CGLA students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of hands-on educational activities that nurture self confidence, inspire leadership, encourage critical thinking, and promote academic excellence. Below are a few of the many exciting activities CGLA students have the opportunity to participate in during or after school.
LEGO Robotics
CGLA students have an opportunity to participate in the FIRST Lego League Robotics state competition each year, which involves more than 70 teams from across the state. The program is international, with more than 11,000 teams worldwide and 6,000 in the U.S. The Chattanooga Engineer’s Club serves as a sponsor of CGLA’s teams and provides materials and supplies. Each year, the competition has a theme, and student teams work together to explore, design, create, test, and retest robot designs and engineering concepts related to the theme. The 2010 theme, Body Forward, focused on biomedical engineering and CGLA’s three teams, comprised of 10 students each, presented on premature infants and incubators. CGLA’s teams have celebrated many successes: at the 2009 competition, a CGLA team won a special award for success: “Against All Odds”— recognition for extraordinary performance by a first year competitor—and the second place trophy for engineering teamwork. In 2010, CGLA’s “Aquamarines” team took home the Spirit Award for embodying the Lego Robotics Core Values, which focus on teamwork and the spirit of friendly competition. CGLA Middle School Science Instructor, Nancy Olenchek, coordinates the program.
Poetry Out Loud
CGLA students have an opportunity to hone their language arts, public speaking, poetic recitation and dramatic performance skills by participating in the annual, school-wide Poetry Out Loud competition. With support from the Tennessee Arts Commission, CGLA launched the Poetry Out Loud program in November 2010 and brought in two visiting artists to help students prepare for the competition. Winners of the school-wide competition are eligible to compete in the state competition, with the chance to move on to the national Poetry Out Loud competition.
Young Southern Writers at CGLA
CGLA students have the opportunity to tap into their creative side by participating in the annual Young Southern Writers Contest, which is sponsored by the Arts and Education Council. CGLA Reading Specialist Casey Clear coordinates the contest for CGLA, which is a perfect compliment to the CGLA Poetry Out Loud competition. In 2011 and 2012 CGLA had several student winners, who were honored at an awards ceremony sponsored by AEC.
Suntrust Youth Bank
Through an innovative partnership with SunTrust Bank, in August 2010 CGLA students launched the first YouthBank located in a Hamilton County school. The CGLA – SunTrust Youth Bank is an innovative partnership that established a deposit-only SunTrust mini-branch within the CGLA school building. The student-managed branch is open each week, providing students with an opportunity to save for the future while honing financial literacy and math skills. Girls are able to open savings accounts, and SunTrust matches their savings dollar-for-dollar. Several CGLA students serve as YouthBank staff and manage most aspects of the YouthBank’s operation. SunTrust employees have provided financial literacy education to all CGLA students and specialized training to the YouthBank student management team.
*students working at SunTrust YouthBank