'The sky's the limit': Rep. Rick Allen visits skilled students at A.R. Johnson school

Rep. Rick Allen has visited many schools throughout his career, but it's not every day a visit involves rockets and medical care.

The congressman for Georgia's 12th District was given an exciting visit to A.R. Johnson Magnet School on Tuesday. The morning kicked off with a presentation by one of the engineering classes who explained the steps and processes they've gone through in making their own rockets.

Students were able to show off their successes by going outside to the football stadium where the rockets were launched incredibly high into the sky. Once at the peak, they released parachutes that brought them gently down to the ground.

Not every launch was a success, but that gave the class a chance to demonstrate and explain their problem-solving skills.

Mrs USA Earth: Grovetown woman wins Mrs Congeniality at the Mrs USA Earth 2024 Pageant

Allen also visited one of the healthcare science classes, whose students demonstrated their ability to take someone's blood pressure with a cuff. Eighth-grader Gaige Harris spoke to Allen about how this area inspires him.

"I wanted to do biomedical because I have ideas for advancements," Harris said. "What if we perfected the gene that kills cancer?"

Allen reflected on his own past and what these kinds of classes mean for Georgia's future.

"We didn't do that back when I was in high school," he said with a laugh. "What we have available in education today; the sky's the limit. Technology, A.I., is going to take it to another level.

"We've got the Cyber Center of Excellence right here. We've got students at Richmond County schools who will graduate and go directly to work in cyber making serious dollars. And then if they want to get a college degree, they will send them to college ... there's so many opportunities out there."

Regarding many areas of education, Allen was particularly concerned with making sure students have sufficient reading skills, especially by third grade. Education experts have argued that failure to reach this milestone will lead to struggles throughout a student's school years. According to Georgia's Spring 2023 Milestone results, 66% of third-graders are reading at or above their level.

"We have to fix this reading thing, and frankly ... we're in need of childcare," Allen said. "What I want to do, through childcare, is teach those children the beauty of reading a book. I read to my grandchildren, I've got 14 of them, and the love to read and that's what you have to instill in these young folks."

Following the demonstrations, engineering teacher Justin Russell illustrated how students love applying these scientific principles and expressed how important it is to feed that yearning.

"Being able to see a model rocket launch is something that you can get excited about. It's kind of like when I was growing up as a kid in the 1980s with space shuttles," Russell said. "A lot of kids want to be astronauts. Well we can see the model rocket and we can get excited about that. And I want for [Allen] to be able to know that we continue to need the support of our government officials in order to be able to give students those sorts of applications and experiences."

This visit was also part of National School Choice Week. The early application period for Richmond County's magnet schools and specialized programs has ended, but spring applications will open April 1 and continue through May 1. For more information, go to rcboe.org/choice.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Rep. Rick Allen visits A.R. Johnson Magnet School in Augusta