All Flat Rock Middle School students in Ashley Hare’s eighth grade Business Education & Computer Science class has earned a GeorgiaBEST certification after demonstrating their ability to perform the critical soft skills required to succeed in the workplace.

The GeorgiaBEST (Business Ethics Student Training) program focuses on teaching students soft skills such as punctuality, communication, professional image, teamwork, attitude and respect, time management, and good work habits.

Last year, the program was launched in the Work-Based Learning program at all five high schools in the county, and in healthcare classes at McIntosh High.

This is the first year the program has been introduced to a middle school in Fayette County and Hare’s students have the privilege of being the first eighth grade class in the county to complete the GeorgiaBEST program.

Certificates are earned after successful completion of work in 10 soft skill areas with ongoing observation and teacher assessment. The soft skill areas are discipline and character, attendance and punctuality, teamwork and work habits, productivity and academic performance, organization and responsibility, attitude and respect, self-management and time management, oral and written business communication skills, appearance and professional image, and social media ethics.

These are the names of the Flat Rock Middle students who successfully earned a GeorgiaBEST certificate: Cassady Hsu, Canaan Johnson, Edward Lama, Cameron Bowsky, Miles Thornton, Prince Ticha, Austin Phelps, Shelby Jochum, Camilo Mancilla, Jordy Gonzalez-Olmos, Monica Siemen, Angel Romero Ojeda, Jasmine Jackson, Jemel Anderson, Chetra Nop, Cydney Baker, Timothy Townsend, Aniyah Ervin, Kameron Locke, Trenady Bowles,  Shatorri Fulton, Thavysook Thongkham, Kailynn Jackson, Jacob Martinez, Anthony Copeland, Anthony Nevers, Joshua Walker, and Akari Cortez-Gonzalez.

The GeorgiaBEST program was developed by the Georgia Department of Labor to address the concerns of Georgia's businesses that found that many new hires lacked the soft skills needed to succeed in today's workforce. Forbes Magazine reports that 89 percent of all new hires who lose their jobs do so because of a lack of soft skills.