http://www.southlandacademy.org/NewsEvents.htm

Kaitlyn Mooney and Maci Waller recently competed in a state elementary track meet in Carrolton, Georgia. Both girls qualified for the state event after their participation in a county-wide track meet sponsored by the Americus Parks and Recreation Department. Congratulations, girls! (Other students from Southland who qualified for the state meet were Griffin Cole, Jackson Hayes, Mary Melissa Roland, Ridge Roland, and Ja’Marcus Scott.)

The sixth grade science classes at Southland Academy are studying earthquakes and volcanoes. They have learned that the continents on earth are "drifting" very slowly as they slide across the melted rock beneath earth's crust. Each student made a jigsaw puzzle representing the continents and then traded puzzles with each other to work in class.

Pictured are third through fifth grade students from Southland Academy who received awards from the Sumter County Chamber of Commerce at a Celebration of Learning for Elementary Students held at Georgia Southwestern State University on Sunday, April 27th.

SEAT BELT POSTER CONTEST Southland Academy elementary students recently participated in a Safety Belt Poster Contest sponsored by the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute. Pictured are the 1st place winners along with their art teacher, Mrs. Dolores Crook.

After a science unit on strawberries and how plants grow, the 5K students at Southland Academy enjoyed a field trip to Kauffman's Strawberry Patch in Montezuma, GA. There they enjoyed picking strawberries as well as tasting homemade strawberry ice cream and sipping strawberry lemonade.

Southland Junior Zach Wilt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ken Wilt of Leslie, Georgia, was recently selected as a local, regional, state and national winner this year in The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America Essay Contest. This year's essay was entitled "If You Were a Presidential Candidate, What Domestic Issue Would You Consider Most Important and What Would You Do About It?" Zach was awarded an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC, this summer to participate in the Washington Leadership Workshop. Mrs. Susan Welch is Zach's Advanced Placement United States History teacher.

Zach has also been named a finalist in the Governor's Honors Program. This very competitive educational opportunity is a six-week summer instructional program designed to provide intellectually gifted and artistically talented high school students challenging and enriching educational opportunities not usually available during the regular school year. Activities are designed to help each participant acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes to become independent, life-long learners.

Zach will attend Governor's Honors this summer at Valdosta State University from June 8 - June 19, 2008. His primary discipline of study will be mathematics.

Ana Minchew, Zach Wilt, and Kathryn Fowler scored in the top 50,000 of 1.5 million program entrants who took the PSAT in the fall of 2007. These students are juniors at Southland.

Southland Academy Garden Club members are shown moving plants to the correct location during the landscaping project currently underway between the Academic Center and the bus parking lot. Mr. John Fowler graciously donated the plants and the club members designed the landscape plan. Mrs. Phyllis Tucker is club sponsor.

Southland Academy fourth grade students enjoyed a trip to the Riverquarium and to the planetarium at the Thronateeska Heritage Center in Albany on April 30th.

Third grade students from Southland Academy enjoyed a train trip on the SAM Shortline Railroad on May 1st. They rode the train from Cordele to Plains, stopping in Leslie for a tour of the Rural Telephone Museum. Students enjoyed a picnic lunch and peanut ice cream in Plains before riding the bus back to school that afternoon.

The Southland Academy Garden Club made a generous donation to the Pink Pals, a breast cancer support group active in the Americus area. Mrs. Linda Brewer (right), a faculty member at Southland, a breast cancer survivor, and one of the Pink Pal originators, is shown accepting the check.

The 4th grade classes at Southland Academy enjoyed an instructional British High Tea Party during the week of PTO's International Festival. The 4th grade studies the United Kingdom for the festival. Students learned how to prepare their tea while enjoying traditional tea party treats. The Charles F. Crisp Media Center was transformed into a formal tea room for the occasion complete with decorated tables, china, and sterling silver. Educational facts were shared on the history and enjoyment of tea drinking.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp 78, recently asked the Seniors of Southland to participate in their 3rd annual essay writing competition. The essays were titled, "What My Southern Heritage Means to Me." Upon completion of the judging process, Mary-Kate Hayes was the 1st place winner receiving a $1,000 college scholarship. The 2nd place winner was Molly Rumph who will receive a $500 college scholarship. On April 26th the SCV hosted a program at Rees Park in Americus. Mary-Kate and Molly both read their essay to the attendees.

The Southland Academy Science Club sponsored several activities in observance of Earth Day recently. In the junior high school, each student in science class completed a word search puzzle of words connected with the environment and ecology. Pictured are the two sixth grade winners of the word search with the Science Club sponsor, Mrs. Emily Dupree. These two young ladies each won a cash prize along with a folder made from recycled paper and pencils made from recycled newsprint.

Many types of waves must be carried by some type of matter, called a medium. A sixth grade student illustrates this for her science class with jello on a plate. First she blew across the jello with a single puff of air, and the class observed that the jello moved a little. When she pushed the plate with the jello on it, the jello had bigger waves traveling through it.

These sixth graders are studying the properties of waves in Cindy Williams' science class. They have learned about transverse waves and longitudinal waves. They are using a spring toy to illustrate both types of waves.