Textured Triumph – Roswell Woman’s Club Grant Rolls Out New Possibilities in High School Ceramics

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When most people think of essential classroom tools, laser-etched rolling pins don’t come to mind. But at Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia, these unique Vermont-made implements are revolutionizing how students approach ceramic art.

Thanks to a strategic grant from the Roswell Woman’s Club, Centennial’s ceramics program acquired a collection of specialized textured rollers—each one a masterpiece of laser-etched maple craftsmanship from Vermont Pottery Works. Combined with professional-grade Potter’s Choice and Mayco glazes, these tools are helping level the playing field for aspiring artists in courses ranging from beginning ceramics to Advanced Placement 3D Design.

The impact? Just ask Gigi, a first-year ceramics student whose rose-themed piece—created after only a month in the program—already shows gallery-worthy craftsmanship. Her work, inspired by family and brought to life through these specialized tools, exemplifies how the right resources can fast-track artistic development.

“We’re supported, but not supported enough,” noted the ceramics teacher John Riggins, highlighting a common challenge in art education. But through community partnership and strategic investment in quality materials, Centennial’s program is molding more than clay—it’s shaping future artists who can compete at the highest levels.

“We are very thankful to the Roswell Woman’s Club for supporting the visual arts program at Centennial,” Riggins said. “Through their education grant, we were able to purchase rollers that create specialized textures, and we were also able to purchase high-fire glazes so that students could have their own unique creative voice in their art.”

RWC Grant Funds Garden Shed, Planter Boxes for Crabapple Middle School

Students at Crabapple Middle School in Roswell, Georgia, are expanding their construction and horticultural knowledge thanks to a grant donated by the Roswell Woman’s Club. Educators used the grant dollars to buy materials to build a garden shed and new planter boxes in the Crabapple Learn and Serve Garden at the school. “It impacts about Read More

Students at Crabapple Middle School in Roswell, Georgia, are expanding their construction and horticultural knowledge thanks to a grant donated by the Roswell Woman’s Club.

Educators used the grant dollars to buy materials to build a garden shed and new planter boxes in the Crabapple Learn and Serve Garden at the school.

“It impacts about 50 of the eighth graders in my classes who want to take it, but in fact, it impacts the whole school because they are growing vegetables that are fed them during lunches, and it’s vegetables given to the community as well,” said Kevin Squires, construction teacher, Crabapple Middle School.

The entire school is invited to help tend the crops on garden workdays, and the cafeteria uses the produce for school-wide tastings.

“We used the grant funds from the Roswell Woman’s Club to add more garden boxes,” said Anne Fallon, co-chair of the Crabapple Learn and Serve Garden. “We started out with three and we built two more boxes made out of cedar, which are more expensive than other garden boxes, but they last longer—14 to 15 years.”