Spring Semester 2024

Dear Maxwell supporter,

The end of another school year has arrived. It seems like yesterday we were starting fall semester. This year has flown by, but it has afforded us the time to celebrate, recognize, reflect, and close the door on a fantastic school year. We had great success with our student organizations (FCCLA, HOSA, and SkillsUSA), and we feature those organization’s state champions. We were fortunate to receive donations from Evercoat and Nalley Automotive for our Collision Repair program and donations from Emory Healthcare, CSL Plasma, and Gwinnett County Health Department for our Healthcare programs. Please take a few moments to watch our Awards Day videos, which honor Maxwell's Students of the Year for all programs and other student achievements. We feature our Head Counselor, Dr. LaVonna Groce, and our Flight Operations teacher, Linda Minor, and their accomplishments. We feature a Flight Operations student who passed the Private Pilot Check Ride. Our Welding program had six students attain early hiring for MTI UA72 Pipefitters apprenticeships. Our Work Ready advisement program provided students the opportunity to experience real-life activities that prepare them for college, work, and life. We held a Work Ready dining etiquette banquet, which was the culminating event for our Work Ready program. Our counselors also hosted a successful College and Career Fair and awarded the GCPS Caring Award. Maxwell’s Animation and Graphic Design classes visited the Home Depot headquarters for a tour and User X activity. Architecture students visited the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center to learn about how to design a Nature Preserve and what makes a facility LEED certified. We look forward to hosting Maxwell Summer Adventures for middle school students, a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase our programs to potential future students. I wish nothing but success for our seniors, and I hope everyone has a relaxing and restful summer. As always, please know our doors are open to you, and thank you for your support. Go Navigators!

Dr. Jeff Hall

Principal

The HOSA State Leadership Conference was held February 29 - March 2 in Atlanta. Maxwell had 28 HOSA students compete at this year's state competition. Students who placed in the top 10 at State Leadership Conference:

• 3rd Place: Health Career Photography - Kennedy Stevens
• 4th Place: Nursing Assisting - Teanna Reid
• 5th Place: Researched Persuasive Writing & Speaking - Amaia Stanfield
• 7th Place: Pathophysiology - Dan Tran
• 8th Place: Health Career Photography - Sage Brooks-Hakim
• 8th Place: Pharmacy Science - Lideya Mullualem
• 9th Place: Medical Terminology - Jessica Samal

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The SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Conference was held February 22-24 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Maxwell had 73 students compete at this year's State Championships during the conference. Out of these 73 contestants, 34 placed! We are thrilled to announce that Maxwell won 1st place in 11 contests, 2nd place in 4 contests, and 3rd place in 7 contests. Maxwell contestants showed that they are CHAMPIONS AT WORK! Congratulations to our placement winners!

The Collision Repair classes received an equipment and product donation from Evercoat. This donation consisted of Evercoat's light speed products that are considered the latest technology in UV curing body fillers and primers. The donation also included two sets of UV curing lamps and stands. This donation will give Maxwell students the opportunity to use some of the most innovative products on the market. Thank you, Evercoat!

Nalley Automotive donated uniform shirts to all Maxwell Collision Repair students. This generous donation allowed students to look professional while working in the collision lab this school year.

Thank you, Nalley Automotive!

Maxwell's Therapeutic Services program received a large donation of gowns and gloves from Emory Healthcare. CSL Plasma also donated venipuncture tubes, and the Gwinnett County Health Department donated gloves and face shields. The healthcare students and teachers were very appreciative of these generous donations!

Dr. LaVonna Groce, Head Counselor at Maxwell High School, was named winner of the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education-Counseling & Career Development Professional Award. She will be honored at the GACTE Summer Conference in June. Congratulations, Dr. Groce!

Maxwell's Flight Operations instructor, Ms. Linda Minor, is the newest board member of the Transportation Education Foundation of Georgia (TEFGA). Congratulations, Ms. Minor!

Pictured left: Ms. Minor participated in the Career Fair at Fulton County Airport on Friday, March 22, 2024.

Isaiah Mallory a Flight Operations Pathway completer last year and a WBL student this year, passed his Private Pilot Check ride on January 31, 2024. Congratulations, Isaiah!

Six Welding seniors were hired for the MTI UA72 Pipefitters Apprenticeship: Francisco Ramirez, Marshal Peek, Kenneth Lazalde, Alex Key, Melanie Feliz, and Robel Emeryis will join the ranks of pipe fitter apprenticeship. Two students who graduated in 2021 will also join the apprenticeship: Damarius Williams and Nico Ponce. Kevin Bustos has signed with the Independent Electrical Contractors apprenticeship and will start training with Metro Power. These students will earn $24 per hour including benefits fresh out of high school!

All Maxwell students experienced another wonderful Work Ready session of Dining Etiquette this semester. During this session, students practiced and learned how to dine in a business setting. This is a schoolwide event organized by the Maxwell counselors, and every class at Maxwell is required to attend. The Culinary Arts students, under the guidance of Chef Delvasto and Chef Keeno, catered and hosted the event. Students were instructed to dress in business attire. Pictured below are students dressed in their business attire waiting to be seated for the dining etiquette event.

