Seven Cherokee County Students Reach State Podium at Georgia Technology Competition
Winners from five Cherokee County schools took first, second, and third place in categories ranging from animation to 3D modeling
Woodstock Community News Staff
Seven Cherokee County School District students claimed top honors at the Georgia Student Technology Competition this month, with three earning first-place finishes and four others taking second or third place across multiple grade levels and categories — a sweep that touched five schools from elementary through high school.
The annual competition, open to students in grades 3 through 12, challenges participants to build original projects in real-world technology industry categories such as animation, 3D modeling and multimedia applications. Students must first win at the regional level to advance to the statewide contest, meaning every CCSD student who competed in the state round had already proven themselves against peers from across their region.
Three CCSD students stood at the top of their categories at the state level: Tate Ingram of Clayton Elementary School in the grades 3-4 Animation category, McKenna Baskett of Freedom Middle School in the grades 5-6 3D Modeling category, and Veda Mahesh of E.T. Booth Middle School in the grades 7-8 Multimedia Applications category.
Four more students rounded out the district's showing with runner-up and third-place finishes. Woodstock Middle School students Hoyt Estapa and Conner Harrison teamed up to earn second place in the grades 5-6 Audio Production category. E.T. Booth Middle School's Rishabh Pandya took second in grades 7-8 Graphic Design. And Etowah High School's Rohan Pandya — who shares a last name with his E.T. Booth counterpart but no other identified connection — earned third place in the grades 11-12 3D Modeling category.
E.T. Booth Middle School in Canton was the district's most represented campus, contributing two of the seven honorees across different grade-level categories. The full list of placing schools — Clayton Elementary, Freedom Middle, E.T. Booth Middle, Woodstock Middle and Etowah High School — spans nearly the full range of the district's grade levels, a sign that competitive technology education has taken hold well before high school in Cherokee County.
That breadth matters. The Georgia Student Technology Competition is explicitly designed to connect classroom learning to industry-relevant skills, giving students hands-on experience in fields central to today's workforce. For Cherokee County families watching the district grow alongside one of the fastest-expanding counties in Georgia, results like these offer concrete evidence that local schools are keeping pace — and that students here can hold their own against peers from across the state.
All seven students are expected to be recognized by the Cherokee County School Board and Superintendent of Schools at an upcoming board meeting. CCSD school board meetings are held at the district's central office on Univeter Road in Canton and are open to the public.
Source: Cherokee County School District
