This year The News Courier has published numerous stories across the education space, but a few of these stories stand out.

We’ll have a full countdown of the top five education stories in the End of the Year edition on Dec. 31. The stories below come in at the number two and three spot. The top story will be revealed Dec. 31 along with two honorable mentions to round out the top five.

In September The News Courier published a story about Erik Jimenez Antonio, a first-generation student who attended his elementary years at Julian Newman and later Athens High School. Antonio earned his Ph.D. in Material Science and now works in Ohio.

Recently, students and teachers from the iAcademy at Athens Elementary School got to take their first look at their new building.

They are reprinted below as we take these last few papers of the year to look back on all of our top stories of 2022.