Rita Simmons

Name: Fritz Joseph

Grade: Pre-K

School: Continental Colony Elementary

Fritz Joseph is a Pre-K student at Continental Colony Elementary School of C. H.O.I.C.E.  He enjoys listening to music, dancing, reading and exploring on the computer and his teacher’s iPad. Fritz’s favorite subject in school is music because he enjoys playing with the various instruments in class with his friends. He also enjoys learning with his peers and participating in hand-on-activities.  Fritz is very active and likes to move around.

“Fritz is a phenomenal student,” says Christopher Strozier, Fritz’s teacher.  “He follows directions and lends a hand to his classmates.  In class Fritz loves to receive stickers and prizes for a job well done.”

At the beginning of the year Fritz was selected as the Student of the Month for August.  Three goals Fritz has mastered this year are identifying his colors, numbers and shapes.  He has exceeded in all areas. Fritz’s teacher also describes him as a developing leader. He exemplifies leadership qualities daily by leading the line throughout the building from the classroom to the cafeteria and opening doors for others.  He is also a representative on the Student Government Association.

Outside of school Fritz is involved in his church.  His ultimate goal in life is to be successful and become a college graduate.

Atlanta Public Schools hopes to cultivate more students like Fritz through its Pre-K programs. APS has 34 school sites, including Continental Colony, with 41 classes that serve more than 850 students in the traditional Pre-K program. In all, APS serves approximately 1,050 early education students, including 3- and 4-year-olds who have special needs and attend an APS Pre-K classroom.

Name: Zackariya Beasley

Grade: 5th Grade

School: Cleveland Avenue Elementary

Zackariya is an active young-lady-in-training as part of the Just Be Beautiful, Inc.  girls mentoring organization under the mentorship of Rita Simmons, who is also her gifted and talent-development teacher. Last school year, she enjoyed the weekly afterschool sessions where girls discussed a variety of topics including etiquette, character, friendship, health, cleanliness and other topics of interest.

“Zackariya is a young lady of great integrity and positive character. She embodies the very essence of great work ethics. Zackariya is self motivated and extremely responsible. She is an excellent representation for Just Be Beautiful, Inc. Girls Mentoring Organization,” Rita Simmons states.

For the past two years, Zackariya has been a student in the Gifted and Talent-Development Program at her school. As part of their economics unit,  students in the class created a business.  Zackariya created Kara’s Parties during her first year, and Parties 4 U the following year, in partnership with a few classmates for the Student Entrepreneur Business Showcase. Students were required to create their own business cards, logo, motto, decorations, and provide their own products to sell. The event was held in the school gymnasium, and students were invited to attend and purchase products from the budding entrepreneurs.

“I learned how to create a business plan, how to manage a business and student employees, and how to sell products and make a profit,” Zackariya says.  She is looking forward to the Gifted and Talent-Development field trip in November to Orlando, Florida, where she will learn about marine biology.

Zackariya enjoys running in her free time, and her favorite subjects are math and reading. She hopes to become a teacher in the future because she enjoys helping her teacher with tasks, such as monitoring the classroom behavior chart. Zackariya’s teacher, Kimberly Lawrence, sums her up in one statement, “She’s like Channel 2 News – ‘dedicated, determined, and dependable.’”

Name: Kai Mahra

Grade: 6th Grade

School: Inman Middle

Kai is an 11-year-old sixth-grade student at Inman Middle School.  His favorite subject is science, and he enjoys all of his other subjects as well.  One of his favorite hobbies is reading, and his favorite book series is “The Maze Runner” trilogy.

Sixth-grade English language arts teacher Mary Elizabeth Todd says, “Kai is a hard-working, creative and witty student who gets along well with peers, and is very likable.”

Kai is an athletic student, and plays tennis and soccer with the Inter Atlanta F.C. Blues. “I cannot wait until basketball season starts,” Kai says. He is passionate about music, and plays the trumpet in the Inman sixth- grade band and both school jazz bands.

A frequent traveler, Kai has visited various areas in the U.S. and numerous countries, including India, Japan, Thailand, Europe and South America.  He hopes to eventually travel to all seven continents.  Although Kai is allergic to dairy and nuts, he likes to cook and learns cooking skills from his mom.

“My favorite foods are pasta, buffalo wings and bacon,” he says.

Kai is a talented, active and creative student who displays great behavior at school, and is a great example to everyone around him.

Name:   Jordan Boswell  

Grade:   4th

School:  Garden Hills Elementary

Jordan Boswell is new to Garden Hills , but he has already decided that the expansive school media center is one of his favorite places.  The large windows and decorative walls inside the media center are alluring and inviting, and make it the perfect get-away for avid readers like Jordan.

The fourth-grader loves settling down with a good book, like his favorite read, “Charlie Bone and the Castle.”  In fact, Jordan says he prefers spending his spare time reading more than watching television.

Incidentally, his life is probably just as intriguing as any book on the library shelves.  For starters, Jordan, like his mother, was born in Ethiopia, and has dual citizenship.  His grandmother – an American – traveled from the U.S. to Ethiopia as part of an expedition, and two generations later, Jordan entered the world.  Although he was very young when he left Ethiopia, Jordan still remembers living in the family’s mud house, a standard type of dwelling in the African nation.

Jordan is number eight in a lineup of nine children .  He says he is happy he belongs to such a large family, because visiting them allows him to travel all over the country.  Of all the places he travels, Jordan likes visiting Chicago and Detroit the most, because he enjoys the snowy winters .  In addition to playing in the snow and building snow angels, a trip up north in the winter allows Jordan to do one of his favorite things:  join his siblings as they load into a canoe and race down the snow-covered hills.

Robbie Brown, Jordan’s teacher, calls him “an excellent student”; that’s good, because in order to succeed at his career goals, nothing short of excellence will do.  Jordan’s grandmother, mother and uncle are physicians, and he wants to follow in their footsteps and become a doctor or brain surgeon when he grows up.  Then again, since his father plays professional football, Jordan says a career in the NFL is another appealing possibility.

Brown says Jordan is an “inquirer,” and “he likes to learn new things.”  Whether he’s suiting up for surgery, or charging down the gridiron, these traits will certainly serve this impressive student well.