Morgan County’s Board of Education recognized several high school students during the Apr. 13 meeting for athletic and academic achievements.
To begin the meeting, MCHS Theater and Chorus director Lenae Rose recognized seven of her students who competed in the 2026 GHSA Literary State Championship in the 2A class.
MCHS student Stuart Rose took home the title for 2026 GHSA AA State Literary Boys Solo State Champion, along with a title for the Men’s Quartet category, alongside William Davis, Jackson LaBarre, and Seth Mullins.
For the women’s category, sophomore Grace Vash took third place for the AA State Literary Girls Solo and a state title for the AA women’s Trio category, alongside Molly Copeland and Annabel Sparrow.
Following the Literary State Championship recognitions, the BOE recognized MCHS senior Catie Malcome as the Class of 2026 valedictorian and senior Justin Bailey as salutatorian.
Shortly after, MCHS senior Davianna Williams was recognized for winning a state title in the Home Health Aide competition as part of the Georgia 2026 Health Occupations Students of America State Leadership Conference. Williams, who earned her Certified Nursing Assistant certification through the school’s CTAE program, attended the recent state conference in March, after advancing through two previous rounds of competition.
MCHS HOSA instructor Abby Bethea spoke at the board meeting, reflecting on Williams’ accomplishments through the competition.
“At the state leadership conference, she had to take another test against 50 people, and then she went to the third round,” she said. “And she did a skill demonstration in front of a panel of judges against two other students.”
Bethea mentioned that Williams was randomly assigned to exhibit a skill demonstration for assisting patients with compression stockings.
“She had to prepare for seven different skills that were basically drawn out of a hat and just dropped on her the day of the competition,” Bethea said. “So, this is a huge accomplishment, and congratulations.”
For the final recognition of the evening, the BOE recognized the MCHS Varsity Boys basketball team for winning the GHSA AA basketball state championship March 14.
Dogs head coach Cody Anderson spoke at the meeting and stated that their recent accomplishment would not have been possible without the school administration.
“Really good coaches, with really good players, with a lot of games, but really good coaches, with really good players, and administration win championships,” Anderson said. “I could not be more thankful for the alignment of administration that we have now, and that is why we’re able to do what we’ve done with these young men.”
Anderson emphasized that investing in athletics is important for player development and thanked the administration for allowing him to do so. He says that upon beginning his tenure with the program, the basketball coaches set a goal to develop “young men at Morgan County” and also to win state championships.
“These are Morgan County young men that have developed, have gone through the ups and the downs, through the highs and the lows, and accomplished the mountaintop in our sport,” Anderson said. “Four years ago, I said I was gonna ask a lot of these young men, and they answered the bell. But I also said, I would ask a lot of our administration, for investing in lives, because just like everything else, the cost of doing business is high.”