CCSD Nurse Named Georgia School Nurse of the Year

June 24, 2024

Clarke County School District Director of School Nursing Amy Roark (left) stands with CCSD School Nurse Meredith Dykes (right) after she accepted her Georgia School Nurse of the Year award at the Georgia Association of School Nurses’ annual conference in Jekyll Island, Georgia, on June 12. Dykes worked as a rotating nurse for the CCSD H.T. Edwards Campus during the 2023-24 school year, but has been a school nurse in CCSD since 2015. “Nurse Dykes, who is part of a team of more than 30 nurses and clinic assistants serving the school district, has been a nurse for over 20 years and a CCSD school nurse for the last 8.5 years,” a June 24 CCSD press release stated. Photo fair use of the Clarke County School District website

CCSD School Nurse Meredith Dykes was recognized as the Georgia School Nurse of the Year on June 12.

Clarke County School District School Nurse Meredith Dykes was named Georgia’s School Nurse of the Year by the Georgia Association of School Nurses at the organization’s annual conference on June 12.

Dykes has served as a nurse for over 20 years, working within the CCSD for nearly nine years.
She was nominated for the award by her colleagues, CCSD School Nurses Vanessa Lawrence and Caroline Chambers, because of her effort to bring free vision clinics to CCSD students through a partnership with Prevent Blindness Georgia.

“This collaboration (with Prevent Blindness), which began in the spring and which CCSD plans to continue into next school year, has already allowed many students to have access to high-quality vision care and optometrist exams that may not have otherwise been possible for them,” a June 24 CCSD press release stated.

“(Dykes’s) biggest impact is on the schools that she serves and the relationships that she makes with those students and family.”

— Amy Roark,
CCSD Director of School Nursing

CCSD Director of School Nursing Amy Roark believes Dykes deserves recognition for the physical and emotional impact she has made on the school community at the CCSD H.T. Edwards Campus.

“(Dykes has) been really involved in our school-based health center work,” Roark said. “She’s a leader and a mentor in our department, she runs a lot of training for CCSD staff. But her biggest impact is on the schools that she serves and the relationships that she makes with those students and family.”

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Miles Lawrence

Miles Lawrence is a senior at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, and the Senior Copy Editor for the ODYSSEY Media Group. As a student journalist, Lawrence hopes to write and help others produce stories that inform and interest the CCHS community. Lawrence has attended and presented at the Georgia Scholastic Press Association and Southern Interscholastic Press Association conventions and has virtually participated in the National High School Journalism Convention. Lawrence has been awarded for his writing by the Georgia Scholastic Press Association, the Southern Interscholastic Press Association, and the National Scholastic Press Association. Outside of ODYSSEY, Lawrence enjoys playing tennis, watching movies and hanging out with his friends.