Putnam County Middle School

Mrs. Niki Hutsell has been named the Q4 Innovation Spotlight recipient for her dedication and creativity with our ESOL students.

Congratulations to Helen Pennamon for being named Support Person of the Month for Putnam County Middle School.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Harkins for being named Teacher of the Year for Putnam County Middle School!

Please note the plans for May 22.

🎉 Celebrating Our READ 180 Superstars! 📚✨
We are so proud of Mrs. Harkins’ READ 180 students, whose hard work and dedication have led to amazing progress this year! Their growth has been so impressive that it even caught the attention of HMH, the publisher of the READ 180 curriculum.
To celebrate these scholars, Mr. Chris Adams from HMH visited our school to meet the students and recognize their incredible achievements. What a special moment for our readers to be acknowledged on such a big stage! 🌟
Keep up the great work—we can’t wait to see what you accomplish next! 💙📖

A big thank you to the Georgia Writers Museum for sponsoring today’s special guest, author and voice actor Jorjeana Marie!
Our theater students had an incredible experience engaging in the craft of improv while learning about the exciting career path of a voice artist. 🎤
We are so grateful for this opportunity to inspire creativity and open doors to new possibilities for our students!

Congratulations to our 2026 Softball Lady Eagles!

Last night, our own Dr. Diane Specht was honored at PCHS' Honors Night. Recently, senior Carolyn Thomas was awarded the prestigious Coca Cola Scholarship. As a part of this award, she was able to honor one of her mentors that encouraged her throughout her STEM journey. She recognized Dr. Specht for getting her started on a path to STEM education. She indicated that she would not have accomplished all that she has without Dr. Specht's guidance and encouragement.
Congratulations, Dr. Specht!

In partnership with the Georgia Writers Museum, PCMS Theater Arts students were treated to a visit by screenwriter and author, Michael Lucker. Mr. Lucker spoke with the students about the craft of screenwriting and encouraged students to pursue their own paths within the writing, screenwriting, and animation genres.

We are very grateful for the Georgia Writers Museum for continuing to support our scholars through meaningful opportunities like this.

From Mr. Lucker's website:
MICHAEL LUCKER is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and educator with fifteen years experience writing for major studios and fifteen years experience lecturing at major universities.
He began his career writing cable commercials while earning his undergraduate degree in broadcasting and film at Boston University’s College of Communication. Soon after he landed in Los Angeles working in production for ABC, NBC, CBS, and HBO before taking a job as assistant to Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment on the feature films Always, Arachnophobia, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, and Jurassic Park.
Michael went on to work in creative affairs at Hollywood Pictures on movies Crimson Tide, Terminal Velocity, Straight Talk, and Taking Care of Business before embarking on a career as a screenwriter for Paramount, Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, and Universal on films Vampire in Brooklyn, Home on The Range, Mulan II, LIlo & Stitch II, Emperor's New Groove II, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best animated feature.
Soon an opportunity to help launch a new network for Turner Entertainment brought him home to Atlanta. He went on to work in television creating series for Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Cartoon Network, Discovery, History, TBS, TNT, TLC, OWN, DIY, A&E, and MSNBC. He also consulted on indie films Fear of Rain, Signing Day, Good Intentions., and On a Wing and a Prayer.
Recently, Michael was hired to adapt the award-winning children’s book series Freeing Freddie by FTM Media, write the feature thriller Project 33 for Monument Media, pen the feature drama Fathom & Faith for Three Ring Pictures, develop the limited series A Nation on Fire for ShoulderHill Entertainment, and serve as script doctor on the animated series Scout Elf Squad for The Lumistella Company.
A renowned instructor in screenwriting, Michael serves as senior lecturer at the University of North Georgia, mentor in Reinhardt University’s Creative Writing MFA program, and founder of Screenwriter School. In 2017 the Georgia Film Academy hired him to create a high school screenwriting curriculum which has since been taught to more than 15,000 students in the state.
His book on screenwriting — Crash! Boom! Bang! How to Write Action Movies — was published by www.mwp.com in 2017.
His debut mystery novel — Rule One — was published by www.wordeee.com in July of 2025 wherever books are sold.
He is now working on Rule Two.