The State School Superintendent Richard Woods recently selected 130 Georgia students to serve on his Student Advisory Council. Five of those students are from Troup County middle and high schools. 

Samuel Washington, an eighth grader at Callaway Middle School; Moses Brown, a seventh grader at Gardner Newman Middle School; Robert Skinner, Jr., a seventh grader at Gardner Newman Middle School; Zoe Billingslea, an eleventh grader at Troup High School and Nyahla Hubbard, an eleventh grader at Troup High School were the students chosen from the Troup County School System. 

According to a press release from TCSS, these students were selected out of more than 1,000 applicants. 

“It is so important to me to hear directly from students about how decisions made at the state level are playing out in the classroom,” State Superintendent Woods said in the press release. “Meeting with my Student Advisory Council allows me to hear feedback firsthand from those most affected by educational policies.”

Students were chosen based on the strength of their essay answers, which focused on their ideas for public education as well as their community service experience. 

Throughout the school year, these middle and high school students will meet with superintendent Woods to discuss the impact of state policies in the classroom. Members of the Student Advisory Council will also discuss other issues related to education, serve as the superintendent’s ambassadors to their respective schools, and participate in service projects to benefit schools and students.