Cherokee Students Share Ideas To Improve Atlanta Region

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WOODSTOCK, GA -- Five Cherokee County School District high school juniors recently presented ideas on how they would improve the metro area to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Board.

The students had the opportunity as participants in the ARC’s Model Atlanta Regional Commission (MARC), a six-month youth leadership program focused on regional issues and challenges.

Etowah High School juniors Aubrey Gerber, Olivia Klingler and Sydney Miracle, River Ridge High School junior Jordan Mason and Woodstock High School junior Kurt Mueller were among the 50 students selected from a pool of applicants representing the 10-county metro region.

“I am so impressed with the innovative ideas that these young leaders have developed,” ARC Board Chair Kerry Armstrong said of the students’ ideas. “These resolutions have the potential to help improve quality of life throughout the region. They deserve our careful review.”

Ideas presented by the MARC students included an Adopt a Grandparent program that pairs high school students with an older adult as a mentor; a Mentor Match program, which pairs elementary school students with high school student mentors; plans to upgrade recycling bins and promote recycling programs in schools; developing a website through which students could alert local governments to areas that need sidewalks installed and/or repaired; and a social media campaign to encourage students to take care of their environment.

Applications now are being accepted for next year’s class through April 8; more information is online at http://www.atlantaregional.com/marc.

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Photo: from left to right are: Kurt Mueller, Sydney Miracle, Jordan Mason, Olivia Klinger and Aubrey Gerber. Credits: Cherokee County School District