UPCOMING EVENTS IN
MONROE COUNTY
Calendar items run
free of charge as a
community service
each week as space
allows. Mail items for
the Community Calen-
dar, to Diane Glidewell
at news@mymcr.net by
am. on Monday.
Jan. 10
Readers to Leaders
Training Class
The Rea ers to Lead-
ers Volunteer Program
for Monroe County 1
Schools Pre-K through
2nd grade will have a
training class on Friday,
Jan. TO at 9 am. at the
BOE central office, 25
Brooklyn Ave, Forsyth.
For more information,
call 478-994-203.
Until Jan. To
Sign up for4-H
Shotgun Team
Monroe County 4-H
Shotgun Team sign ups
have begun and will
continue until Jan. TO.
Sign-up 8 a.m.-5 pm. at
the Monroe County Ex-
tension Otfice, 484 Hwy'
83 South. Cost is $l25.
For more information,
call 478-993- l2l4.
Jan. 20
Culloden Martin
Luther King Jr. Day
Celebration
To recognize Martin
Luther King Jr. Day,
Culloden will have a
march starting at 9
am. to St. Phillip AME.
Church, 36 Fort Valley
Road. The speaker at
the program following
the march will be Bibb
County Commissioner
Bert Bivins., who will
speak on memories of
Dr. King and his experi-
ences during the Civil
Rights Era.
Martin Luther King
Jr. Da celebration
The 20 O MLK Ce|~
ebration in Forsyth will
include breakfast, a
march/parade from the
square to Kynette United
Methodist Church, a
remembrance program
and lunch. The com—
memorative program
will be at Kynette UMC,
266 Martin Luther
King Jr. Drive. For more
information, contact
James Green at 478-
Q73-l743.
Jan. 23
De-dutter, prevent
pests
Monroe County Exten-
sion will present a free
class on ridding homes
of clutter and prevent-
ing pantry pests on
Thursday, Jan. 23 at
6:30 pm. at the Man-
roe County Extension
Otfice, 484 Highway
83 South, Forsyth.
Speakers will be Phil-
lip Hensley, Spalding
County agent and
Nicole Walters, Monroe
County agent. RSVP to
478-993- l2l4.
Jan.‘ 24
Annual Chamber of
Commerce Meeting
Awards
The Forsyth-Monroe
County Chamber of
Commerce will hold
its Annual Meeting 8.
Community Awards at
Monroe County Confer-
ence Center, 475 Holi-
day Circle, Forsyth on
Friday, Jan. 24 at 6 pm.
For tickets and more
information, contact Kari
at 478-994—9239.
Jan. 24- 25
T.G. Scott presents
’Ihe Rodcin’ Tale of
Snow White’
TG. Scott Elementary
School will present 'The
Rockin' Tale of Snow
White' at Monroe
County Fine Arts Center,
27 Brooklyn Ave.,
Forsyth on Friday and
Saturday, Jan. 24 8. 25.
Tickets are $5.
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ommum
l January 8, 2020
Ardtlnd Monroe County » Forsyth o Juliette 0 High Falls 0 Bolingbroke o
Cullo en 0 Smarr
Bolingbroke's Edge as imprsive step and t
any of you
attended the
Bolingbroke
. Christ-
mas parade and may
have noticed among the
many wonderful parade
entries, one particular
group that
stood out.
I was very
impressed, to
say the least,
and wanted to
formally in-
troduce to you
Drew Edge of
Bolingbroke.
Drew is a
member of
the Georgia
Volunteer Battalion and
plays with the fife and
drum corps. His group
of four marched in the
parade showing off their
musical talents and were
dressed in civil war army
uniforms.
I was curious as to
their story, so I met
with Drew and learned
of his passion for civil
war reenacting. Drew
said he studied the civil
war in the 5th grade and
became very interested
in the history. He also
began his music interest
and began playing the
trumpet in the 5th grade.
His father, Scott Edge,
and a family friend,
Kevin Sark, took him to
Andersonville where he
was outfitted and became
a participant.
He became a runner
(messenger) and after
two years graduated to a
rifleman. He said there
was always a lack of mu—
sicians; he was promoted
VICKI SMITH
to Sergeant 8c Bugler in
2018. Now his primary
job is to take care of the
fife and drum corps. He
said there are five in his
group and they come
from all over the state.
Drew said the parade
was the first
time they played
together as a
full group. Drew
said he attended
11 reenacting
events in 2019,
traveling all over
the southeast.
He explained
that they are all
volunteer and
self-financed.
He said his love of
music and the continued
learning of the history
of the civil war are very
enjoyable and he plans to
attend even more events
in 2020. He said the pub-
lic is welcome to come
and be spectators at any
reenactment event; the
closest one will be held
the first weekend of May
in Jones County ‘Old
Clinton War Days’.
Drew usually plays
the fife - a ‘cousin’ to
the flute. Since the rise
of the modern army in
the late 16th century,
trained fifers and drum-
mers have been adopted
and used by armies to
signal predatory alerts
and execution signals as
well as times of day for
troops. They signal when
the troops should rise in
the morning 8: retire at
night, when to eat, when
to assemble and to sound
an alarm. Trained musi-
cians also play popular
Drew Edge of Bolingbroke brought the Ga. Volunteer Battalion Fife Drum
Corps to
the Bolingbroke Christmas Parade on Dec. 7 to the delight of everyone who
came out to
watch the annual event.
music on the march or
while in camp. Drums
have an important role
in the military and date
farther back in history.
