Foundation for Excellence | Athens, GA

08/21/2026

If you are a Clarke County School District staff member working towards your teaching certification, apply for our June Baldwin Turnell Aspiring Teacher Grant!

This $500 grant can help you pay for expenditures as you prepare to achieve your teaching certification.

Apply at our website: www.athensffe.org
Look for the "Aspriring Teacher Grant" tab
Deadline is September 6, 2026

08/19/2026

Clarke County School District teachers! Do you have an activity or project you want to do with your students this school year? Do you need funding? Apply for one of our classroom grants! Accepting proposals until September 6th. Apply today on our website: www.athensffe.org

08/03/2026

08/03/2026

The Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Foundation for Excellence Teaching and Staff Awards!

Earlier this spring, we invited the entire community to nominate Clarke County School District teachers and staff members who are making a remarkable impression on Clarke County students and community. We received over 200 nominations, nominating over 190 different individuals within the school district.

Over the summer a team of community volunteers read over all the completed nominations and scored the applications to determine the winners.

Congratulations to these phenomenal educators and staff members! We hope their example will be inspiring to their students, colleagues, and community. We look forward to celebrating these winners at our annual Awards Reception in October.

Pictures coming soon!

08/02/2026

Clarke County School District teachers and staff!

We have money to help fund activities with your students this school year! Apply for one of our classroom grants! Go to our website: www.athensffe.org and see how we can help you with bringing fun and exciting activities to your students.

07/30/2026

We are making quite a few stops tomorrow to suprise some Clarke County School District teachers and staff! 💐 Where o where will you see us??

07/29/2026

Happy new school year!

We are at the 2026 Convocation! Stop by and ask us how you can win money for your classroom. And ask us how we can support your classroom activities!

Be sure to do the scavenger hunt to win our Keurig coffee gift pack!

06/10/2026

What a spring it was!

As the 2025-26 school year ended, members of the Board of Trustee members of the Foundation for Excellence and our Executive Director visited and presented awards to praiseworthy Clarke County School District students.

Congratulations to these students! We hope they continue on the road of success and promise. May their examples lead their fellow classmates and community.

Cedar Shoals High School
Arthur Moog Middleton Writing Award for High School Juniors: Elijah Stone
Claude & Charlotte Williams American History Award: Leia Beal
Marge Schneider Science Award: Stella James
Gregg Lewis Scholar Athlete Award: Zeta Conway
Gregg Lewis Scholar Athlete Award: Christopher Koch


Clarke Central High School
Arthur Moog Middleton Writing Award for High School Juniors: Lea D'Angelo
Claude & Charlotte Williams American History Award: Miriam Widener
Marge Schneider Science Award: Copper Callahan
Gregg Lewis Scholar Athlete Award: Cara Flath
Gregg Lewis Scholar Athlete Award: Noah Kilpatrick

Classic City High School
Classic City Student of the Year: Malia Stephens

Athens Community Career Academy
Taylor Family Dual Enrollment Awards: Jose Hernandez & Lexie Holliday

Eve Carson Humanitarian Spirit Awards:
Barnett Shoals Elementary: Journee Haynes
Barrow Elementary: Ace Weatherford
Bettye Henderson Holston Elementary: Jeshie Carranza
Cleveland Road Elementary: Parrish Miller
Fowler Drive Elementary: David Reyes Rodriguez
Gaines Elementary: Gabriel Weathers
Howard B. Stroud Elementary: Samara Elfadil
J.J. Harris Elementary: Zoe Solis-Munoz
Johnnie Lay Burks Elementary: Beatrice Peacock
Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary: Clara Crim
Timothy Road Elementary: Chloe Taylor
Whit Davis Elementary: Greyson Brandon
Whitehead Road Elementary: Tefnet-Ankh-Re Huff
Winterville Elementary: Bennett Stahl
Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School: Bronx Gresham
Clarke Middle School: Mariam Ahmed
Coile Middle School: Emanuel Castro-Menjivar
Hilsman Middle School: Ryan Watkins
Cedar Shoals High School: Derriana Smith
Clarke Central High School: Quinn Pendley

Did your student receive an FFE student award this year? Would you like us to include their picture? Please email it to: [email protected]

05/26/2026

Last Friday was the last day of school for Clarke County School District but it does not mean our work has stopped for the summer. We made a stop today at Cedar Shoals High School to surprise their STAR Teacher Tara Stuart with the C. Thomas Poss STAR Teacher Award and the CJ Amason STAR Teacher Gift.

The C. Thomas Poss STAR Teacher Award was endowed in memory of Carl Thomas Poss, a University of Georgia professor by his wife, long time Cedar Shoals High School teacher, Brenda Poss and their children Charlotte and Geoffrey. The C. Thomas Poss STAR Teacher Award is a $500 award.

The CJ Amason STAR Teacher Gift was endowed by local businesman Reign Streiter in honor of the Foundation for Excellence's former Executive Director CJ Amason. The CJ Amason STAR Teacher Gift is a $250 gift card from the Downtown Athens Business Association.

Both the C. Thomas Poss STAR Teacher Award and the CJ Amason STAR Teacher Gift was also presented to Clarke Central High School's STAR Teacher Mr. Scott Swain last week.

Cedar Shoals High School's 2026 STAR Student and Class of 2026 Valedictorian Christopher Koch chose Ms. Stuart as the teacher who had the most influence and inspiration during his time at Cedar Shoals. Christopher and our Executive Director Catherine Neace presented those awards to Ms. Stuart during Cedar Shoals' end of the school year staff luncheon. Ms. Stuart is also the Foundation for Excellence's 2024 Frusanna S. Booth Chair for Teachers of English and Language Arts Award recipient!

Congratulations, Ms. Stuart! Thank you for your powerful impact on your students!

05/22/2026

Every spring, the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education in Clarke County, Georgia is proud to present the Eve Carson Humanitarian Spirit Award to each one of Clarke County School District traditional elementary, middle, and high schools.

The Eve Carson Humanitarian Spirit Awards were first awarded in 2009 in memory of Clarke Central High School honor graduate Eve Carson. In her brief life, Eve exhibited a human spirit that one yearns to achieve in a lifetime. Students who embody the spirit of inclusiveness, open-mindedness, and an acceptance of others as exemplified by Eve Carson are chosen to receive this award.

Recipients of the exiting classes (5th, 8th, and 12th grades) at each level of schooling are chosen by their school to receive this honor.

Congratulations to these Clarke County students! May they continue to lead and set a beautiful example to their classmates, friends, and community.