By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
DCHS Names Student, Parent, and Teacher of the Month
DCHS
Pictured from left are DCHS Assistant Principal Thomas Cagle, 9th grade student Dana Gonzales and her mother, Viridiana Valencia, 11th grade student Serenity Faith Burgess, and DCHS Teacher Chris Vance.

DeKalb County High School announced its monthly awards last week, honoring the teacher, student, and parent or guardian of the month. Each honoree was presented with a certificate from the school, as well as a gift card for a meal from this month’s restaurant sponsor, Twisted Oaks.

Eleventh grade student Serenity Faith Burgess, daughter Joshua and Tristan Burgess, was named Student of the Month, after being nominated and voted on by the teachers, faculty, and staff.

“This was surprising but nice,” said Burgess in response to her being named Student of the Month. As Drum Major in the DCHS Band, Burgess said she has a passion for music and hopes to one day become a teacher to make music education a career.

Viridiana Valencia and Juan Arvizu were chosen as this month’s Parents of the Month, based on an essay written by their daughter, 9th grade student Dana Gonzales. Each month a student must submit an essay on why their parent or guardian deserves the recognition.

Gonzales said she wanted to honor her parents, especially her mother, to let others know about the sacrifices she made to raise her along with two sisters and a brother. “Because she had to quit school to support us, my mom sacrificed her dream job of one day becoming a lawyer. I decided to do something special for her in writing this essay to not only tell what she sacrificed, but how we struggled through life. My mom is very caring of us and deserves this award plus so much more,” she said.

Mrs. Valencia, who speaks little English, said, “I am proud of it and I love her (daughter).”

DCHS teacher Chris Vance was selected as Teacher of the Month. Vance has taught at DCHS since 1994, and is a Junior and Senior English educator and is over an ACT English prep class.

Vance, who is also a former DCHS football and golf coach, said he still enjoys teaching and is honored to receive this recognition. “I started out teaching and trying to take a coaching path and that worked out for a while, but as your kids get older you want to spend more time with them and follow what they are doing, so that got me out of the coaching end of it.”

“Although it’s been a stressful time in education, with COVID and other things going on, there are a lot of really big rewards for being a teacher and every now and then something like this comes along that makes it really great,” said Vance.