Forsyth County schools lead in early admissions to UGA, Georgia Tech

At Lambert High, principal Amanda Thrower said a lot of the success at her school is student-driven.

“The community has always been ... high-achieving,” she said. “So I can’t take full credit for that. I think our kids are super-motivated, and our families are very supportive of that drive.”

Each Forsyth County public high school offers more than two dozen Advanced Placement courses. Students who score high enough on AP exams can earn college credit. Denmark, Lambert and South Forsyth had graduation rates of more than 96% last spring. That’s more than 10 percentage points above the state average. Those three schools each had average SAT scores above the statewide average last school year. The poverty rate for the school district is less than 7%. Schools with high poverty rates tend to have lower academic outcomes, such as test scores and graduation rates.

Walking the halls at Lambert gives you a good idea of the school’s accomplishments over the years. Plaques with the names of students with perfect scores on AP tests are displayed alongside cases showcasing state championship trophies for sports like golf and basketball. Lambert is one of the biggest high schools in the state with just over 3,200 students.

Lambert certainly prioritizes academics. Almost half the student body participates in the state’s dual enrollment program, where they can take college courses for credit. The school offers a robust AP program, where students can choose from 32 different courses — from physics to music theory.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, senior Michael Peele was working on a self-portrait for his AP art class. He balanced a mirror on the canvas, peering into it to capture details in his face and add them to the painting. He included a variety of colors — purple, pink, blue.

“I started this just to be (a) normal self-portrait, but then I was like, ‘What am I doing?’” he said. “This is not as colorful as it needs to be. It looked fine before, but I think it’s more interesting when it’s got a bunch of weird colors.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Peele would like to attend UGA to study art, although he didn’t apply early. He’s also in a band and would like to be part of Athens’ well-known music scene.

Thrower said while Lambert is focused on academics, it’s also a place where students can find their niche.

“I do believe that comes down to relationships,” she said. “We’re helping every kid get plugged in where their passions and talents and interests lie, so that they can excel in those and thrive in those.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

For Peele, that may be the fine arts. For another classroom full of students, it’s a program called International Genetically Engineered Machine. Lambert is the only school in Forsyth County that participates in the program, where students work in teams to develop solutions to a science problem. They present their projects at an international competition.

“It’s almost like a varsity sport,” said Lambert’s IGEM adviser Kate Sharer. “These kids try out and they submit a proposal. This year, we had 82 research proposals. We trimmed it down to 50 kids who came in for interviews and they completed a task.”

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Juniors Avani Karthik and Sahasra Tatavarti are part of a team that’s working on a solution to antimicrobial resistance — or what happens when medicines become ineffective due to changes over time in bacteria, viruses and fungi.

“So we created a system using CRISPR interference and toe holds,” Karthik explained. “The CRISPR interference ... (will) block critical genes in the bacteria, and so the bacteria die, and then the toe hold sensor determines if the CRISPR eye was affected. So we’re able to see did it actually block those genes, and did it kill that bacteria?”

In case that didn’t keep them busy enough, Tatavarti mentions a side project their team worked on.

“We created a children’s book called ‘Benny’s Antibiotic Adventure,’ and we presented it to elementary schools across the county,” she said.

Lest anyone think guiding seemingly motivated and engaged students through these projects would be a “cushy” job, Lambert English teacher Woody VanTreek believes otherwise.

“This is a really hard place to teach because there are so many outstanding educators,” he said. “Part of it is you don’t want to let students down ... but I feel like our kids come back (saying), ‘In biology, we did this.’ Every one of these teachers wants to showcase their talents and their subject.”

VanTreek has been at Lambert since it opened 30 years ago. He was the school’s first Teacher of the Year. VanTreek wants his students to love literature and do well in school, but he also believes they need to balance academic rigor with some fun. So he requires any student who wants him to write a college recommendation letter for them to ask him at a school event — whether it’s a basketball game or school play.

“You have tutoring on Friday nights or you have dance (rehearsal) on Friday ... it’s great to have all these things, but you also have to be a member of this community too,” he said.

Acceptances to Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia for the fall of 2024: