South Forsyth Resident Wins $10,000 in Annual Duck Dive for Education

A South Forsyth County resident claimed the $10,000 grand prize in this year's Duck Dive for Education drawing, with the Forsyth County Schools superintendent pulling the winning duck. The adoption cost: $10.

That 1,000-to-one return on a single rubber duck is the fundraiser's headline number, but the Forsyth County Education Foundation designed the Duck Dive to push money into classrooms. Each $10 adoption assigns the donor a number written on the bottom of a yellow rubber duck; those ducks are placed into a pond at the Cumming Aquatic Center and one is drawn to determine the winner. All proceeds support grants for Forsyth County schools through the Foundation.

The grant totals tell the story. In 2023, the Foundation distributed more than $109,000 to 26 county schools and programs through the Duck Dive. In 2021, the Foundation raised $115,000 and awarded 27 grants to schools in August of that year. Separate distribution cycles have reached $124,000 and $126,000.

What those dollars buy is concrete. After the 2023 campaign, Riverwatch Middle School received $5,000 for a virtual reality classroom. Big Creek Elementary received a weather station. All four county high schools, Forsyth Central, North Forsyth, South Forsyth and West Forsyth, received grants for a wellness initiative, science ambassadors, a multimedia lab and calculators. Other funded projects included a book vending machine, a jungle walk, a creation station, vertical whiteboards and new learning spaces at various campuses. The Penguin Project at the Forsyth County Arts and Learning Center and the North United school cluster also received awards.

The Foundation's grant structure ties each award to a named project at a named school, making the spending traceable from the duck pond to the classroom. In 2023, a duck mascot made individual check deliveries to 15 elementary schools, Big Creek, Brookwood, Chattahoochee, Chestatee, Coal Mountain, Cumming, Johns Creek, Kelly Mill, Mashburn, Midway, New Hope, Poole's Mill, Settles Bridge, Sharon and Silver City, on a single day the Foundation called #FoundationFriYAY.

The Foundation has historically distributed grants in late summer following the spring drawing, with check presentations made at individual campuses across the county.