November 2024 Student Spotlights – Prattville, Autauga, & Elmore County

Prattville Intermediate School joined students across the district by wearing orange to celebrate Unity Day. This day is recognized as a reminder to be intentional about building community through kindness, acceptance, and inclusion as a way to end bullying. Be kind, bruh!

PIS families raced against the clock to solve riddles and find the clues located all over campus at the first annual school-wide scavenger hunt! Prattville Intermediate had such a wonderful time hosting this event and seeing how each Cougar family worked together. The reward was delicious Hooey Magoo’s! It is always great to have our Cougar families in the building and we are looking forward to many more amazing family events this year!

PCA hosted its annual homecoming week from October 14-18 with fun dress-up days based off of board games, an exciting parade, and football game where we crowned our new homecoming queen, Eboni McKee.

Mrs. Short’s 6th graders concluded their novel study with a Choose Kind Celebration! 💙 They designed “We Are All Wonders” t-shirts by writing positive words on each other’s shirts to encourage and inspire the “choose kind” initiative. Students also participated in a Toothpaste Challenge where they are able to see how easy it is for toothpaste (unkind words) to flow out, but it’s much harder to put the toothpaste back in the tube (to take those unkind words back) therefore, we should all choose our words wisely when we speak to others. Lastly, they watched Wonder to compare/contrast the novel and movie.

Daniel Pratt Elementary participated in Rock Your School Day, a nationwide initiative to bring excitement and student engagement into our schools. In addition to dressing up, classes participated in many unique activities including the study of bioluminescence, STEM activities to build musical instruments and other items, problem solving for breakout challenges, and so many more.

Thank you to Baptist Health for investing in Autauga County Schools and the community’s healthcare system with a generous donation to Autauga County Technology Center’s Patient Care Technician program. This annual donation funds all testing materials for the program during the 2024-2025 school year.

Mrs. Robinson’s students from Pine Level Elementary School wrote spooky stories for Halloween. These are some of her top third grade authors holding their original literary pieces. Each student chose from a picture prompt to create an original story.

Everything that happens in the early years of a child’s life has a lasting impact on their future potential, and one of the most important predictors of a child’s academic success is the ability to read by the end of third grade. To prepare students for this success, Prattville Kindergarten School held a parent workshop to ensure parents are aware of First Grade Readiness resources, sharing how teachers are working to close gaps and what resources are available at the school to support learning in the home.

PCA’s volleyball team had success in the area tournament, securing their spot in the AHSAA Regional Tournament. Baylee Rogers and Leah Cate Wilson were named to the All-Tournament Team, and Emma Cate Carter was named the Tournament MVP.

PCA held a groundbreaking ceremony on homecoming to celebrate the accomplishment of where we have been and for the growth we continue to have. The new middle school building will add ten classrooms, a full-size multipurpose room/gymnasium, and a weight room, allowing PCA’s preschool to move back to the main campus.

Autauga County Schools was honored during the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Meeting as the 2024 Industry of the Year. This recognition is a testament to the district’s nearly 1,200 employees who work tirelessly every day to build a product that drives progress for the county, creating business and community leaders prepared for a bright future.

Autauga County Schools’ ESL Program had a massive turnout for its first-ever Back to School Luau! Thanks to several community businesses, EL families from across the district were invited to celebrate a successful start to the school year with pizza, games, and time spent getting to know each other.

On Saturday, October 19, 2024, eight high school bands took the field with the Faulkner University “Marching Eagles” for a special halftime show that served as a tribute to our nation’s veterans. Music included ‘Patriotic Spectacular’ and ‘God Bless the U.S.A.’, with arrangements by Allen Gray and Ralph Ford.
Faulkner University is certainly investing in its music program: students are offered $16,000 music scholarships which cover between 60-70% of the price of tuition. The music department is led by Dr. Art Williams. The choral director is Dr. Allen Clements. The band director is Dr. Robby Glasscock.
Schools that came to Montgomery to participate included:
• Plainview High School from DeKalb County
• Wetumpka High School from Elmore County
• Central High School from Clay County
• Alabama Christian Academy from Montgomery
• Beauregard High School from Lee County
• Shelby County High School from Columbiana
• Munford High School from Talladega County
• Elmore County High School from Eclectic

Daniel Pratt Elementary School’s #WalkRolltoSchoolDay is a much-anticipated annual event hosted by the school’s PE Department in coordination with the national Walk, Bike & Roll to School organization. The mission of this movement is to celebrate a safe and active way to start the day while teaching children about sidewalk safety near busy streets.

Prattville High School’s Air Force JROTC Unit AL-951 earned 13 trophies and placed second overall at the late September Stanhope Elmore High School JROTC’s drill, fitness, and academic competition. The unit led by cadets C/Maj NaShyla Davis and C/Maj Caliyah Chambers took the top prize in seven of the event’s categories!

Victory Christian Academy, a ministry of Victory Baptist Church, had a formal dedication for their renovated gym facility. Students at VCA have been raising funds for 2 years to renovate the gymnasium and have recently completed that project. The kitchen was remodeled, walls were painted, and a new floor was installed.
Sunday, September 22, the gymnasium was renamed the Joe and Libby Byrd Gymnasium in recognition of Mr. and Mrs. Byrd’s many years of service and dedication to Victory Christian Academy.

Prattville High School classmates and lifelong friends Kate Bibb and Saylor Boles were named 2025 National Merit Semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program earlier this month. Kate and Saylor are two of the approximate 16,000 students named semifinalists this year, moving on to compete for tens of millions in scholarships.

At Pine Level Elementary School, 4th grade students were able to participate in a 4H lesson on Alabama Mammals.
They discussed taxonomy- Kindgom (Animal) >Phylum (Vetebrate)>Class(Mammals)
Students learned about species of mammals found in Alabama, talked about native and non-native species, and discussed the characteristics of mammals. They even learned what an ungulate is.
Hands-on learning and lots of fun took place on the STEAM lab as the students examined the skins of 11 mammals indigenous to Alabama.

Autauga County Schools’ second graders recently enjoyed a fun day at the Prattville YMCA swimming pool for some very important lessons about water safety! As a part of an annual partnership, students learn the basics of being safe in and around water through classroom instruction and in-water activities.

Willie Spears with The Willie Spears Experience challenged Prattville Junior High School students during a recent school-wide assembly. The educator & coach turned motivational speaker gave students a powerful presentation on life and the choice that everyone has to make of it what they choose using the school’s mascot as a helpful reminder.