CUTLINE – Teacher Pipeline student Janileyah Thompson, L, who won a state-level gold medal at the recent Georgia SkillsUSA competition will go on to compete in the national SkillsUSA competitions in Early Childhood Education this summer. Thompson is pictured with Dr. Susan Mullins, director of Teacher Pipeline program at the Central Educational Center. Photo/Special.
The Coweta County Board of Education last week recognized Newnan High School junior and Central Educational Center student Janileyah Thompson for winning a gold medal at the 2013 Georgia state-level SkillsUSA competitions.
Thompson, a Teacher Pipeline Intern at CEC, won gold in Early Childhood Education competition at the annual skills conference and will participate in SkillsUSA’s national competition in June. She was accompanied at the Board meeting by Dr. Susan Mullins, who heads the Teacher Pipeline program, according to school system spokesman Dean Jackson.
Thompson’s SkillsUSA competitions included preparing a lesson plan geared to age-appropriate performance standards with a transition activity and reading activity, child development, teaching strategies and classroom management knowledge tests in addition to a mock job interview and a critique from a panel of judges from Georgia colleges, Jackson said.
“Janileyah is a naturally talented, intelligent young lady who is superb in all that she undertakes,” said Mullins. “She has a tremendously strong work ethic and she has the desire to learn as much as she can about the tasks she undertakes. She has the heart of a teacher.”
Aviation teams from CEC also won a gold medal and a bronze medal in Aviation Operations at the SkillsUSA Georgia competitions, which were held in Atlanta in March. CEC students Tony Lawrence, Austin Scales and Zach Zambuto made up one of four CEC aviation teams qualifying for the annual skills conference competitions. The team won the state’s gold medal at the competitions, Jackson said.
Central Educational Center CEO Mark Whitlock introduced Thompson at the school board’s May 14 meeting and announced the aviation team’s win at the meeting. Whitlock said CEC was “ahead of the curve” with the offering on teacher John Sparks’ aviation class, since SkillsUSA has a state-level aviation competition but has not yet developed a national aviation competition.
Thompson will advance to the SkillsUSA National Championships which will be held June 24-28 in Kansas City, Missouri.
