CARROLLTON, GA — Carrollton High School’s CyberPatriot team celebrates another successful year, advancing two teams to national competition: the Air Force JROTC team, which finished the year as the top-scoring Air Force team in the state, and the all-girls team, which will compete in the civilian sector. Both groups will compete in the national semifinals on Friday, Jan. 23. 

​CyberPatriot, an educational program created by the Air and Space Forces Association, was established to inspire K-12 students to pursue careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to the nation's future. ​At the core of the program is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, the nation's largest cyber defense competition that puts high school students in charge of securing virtual networks. 

Coached by CHS teacher Robby Blakemore, the JROTC team members include Kenia Galves-Hernandez, Austin Ennis, Landon Peace, Alexa Gibbs, Esteysy Cruz, Ashley Perez-Garcia, Christian Perez, and Venkata Koppireddy. These participants are members of the school's Air Force JROTC program. 

Computer science students competing on the all-girls team are Lucy Slappey, Alaina Dhople, Tanya Aggarwal, Megan Ou, and Juliet Browning. 

“The CyberPatriots team works incredibly hard to apply the skills they’ve learned to this competition, and they have proven themselves to be strong contenders at the state level,” said CHS Principal Ian Lyle. “We look forward to celebrating their continued success.” 

In anticipation of the national competition, Coach Blakemore reflected on the program’s growth.

“This year’s team continued to reach new heights for our program,” Blakemore said. “We are led by six seniors, and we are hoping to finish their last season on a high note.” 

Should the Trojans win their semifinal match on Friday, they will advance to the national championship on March 20-24 in Bethesda, Maryland. 

The Carrollton High School Air Force JROTC CyberPatriot team concluded the state-level competition as the highest-scoring Air Force program. Team members pictured, from left, are Kenia Galves-Hernandez, Alexa Gibbs, Austin Ennis, Landon Peace, Venkata Koppireddy, and Esteysy Cruz. Not pictured: Ashley Perez-Garcia.

CHS CyberPatriot All-Girls team member Juliet Browning works through layers of cybersecurity screens for competition preparation. 
 

CARROLLTON, GA — Carrollton High School’s junior varsity speech and debate team captured top honors at the Georgia Forensic Coaches Association First and Second Year State Championships on Jan. 17-18. CHS students Brady Pace, Tanya Aggarwal, West Yancey and Brantley Walker earned the GFCA Junior Varsity State Championship title. 

Teammates Christian Long and Eliana Neill advanced to the semifinals, with Kevin Stuart and Samantha Berg finishing as quarterfinalists. In the Junior Varsity Original Oratory competition, Blythe Browning placed third, and Marian Roenigk placed fifth. In the Novice Division, Hudson Hooton secured second place. Further highlighting the young team’s success, individual speakers won awards: Brady Pace was named Top Speaker of the Tournament, followed by West Yancey (third), Tonya Aggarwal (sixth), Brantley Walker (ninth), and Christian Long (11th).

CHS Speech and Debate Coach Richard Bracknell shared that he is impressed with the strengths of this next generation of debaters.

“Despite being a very young team, these debaters have demonstrated remarkable promise and potential for future success,” Bracknell said.

The Carrollton High School varsity speech and debate team will compete for another state championship title Feb. 7-8. 

Pictured back row, from left, are CHS Assistant Speech and Debate Coach Alison Hibbard, Samantha Berg, Kevin Stuart, Brantley Walker, West Yancey, Tanya Aggarwal, Brady Pace, Eliana Neill, Christian Long, Hudson Hooton, and CHS Speech and Debate Coach Richard Bracknell. Pictured front row, from left, are Aaron Ashlock, Sameeha Aremu, Nelson Quinonez, Nathan Corbett, and Mae Brodsky. 
 

CARROLLTON, GA — Several rounds unfolded Wednesday afternoon before the Carrollton City Schools 2026 Spelling Bee champion was decided, with sixth grader Seth Thomaston earning the title in this year's competition.

Volunteer Fae Kelley has officiated the district spelling bee for more than 30 years, and she chose to start this year’s competition with a trivia question for the participants. She presented a list of elevated vocabulary words and challenged students to identify which modern writer used them in his or her works. Students pondered poets and novelists, but, to the students’ surprise, Kelley revealed the answer to be Taylor Swift. She invited them to consider the impact a thorough vocabulary can have, even through authors like the songwriters they know. 

After capturing their attention, the spelling bee began. As the rigor escalated, the competitive nature of the contestants did as well. Each student eagerly focused on every letter as they spelled. 

The final rounds unfolded in a unique scenario of two runners-up: fifth grader Shuvana K.C. and eighth grader Belinda Martinez Romero. Seth eventually claimed the victory when he correctly spelled “guttural.” He is the son of Shon and Sharon Thomaston. 

The grade-level qualifiers who competed against the winner and runners-up were fourth grader Daniela Campos Belmares, fifth grader Jude Caubo, seventh graders Hunter Chen and Lily Lovvorn, and eighth grader Zefira Rivera Manon. Three other students, fourth grader Michael Colbert, sixth grader Karina Garcia, and eighth grader Amaiya Deshields, placed in their school-level competitions. 

This year’s judges were Paula Holmes-Solomon, Susan Colgate, and Don North, newly elected City Council member.

Seth advances to the Region 4 spelling bee Saturday, Feb. 28, at Beacon Hill Middle School in Decatur, Georgia. The Georgia Association of Educators sponsors the regional and state bees. 
 

The winner of the 2026 Carrollton City Schools spelling bee is sixth grader Seth Thomaston, right, pictured with CMS Principal Dr. Eric Simmons, left. 

The Carrollton City Schools district spelling bee resulted in sixth grader Seth Thomaston being declared the winner, with two runners-up. Pictured from left are CMS Principal Dr. Eric Simmons, runner-up Belinda Martinez Romero, winner Seth, runner-up Shuvana K.C., and CUES Principal Tabitha Walker. 
 

Carrollton City Schools 2026 Spelling Bee participants, pictured back row from left, are Lily Lovvorn, Hunter Chen, Belinda Martinez Romero, Shuvana K.C., and Seth Thomaston. Pictured front row, from left, are Jude Caubo, Zefira Rivera Manon, and Daniela Campos Belmares.