Holcomb Bridge Middle Named Microsoft Showcase School

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Roswell, GA -- Holcomb Bridge Middle School was recently named a Microsoft Showcase School, a designation that recognizes institutions that are leaders in technology-driven personalized learning.

The designation provides the school’s teachers and leadership team with access to innovations in educational technology around the world and designates it as the host school for a showcase event to share information with educators throughout the southeast.

This prestigious honor is not the first that the school has earned this year. Holcomb Bridge was named a Verizon Innovative Learning School directed by Digital Promise.

Less than 20 middle schools across the country have received this designation, which includes a two-year commitment from Verizon to provide each student with an Apple iPad Air and 5 gigabytes of data each month for school-related work. Verizon also provides a full-time technical coach and unlimited access to technology experts.

Before receiving their iPads, students completed a course in digital citizenship. All students were required to take classes and pass quizzes related to Internet safety and protocol. After all students passed the course, Holcomb Bridge Middle School was designated a Common Sense Digital Citizenship Certified School.

Along with these technological honors, Holcomb Bridge has won praise for cultivating a school culture that fosters high achievement. The school recently received five stars, the highest rank possible, on the Georgia School Climate Index.

This honor went to only seven other Fulton County schools and puts Holcomb Bridge in the top 15 percent of all Georgia state schools. In addition, the school was again named a Georgia National Lighthouse School to Watch for being a high-performing school that is academically excellent, developmentally responsive and socially equitable. This distinction went to only three schools in Fulton County.

Principal Chris Shearer is quick to credit the Holcomb Bridge Middle School Community for this successful school year.

“Holcomb Bridge continues to raise the bar as a world-class school,” Shearer said. “Without question, this has been a banner year for HBMS Hawks. We could not do it without great students and great parent and community support.”

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Photo 1: Violeta Carbajal, Alex Swann and Kayla Edwards use iPads to research natural disasters in science class.
Photo 2: Jake Anderson, Daniel Mazeall and Coen Quick use iPads to create multimedia news reports about earthquakes and volcanos.
Photo credits: Holcomb Bridge Middle School