DHA Excellence Awards - 2023
DHA Excellence Awards - 2023
"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives." - Aristotle
Since 1992, Decatur Housing Authority (DHA) Board of Commissioners has awarded and recognized the academic excellence of its youth and adults. Each May, DHA's Excellence Awards Program gives families an opportunity to celebrate their children. DHA fosters an environment where our residents, youth, or adults can excel at higher learning. We know that recognizing academic accomplishments honors role models who can help all students to grow and learn.
DHA houses 540 children aged 5-18 who are 9.5% of the 5,700 students in CSD K-12 Schools. A clear demonstration of our commitment to excellence in education is that 100% of the DHA high school seniors graduated from Decatur High School in thirteen of the last fourteen years! In addition, of the 153 High school students in our affordable communities, 85 (or 56%) were on the Honor Roll!
During the Annual Excellence Awards, we acknowledged the academic achievement of students from kindergarten through college level by awarding certificate, medals, trophies, plaques, and even cash to over 265 individuals in over 21 categories. This year DHA's Board supported over $40,000 in scholarships to high school seniors and adults pursuing degrees college and certifications in technical school. The total investment made in DHA's 544 scholarships to date is $662,000.
Our thanks to the parents, teachers, afterschool teachers, friends, mentors, community leaders, neighbors, relatives, DHA staff, and the larger Decatur community for their support in the educational goals and achievement of our youth. It takes an entire village to support and educate our youth to create opportunities for the future. We look forward to seeing everyone back again next year!
Below are a few comments from our families and partners regarding this special night.
"It has been an honor to partner with DHA as an after-school tutor. At times a traditional school setting is not conducive to the learning style of some students and DHA provides an opportunity for its student to learn through creative teaching methods. As a result, I've seen many of my students achieve many awards tonight." - DHA Tutor
"My Daughter sees the DHA staff as a family! Just attending the event showed me how much DHA cares. My daughter has already set goals to receive even more awards next year. I love you guys!" - DHA Resident
"Thank you all for the invite, it is nice to see the kids get rewarded for their individual achievements. I'll definitely be back next year to support our DHA students." - CSD Assistant Principal.
"Jr. was so happy and I'm very proud of him! I would like to thank DHA and you for supporting my sons. I was not feeling my best, but I would not miss this night for the word. My baby finally received an award Ms. Lartesha! DHA makes him happy and has encouraged me to be a better parent. " - DHA Resident
You can follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DecaturhousingGA if you did not get to see the Awards program it is available there.
Pictures from the event are located on our Gallary Page.