On March 8, Maxwell High School of Technology held a Career and College Fair that was organized by the Maxwell counselors. Over 35 companies, apprenticeships, colleges, and military branches were in attendance. The fair was held during the school day, and all Maxwell students attended. Students came to the fair ready with questions for the representatives, and they received job, apprenticeship, college, and military information. Some representatives even brought simulators to enhance the students experience of their company and job opportunities. The representatives from NetPlanner were former Maxwell students! This was an awesome event!

The Caring Award is given to a student in Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS). The GCPS Caring Award aims to honor two outstanding students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels who have gone above and beyond in embodying the values of empathy, kindness, and community engagement. GCPS believes in acknowledging and celebrating the positive impact our students make on the lives of those around them. The winner of the Maxwell High School Caring Award is Shaniyah Hudson, Therapeutic Services Program student. Shaniyah is very helpful in class and outside of class. In addition, she is the secretary of the Future Business Leaders of America chapter at her home school, is a dedicated HOSA class representative at Maxwell, and is involved in a nonprofit entitled "Silence the Shame" which looks to break down societal barriers to mental health. Her Maxwell teacher, Ms. Smith, describes Shaniyah as "an ambitious student known for her relentless pursuit of excellence. Shaniyah's unwavering dedication to her studies, coupled with her insatiable thirst for knowledge and care for others around her, has propelled her to the forefront of academic excellence." Congratulations Shaniyah!

The Maxwell Animation class visited the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary on April 11. Wolves, bison, bears, coyotes, a lynx, deer, turtles, llamas, lemurs, raccoons, and a very proud turkey were drawn during the morning and early afternoon. All the animals made great subjects while they were walking, jumping, swinging, crawling and climbing about their everyday business. The ability to quickly capture the movement, expression, structure and attitude of each animal is very useful to professional animators, designers and illustrators, whether digital or traditional. For those students who continue on in this or a similar field, this field trip will be a benchmark example of how to develop their skills to handle any project that comes their way.

Hosting a group of professional User eXperience designers for an online session, the Animation & Digital Media class got saturated with the working world of those in this field. For two hours for each of two sessions, students got to hear about what it takes to get into the field, what kind of preparation is needed, what the job consists of, everyday issues, what makes a successful project, mistakes to avoid, and how to keep your creative edge. Special thanks to all members of the panel!

• Eric Brown - Experience Lead, Architect and Strategist at State Farm; author and creative influencer
• Daniel Cubas - UX Designer at Delta Airlines
• Kevin Hanson - Lead UX/UI Designer
• LaKeisha Lovett - UX Leader at The Home Depot
• Michael Radney - Creative Director, Designer, Illustrator, Photographer
• Tiffany Whitener - UX Manager, Mentor & Educator at The Home Depot

The Home Depot UX Design group hosted Maxwell's Animation and Digital Media classes at the corporate headquarters support center in the Vinings area this spring. UX stands for User eXperience, and it involves creating and maintaining the interfaces that is used with computing devices. Web pages, mobile apps, payment system software, customer enhancement tools and associate tools all use these interfaces. Students met with Mr. Cliff Sexton, Executive Design and Research Leader. Ms. Andrea Thompson was the tour guide throughout the facility, and students worked on a sample mobile app design strategy with some of the UX designers. The Home Depot even fed the group of students and teachers from their corporate cafeteria in their auditorium before the UX Design presentation. Maxwell's 34 students were divided into six small groups and had a designer for each group to talk with and guide their project ideas. Then students presented their strategies in the auditorium at the end of the session. This whole experience gave the students an idea of what working in this field is like and allowed them to see the possibilities of what they can do. Most students were unaware of what UX Design is and how they can get in to it.

Architecture students visited the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center on January 27 to learn how to design a Nature Preserve and what makes a facility LEED certified. This field trip was in preparation of the students competing in the state-wide American Institute of Architects High School Design Competition (AIA HSDC). The program for the competition is to design a nature preserve that demonstrates sustainability.

On February 3, Architecture students, Hien Nguyen and Sara Caccamo, were able to attend the Blue Heron Site Tour hosted by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). This year, AIA published a high school design competition to design a nature preserve in the heart of Buckhead at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve. All students were invited to attend the tour and hike from the nature preserve through nature trail that included multiple ecological systems to the future site of the nature preserve, which included a creek, salamander habitats, and bat habitats. Students walked the site, sketched, took photos, and talked to the architects about the design of the future facility.

Architecture students competed in the state-wide American Institute of Architects High School Design Competition (AIA HSDC). The program for the competition is to design a nature preserve that demonstrates sustainability. Project submissions were due at the end of March. Winners attended a banquet at Kennesaw State University in April where their winning designs were recognized. Congratulations to Maxwell's winning designers!

Cosmetology students participated in skin care services and makeup demonstrations. They performed client consultations including skin analysis. Each student performed at least two facials and also received two facials. A guest demonstration from an industry professional was the icing on the cake. Professional makeup artist, Jamila Debow, told her story about how she got into commercials and movies as a professional makeup artist. It was a great experience for Maxwell's future cosmetologists!