Students at Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy had the opportunity of a lifetime earlier this month, thanks to CHI Memorial Hospital and its robotic prostate cancer surgeon, Dr. Lee Jackson.
Jackson visited the school on Oct. 3 and provided students with a hands-on STEM experience by allowing them to sit at the controls of the da Vinci Surgical System. The students, along with Jackson and some of his team members, were even able to perform a simulated surgery with the system.
Dr. Jackson's appreciation for CGLA's STEM-focused curriculum is what inspired the visit, according to a news release.
"Women's participation in STEM fields is widely understood to improve the creativity and quality of those fields," he said in a statement.
GPS seniors awarded National Merit Scholarships
Four students at Girls Preparatory School were named Commended Students in the 2019 National Merit Scholarships Program.
Olivia Combs, Lane Lawrence, Ruchi Patel and Allison Smith are all seniors at the independent day school for girls in Chattanooga.
"We are so proud of these four outstanding seniors, not only for their achievement in the National Merit Scholarship Program but also for their leadership and character," said Autumn A. Graves, head of the school, in a statement. "While GPS is known for academic excellence, we also expect students to find success on the stage and athletic arenas as well as serve their school and community. These girls are athletes, musicians, ambassadors and role models for their classmates. We are excited to see what they accomplish next."
Commended students are students who earned the top 50,000 scores of more than 1.6 million students who took the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
Teacher's research bring French visitors to Chattanooga
A group of high school students and teachers from France are visiting Chattanooga this week, thanks to a school exchange program and the hard work of David Helton, a Sale Creek Middle/High School physical education teacher.
Helton was a recipient of a Fund for Teachers award administered through the Public Education Foundation in 2017 and traveled to France as part of his project that investigated diet, fitness habits and reasons for low obesity rates in England, France and Italy. Helton hoped his project would allow him to develop fitness programs that could benefit Hamilton County students.
The group members will visit East Ridge High School and Sale Creek High School before they leave on Saturday.
Collegiate High student performs with Swiss flutist
A Hamilton County sophomore, Sasha Hitachi at Collegiate High School, was one of six applicants selected to play with renowned French and Swiss flute player Emmanuel Pahud earlier this year.
Hitachi applied for a master class with Pahud at the University of Georgia and was selected to perform. She performed the Ibert Flute Concerto, and said it has bolstered her confidence in performing.
"I was going up against college students getting master's and doctorates I didn't know when another opportunity like this would come again," Hitachi said in a statement. "I wasn't nervous at all. I was thinking, if I can stand in front of Pahud and several hundred people and play this piece, then this isn't anything to be worried about.'"
Contact Meghan Mangrum at mmangrum@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.