Drew says he has learned
a lot in his years of vol-
unteering and plans to
keep fifing as long as he
can.
Drew graduated from
Mary Persons High in
2017 and is currently a
history student at Gor-
don State College. After
graduating college next
year, he plans to at-
tend umpire school. He
currently umpires high
schoolsoftball and base:
ball. Umpire school is in
Vero Beach, Fla, and af—
ter completing the school
Drew will be eligible to
umpire in minor league
baseball.
Drew and his fife and
drum corps are available
for your private events
and recently played taps
at a funeral. He said
they are open to play-
ing at weddings, church
events, etc. If you are
interested in hiring this
very talented group or
would like to know more
about upcoming civil
war events, please email
him at gvbfifeanddrum@
gmail.com.
~~ You may also visit the
website of the Georgia
volunteer battalion to
learn more at: Georgia-
volunteerbattallionorg
The Bugler is Buddy
lowers Fife & Bugler is
Drew Edge. The Fife: is
Isaac Young. The Snare
Drum is Jennifer Gunn.
The Bass Drum is Ben
Morris. The Junior
Drummer is Chance
Sprague.
Vicki Smith cov-
ers Bolingbroke for the
Reporter. She and her
husband, Bobby Lee, own
e’w operate Properties Plus
Realty, and she is presi-
dent ofBolingbroke Com—
munity‘Clab” which gives
as the beloved Boling-
broke Christmas parade.
Superintendent says
By Diane Glidewell
news@mymcr.net
With the 2019-20 school
year at its mid-point, Super-
intendent Dr. Mike Hick-
man gave his second annual
State of Education address
on Friday, Dec. 13. With the
lure of a luncheon featuring
roast beef prepared under
the direction of Monroe
County Schools Nutrition
Director Lisa Singley and
the venue of the Fine Arts
Center lobby, the event was
well-attended in spite of
rainy weather.
Local city and county
officials, Monroe County
Hospital, Monroe County
, Sheriff’s Office, the School
System Central Office,
Board of Education, Mary
Persons seniors and their
parents and Georgia House
Representative Robert
Dickey attended.
“I can’t say enough about
our administration in get-
ting us where we are today,”
said school board chair
Nolen Howard. “One thing
We have that a lot of schools
would love to have is com-
munity support.”
Hickman said the board
shortened its mission state-
ment for the school system
last year to “Learn, Grow,
and Succeed.” He said this is
the mission for not only stu-
dents but staff and everyone
associated with the schools.
The school system’s vision
is developing students with
knowledge and skills to be
successful. ,
“Success means a lot of
different things for different
kids,” said Hickman. “If we
learn everyday, we will grow
and succeed. What suc-
cess means to us is student
performance.”
Hickman said he is proud
Monroe County Schools
have been ranked 9th aca-
demically among Georgia
Public School systems, but
the goal is to be lst in the
state.
“Every [Monroe County]
school improved in the past
year, and all are far above
the state averages,” said
Hickman. “We are within
five points of the highest in
the state.”
He said that he is proud
that test scores for all the
county schools are almost
the same, showing there is
unity in the teaching and
practices throughout the
system. He said Monroe
County Schools have more
children dealing with pov-
erty than any of the other
school systems in the state’s
local schools 0
M w (mum's * i, ,
“he right path
.y,
Pictured above, left to right, are Mary Persons seniors, Anokhi Patel,
Terrance Henderson,
Taylar Askey, Dylan Fountain. Below, Superintendent Dr. Mike Hickman, lett,
gets ready to
give the State of Education address.
top 10. Also all five schools
received the maximum
five stars in school climate
ratings, which are derived
from factors like safety and
surveys of teachers and
parents.
Hickman said 54 percent
of students in Monroe
County Schools are below
the poverty rate. He said
there is a big gap between
students from affluent
families and students from
impoverished families, with
few being in the middle. Lo-
cal funds provide 50 percent
of the system’s $43 mil-
lion budget, with state and
federal funds providing the
rest plus ESPLOST funding
capital projects.
The Monroe County
School System is the largest
employer in the county,
with 675 employees; 320 of
those are professionally cer-
tified. They are now serving
0‘
a
4,172 students, with two of
those added last week He
said there is a lot of new
housing being built in the
county, and the schools plan
to be ready if the long—antic-
ipated population explosion
comes to Monroe County.
Four members of the
Mary Persons Class of 2020
spoke about their planned
paths to success after gradu—
ation. Dylan Fountain is
working for Head Heating
& Air through Mary Per-
sons Work Based Learn-
ing program, and plans
to continue in the heating
& air field full time after
graduation. He has enjoyed
being on Mary Persons soc-
cer team.
Terrance Henderson
has enlisted in the US.
Air Force and is looking
forward to being part of
something bigger
than himself. He said
his high school counselor
helped him connect with
a military recruiter that
offered him a career path.
Anokhi Patel plans to attend
college, having been accept-
ed to University of Georgia
and awaiting responses
from other applications. She
appreciated the leadership
opportunities through clubs
at Mary Persons and the
engaging and entertaining
classes provided by teachers
like Mr. Magda as well as
opportunities in fine arts.
Taylar Askew is in the dual
enrollment program with
Mary Persons and Central
Georgia Technical College
studying dental hygiene. She
appreciates the chance to get
a feel for education outside
the classroom, and she ap—
preciates teachers like Bill
Waldrep, Amy Myers and
See EDUCATION or}. Page 2C
