South Cobb High Freshmen Step into New Academy, Success

More than 500 freshmen will step foot into ’s new freshmen academy on Monday morning. The nearly 96,000-square-foot building, along with the new arts annex, courtyard and tennis courts are part of the school’s $28 million updates.

The only other school in the county to also have a freshmen academy is North Cobb High School.

South Cobb High School held its first freshmen orientation program the first week of August in its newly built Freshmen Academy building to introduce students to high school and to a new teaching model. The school will implement the Highly Effective Teaching Model, which has been successful at other schools around the country, including Clarkdale Elementary.

As part of this model, students build relationships with a 15-minute homeroom each day and are taught life skills as well as academics. The students are split into teams, which offers a smaller feel and helps students transition from middle school to high school.

“It’s a growing experience,” said Renee Basinger, Freshmen Academy Transition Coordinator. “The exciting thing is it’s not about the building. It’s about the students…The freshmen are going to take this excitement into their 10^th grade year.”

The annex is equipped with new laptops for the students to use.

“We’ll have more computers than we can shake a stick at,” said South Cobb High Principal Ashley Hosey.

Keeping with the team concept of the HET Model, nearly every classroom in the freshmen building will have tables for pairs of students instead of individual desks.

The tables can be easily rearranged and have outlets for laptops or other devices to be used in lessons.

“Collaboration is in every single lesson,” said Renee Basinger, who had taught English at South Cobb for many years before stepping into her new role. “This prepares them for life. We’re never isolated. We need collaboration.”

The HET Model is different in many ways in that it allows teachers to be more innovative than every before and also helps students understand that they choose their behavior and also the consequences of that behavior.

“The focus is not on discipline, but on training them to be the student they want to be,” Basinger said, adding that the model’s “silent hallway” “minimizes classroom disruption, eliminates fear and gives them liberty.”

The academy building is outfitted with a separate fully functional cafeteria, designated study rooms, its own media center, a computer lab, the school’s new clinic, labs and even a mock courtroom.

The teachers of the freshmen academy mostly came from within South Cobb High.

“We chose teachers who embraced innovative philosophies,” Basinger said, adding that the Model teaches effective classroom management “and when we give them the tools to do that, they feel empowered.”

Basinger and Hosey explained that when teachers feel empowered, so do the students.

“If kids feel that school is just a aplace where the bus drops them off,” they will not “have respect for the building, institution or people,” Hosey explained. “We want to meet their social needs and leave students feeling they have a voice.”

For Hosey and Basinger, the most important aspect of the new building will still be the people inside: the students. Having a new place for them to learn and feel comfortable will help them become more successful, the administrators explained.

Hosey said, “This building is just part of a new campus. I joke that I’m going to come back and this is going to be the University of South Cobb or South Cobb State,” Hosey said, smiling as he looked out a window in the new freshmen academy to new tennis courts.