Academic All-Star – Woodland Middle

Published April 20, 2017

The Academic All-Star award is given to students who exhibit a positive attitude and a commitment to excellence in the classroom. Each Academic All-Star is chosen by his or her principal and receives a framed certificate, free food from Chick-fil-A and Sonic Drive-In and a free gift courtesy of Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More in Franklin.

Teachers describe 13-year-old Carlton O’Neil as a hard-working student who often accomplishes multiple tasks with eagerness, positivity and focus. So it’s no surprise that when it came time to select an Academic All-Star for Woodland Middle School, Carlton was at the top of the list.

“Carlton is an exceptional writer and collaborator, and he takes great pride in all of his work,” said his teachers. “His peers find him easy to get along with and they are eager to work with him on group assignments. He is motivated by success, yet he is receptive to critique.”

As he nears seven straight years of perfect attendance, Carlton says he truly enjoys coming to school each day.

“It’s really nice here,” said Carlton. “The school has cool programs, a nice library, a 3-D printer and a lot of computers. It’s a lot easier to get stuff done, and you don’t have to take a bunch of textbooks home or anything. You can do almost everything on your phone or laptop.”

Carlton doesn’t have trouble staying busy as he is involved in numerous clubs including forensics, Model UN, math club, coding club, book club and Science Olympiad.

“Our Science Olympiad team made it to State this year,” said Carlton. “We have a team of 15 people and two alternates. There are competitions and sometimes you have to build a tower or a plane which is kind of fun.”

For a career, Carlton says he’s considering computer science or engineering. Either way, he knows he’ll have to continue working hard if he wants to succeed.

“School is very important to me,” said Carlton. “You have to get a good education to get into college and get a good job.”