are expected to be provided on campus in late spring or early summer.
Marietta Daily Journal
KSU becomes 2nd largest university in Georgia
By Shannon Ballew
More college students than ever are enrolling at Kennesaw State University, now the second-largest university in the state. Nearly 41,000 students enrolled at the university this fall, an 8% increase over 2019 and the largest enrollment in school history. The student body of 40,900 includes 8,100 new students in the class of 2024, the largest freshman class enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs in the state of Georgia. The total student population is surpassed only by Georgia State University, which had over 54,000 students in the fall semester, with over 5,200 freshmen. KSU President Pamela Whitten credited the rising enrollment to the university’s programs and the dedication of the faculty.
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Dec. 21)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 9,453 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). This figure does not include additional cases that the DPH reports as suspected COVID-19-related deaths. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 512,699 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
Athens Banner-Herald
COVID vaccinations continue for Athens health workers
By Wayne Ford
The first COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Athens on Friday and by Monday, health care workers were still administering the vaccines to employees in Athens’ two major hospitals. Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center has received nearly 500 vaccines, which are being used for personnel who have direct or indirect contact with COVID-19 patients, according to the hospital. The Northeast Health District, which includes Clarke and Oconee counties, reported Friday that the district had recorded more than 500 coronavirus cases, the most since the outbreak began early this year.
WABE
Despite COVID, Thousands Of Lawmakers Plan To Gather In State Capitols Next Month
By Shaylee Ragar, Sonja Hutson and others
It happens at the beginning of every year: elected officials, legislative staff, lobbyists, journalists and the public gather in large numbers in state capitol buildings around the country for a relentless few weeks — or months — of lawmaking. In 2020, official business had wrapped in many states by mid-March when lockdowns began. In others, the spread of COVID-19 sent lawmakers home early. Since then, lawmakers have gotten together in some states, though not to the degree the country will witness in 2021 when legislative sessions could include hundreds of people under one roof for weeks on end.
WABE
Vaccines Are Coming, But The U.S. Still Needs More Testing To Stop The Surge
By Rob Stein
The nation is at a pivotal moment in the fight against the pandemic. Vaccines are finally starting to roll out, but the virus is spreading faster than ever — and killing thousands of Americans daily. And it will be months before enough people get inoculated to stop it. That means it’s critical to continue the measures that can limit the toll: mask-wearing, hunkering down, hand-washing and testing and contact tracing. “Vaccines will not obviate the need for testing any time soon,” says Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown School of Public Health. “It doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. The virus will not be gone.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As COVID vaccines roll out, where do kids fit in?
By Ty Tagami
New vaccines against COVID-19 promise a return to normal in the not-so-distant future, but for many children, the next school year may still look much the same as this one, with social distancing in classrooms, masks on faces and some number of students remaining online.
Testing of a vaccine for teenagers could be complete by midyear, but the timing is so tight that most of them will likely remain unvaccinated when the first-period bells ring in Georgia for the fall semester. Vaccine studies for elementary school-aged children have not started in the United States yet, making widespread immunization for that group a distant prospect.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State education board OKs weighing Milestones tests at 0.01% of grade
By Anika Chaturvedi
In a Monday meeting, the State Board of Education unanimously approved a rule to weigh Georgia Milestones End-of-Course test scores at 0.01% at minimum of a student’s final grade for the 2020-2021 school year. The decision comes after back-and-forth votes earlier this semester. Standardized tests like the Milestones were waived in the spring after the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to switch almost overnight to online learning. In July, Georgia School Superintendent Richard Woods and Gov. Brian Kemp submitted a request for another waiver, but U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stated she was unlikely to waive them again in a September letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OPINION: If Cobb cares about students of color, it will rename Wheeler High School
By Maureen Downey
I encourage student submissions to the AJC Get Schooled blog, and this is a well-done column by Wheeler High School senior Sydney Spessard. She writes about a timely issue – what to do about Georgia schools named for Confederates and historic leaders who subscribed to white supremacist beliefs. Sydney is among the Wheeler students pushing the Cobb County School District to change the name of the school. The school is named after Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate general who later served as a general in the United States Army during both the Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War. You can read about petitions in Cobb to change both the names of Wheeler and Walton High Schools here and about setbacks to the effort here.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Education
Congressional Deal Would Give Higher Ed $23B
By Kery Murakami
A $900 billion coronavirus-relief package, passed by Congress late Monday night, gives colleges and universities another $23 billion in relief aid, which the head of the American Council on Education blasted as “wholly inadequate.” The Senate shortly before midnight followed the House in also approving overwhelmingly a larger $1.4 trillion budget deal to fund the government through next September. The proposed deal also brings an additional $1 billion in spending on medical research as well as major changes to financial aid, including simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid from 108 to 36 questions, and giving Republican education committee chairman Lamar Alexander one of his top priorities days before he retires from Congress. It also includes a number of Democratic priorities, including allowing more incarcerated prisoners to be eligible for Pell Grants.
The Albany Herald
Georgia adding three College and Career academies
By Dave Williams
The Technical College System of Georgia awarded $9 million in grants Monday to establish new College and Career academies in Appling, Evans and Union counties. Three technical colleges will partner with local education systems to establish the academies, with each receiving $3 million. Coastal Pines Technical College will work with Appling County Schools to establish the Appling Regional College and Career Academy. The Evans Regional College and Career Academy will be run through a partnership of Ogeechee Technical College and Evans County Schools.
Forbes
The College Admission Precedent
By Brennan Barnard
If you hold stock in the word “unprecedented”, then you know that the past year has brought a huge payout. I, for one, cringe when I hear this word multiple times each day. It is an unwelcome and constant reminder of just how uncertain the past months have been, as our world reels in the face of a global pandemic…Every news story on college admission seems to fixate on the uncertainty of it all. Just Google “college admission, unprecedented, 2020” and you can spend all of 2021 exploring the over 9.5 million results. To be sure, this is because this crisis has indeed had an impact on college applications and enrollment that none of us could have predicted. It is easy to look at the past nine months and shake our heads in disbelief, and it is important to confront what has changed. I invite us, however, to pause and consider just what precedents existed in college admission and how much of the foundation has not changed.
The Associated Press
More than 70 West Point cadets accused of cheating on math exam
By Staff
More than 70 cadets training at the U.S. Military Academy to be Army officers have been accused of cheating on a math exam taken online when they were studying remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic. Lt. Col. Christopher Ophardt, spokesman for the academy at West Point, said Monday that 73 cadets were accused of cheating on the calculus exam in May after instructors noticed irregularities in answers. All but one were freshmen, or plebes, in a class of 1,200. The other was a sophomore.