SCALE: Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience

March 2025

Photo taken at Beacon Hills Middle School, the last stop of our internship. Pictured all the way to the right is Sarah Talton-Buck, our site leader and previous middle school principal.

Every sophomore at Agnes Scot College participates in SCALE - Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience. The experience is a week long and takes place during the first week of spring break (while the first years are on their journeys).

My SCALE site placement was with City Schools of Decatur. On the first day we met with officials in the district, including the superintendent, and attended a board meeting. It was really interesting to see the inner workings of how they make school district decisions.

The second day, we visited Decatur High School. We were taken on a tour given by the school principal. We got to see various electives classrooms (such as the cooking classroom and the shop classroom), as well as the spaces for the arts and athletics.

The cooking classroom. They have different cooking electives, based on skill and experience. It smelled amazing in there! They were making calzones.

This is the woodworking classroom. The picture doesn't do it justice - it was huge!

One of my group members taking interview notes. The note document

On the second day, we interviewed people in the district. Our SCALE group split in two. The group I was part of interviewed twenty one different people, all with drastically different academic and work backgrounds.

We asked questions about their careers, their perceptions of leadership, and challenges they feel the district is facing.

Our last day on site, we visited the middle school - which is right next to Agnes Scott. One of the unique things about the schools in the City Schools of Decatur district is that they offer a lot of different electives to the students. We got to stop and see many different classrooms and meet a lot of teachers (art, yoga, gardening, etc). Since our site leader had just recently transitioned, all the teachers and students remembered her and greeted her with welcoming arms - it was very sweet.

Painting supplies in one of the art classrooms.

In progress work of art baskets.

A library display in the high school.

I am very grateful for this experience! Especially for Ms. Talton-Buck for really tailoring it to our interests. All the students in my group had different majors and career aspirations and she took those into account when planning what we'd do and who we'd meet.