Southgate board hears new course proposals, honors dozens of student-athletes and program qualifiers

At the April 14 meeting the board heard a first reading of two curricular proposals and then spent substantial time recognizing student accomplishments from the winter sports season and career technical programs.

Course proposals: Katura Godfrey Wood, curriculum director, presented a first reading of two proposed courses for the Anderson High School catalog: a half‑credit English Language Development course designed for entering and beginning multilingual learners focused on listening, speaking, reading and writing; and a one‑credit English 10 AP Seminar course intended to develop research, writing, collaboration and presentation skills as preparation for future AP coursework. Wood said both courses will return for board approval at a future meeting.

Culinary and DECA recognitions: Mark Hanson, assistant principal and CTE director, reported that two Anderson students secured first place at the state ProStart Invitational and qualified for nationals; the students will attend April 23–27. Hanson also noted DECA had three state finalists and two students qualifying for nationals (Scarlett Sage and Aislinn Cantanary).

Winter Titan Awards: Athletic director Mitch Dobek and Davidson assistant principal/athletic director John Victor led recognition of winter‑season Titan Award winners across basketball, bowling, wrestling, swimming, figure skating and cheer. Coaches offered brief remarks about individual award winners and program growth; Coach Ian Norcia noted the boys wrestling team grew from roughly 20 members to more than 45 and described consecutive league and district championships.

The meeting included many named student recipients (examples called during the ceremony include Alan Adamski, Mason Martin, Iliana Hichu, Riley James, Cyrus Connor, Ava Branchaw, Dwayne Yesh and others). Staff thanked students, families and coaches for the season and noted several teams will be celebrated later when additional members return from meets.

What happens next: The English Language Development and AP Seminar proposals are at first reading and will be brought back to the board for approval at a subsequent meeting; travel and competition logistics for ProStart and DECA national qualifiers will be finalized by CTE staff.